Strategic Communications and International Politics

Strategic communications occupy a particularly significant place in world politics today. This course provides the background for understanding the expanded role of communications in contemporary international security and provides a theoretical framework for analyzing/explaining the role of communications in contemporary diplomacy and statecraft. This course will further situate contemporary uses of strategic communications in the evolving character of warfare today, especially the hybridization of threats and warfare. Issues covered include: the social impact of the evolution of ICT technologies; functions of strategic communications; public affairs and public diplomacy; military psychological operations and information operations; history of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation; uses of strategic communications by non-state actors; governmental institutions and the apparatus of strategic communications; and strategic communications in Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
This course is offered by the Strategic Communications Education and Research Unit (SCERU), with support from the European Union (EU). It also serves as a preparatory course for the GraSPP-King’s College London double-degree programme.