1st Edition
Countering Online Propaganda and Extremism The Dark Side of Digital Diplomacy
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: the ‘dark side’ of digital diplomacy
Corneliu Bjola and James Pamment
Part I
Strategic communication
1 Propaganda as reflexive control: the digital dimension
Corneliu Bjola
2 Information influence in Western democracies: a model of systemic vulnerabilities
Howard Nothhaft, James Pamment, Henrik Agardh-Twetman and Alicia Fjällhed
3 A digital ménage à trois: strategic leaks, propaganda and journalism
Emma L. Briant and Alicia Wanless
4 The use of political communication by international organizations: the case of EU and NATO
Eva-Karin Olsson, Charlotte Wagnsson and Kajsa Hammargård
5 The unbearable thinness of strategic communication
Cristina Archetti
Part II
Countering violent extremism
6 The democratisation of hybrid warfare and practical approaches to defeat violent extremism in the Digital Age
Alicia Kearns
7 The aesthetics of violent extremist and counter-violent extremist communication
Ilan Manor and Rhys Crilley
8 Virtual violence: understanding the potential power of ISIS’ violent videos to buttress strategic narratives and persuade foreign recruits
Sean Aday
9 The battle for the battle of the narratives: sidestepping the double fetish of digital and CVE
Akil N. Awan, Alister Miskimmon and Ben O’Loughlin
Conclusion: rethinking strategic communication in the Digital Age
James Pamment and Corneliu Bjola
Works cited
Index
Biography
Corneliu Bjola is Associate Professor in Diplomatic Studies at the University of Oxford and Chair of the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group.
James Pamment is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Strategic Communication at Lund University, Sweden, and an external faculty member at the University of Southern California (USC) Center on Public Diplomacy.
'Disinformation is a plague that resists efforts to eradicate it. Truth – a foundation of democratic discourse – is its principal victim. Countering Online Propaganda and Extremism presents thoughtful and comprehensive analyses of this phenomenon written by an all-star, multidisciplinary roster of experts. For anyone who is teaching courses about these matters or is just personally committed to preserving open and free debate about important issues, this book is essential reading.'-- Philip Seib, University of Southern California, USA
‘I highly recommend reading this book, if you want to know more about the dark side of digital diplomacy. The authors reveal how the use of digital technologies as disinformation and propaganda tools has started to threaten the global order. The book is a page-turner.'--Matti Saarelainen, Director of The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, Helsinki, Finland
'Countering Online Propaganda and Extremism is a remarkably prescient and prodigious interdisciplinary volume situating the catalytic challenge of disinformation – including its sources, its drivers, and its consequences – within a succinct conceptual framework that researchers, practitioners, and students will find tremendously useful. It weaves together policy and research expertise to tackle some remarkably thorny questions, ranging from attribution and deterrence, the line between public diplomacy and propaganda, the dark side of digital diplomacy to the value and character of moral authority in this space. The book has lasting power and will certainly serve as a cardinal text for all those interested in understanding, studying, and addressing the internecine threat disinformation presents to our democratic institutions.'-- Shawn Powers, Senior Advisor, Global Strategy & Innovation, US Agency for Global Media
