Research
In this section you will find a reading list encompassing a wide range of studies, articles and reports relating to the spread of pro-Kremlin disinformation.
Whether you want a general introduction, to learn about the Kremlin’s attempts to influence elections, or investigate how one single false message gets spread via a wide network of websites – this is the place to start.
How we collect the material
The selection of works keeps a balance between academic depth and reputability, but also a breadth of perspectives and interests beyond the academy. We have established quality control measures and the material selection was based on the five issue areas below.
This area is dedicated to the activities of major threat actors, namely Russia and China and their aims, motives and capacities.
This area captures the methods and tools deployed by threat actors to manipulate information: social media, narratives, emerging tech etc.
This area focuses on the socio-political areas targeted by threat actors: social cohesion, political processes, health, security and foreign policy.
This issue area centres on the effects of FIMI (foreign information manipulations and interference) in terms of outcomes: cognitive impacts, social and political division, soft power projection etc.
This area classifies the types of responses to FIMI (foreign information manipulations and interference) by a range of stakeholders: regulatory, proactive and self-regulatory, reactive responses and policy recommendations.
Filters
A brief review of some of the scholarly literature on the sociopollitical factors that enable disinformation to spread.
A largely conceptual account of how discourses in the manipulative use of informatino affects the Russia-West relationship.
A review of Russian efforts to subvert and influence the domestic politics of Western nations via information campaigns, with a prescriptive discussion of how to respond.
An analysis of Russia’s “whole of society” approach to information operations, which appropriates civil society to the service of state goals.
An article on how ordinary Swedish people perceive foreign information operations, with an emphasis on threats to democracy, societal cohesion, and national security.
An overview of current responses to information manipulation campaigns in the EU and beyond, arguiing in favour of the “co-regulation” approach.
A discussion of the implications of information campaigns in “political warfare” for democratic stability.
A study characterizing malicious bot actors from Russia and China (with comparisons among the two).
An analysis of how influence operations on social media affect individuals and how individuals interact with the influencing groups, applying a “socio-technical” approach”.
A study of Russian and Chinese information operations in the United States, with a proposal for a more holistic approach in combatting them.
A report on Russian propaganda shifting responsibility for the escalation of conflict with Ukraine to the West.