Информационные войны в современной политике

Бакалавриат 2025/2026

Статус: Курс по выбору (Международные отношения)

Кто читает: Департамент международных отношений

Где читается: Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики

Когда читается: 4-й курс, 1, 2 модуль

Охват аудитории: для своего кампуса

Преподаватели: Байша Ольга Анатольевна

Язык: английский

Контактные часы: 34

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Abstract

This course will provide students with an opportunity to consider various aspects of modern information warfare. During the course, students will get acquainted with the theories of cultural hegemony and propaganda, the discursive construction of reality and narrative warfare, persuasion and framing, network schizophrenia and the integral reality of global society. They will learn how to use the theoretical legacy of such outstanding thinkers as Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Norman Fairclough, Noam Chomsky, Jean Baudrillard, and others for planning and carrying out information campaigns. Students will also get an opportunity to evaluate the chances of stabilizing meanings within the digital environment of social networks and establishing a reflexive control over them; they will be introduced to the latest theoretical and methodological developments on the impact of AI on the human ability to control networked digital spaces. Course participants will acquire critical-thinking skills that are indispensable for understanding contemporary warfare: powers controlling various segments of the global information infrastructure, the possibility of challenging hegemonic discourses, and the ways through which various strategic and tactical communication goals can be achieved. Drawing on their own case studies, students will have a chance to prepare individual presentations, work in groups, and test the acquired knowledge through written and oral examinations. All these assignments will be helpful in terms of consolidating knowledge and developing practical skills of analyzing various aspects of information warfare.

Learning Objectives

• To facilitate theoretical understanding of various aspects of contemporary information warfare;
• To develop methodological skills necessary for analyzing political texts using various types of discourse, narrative, and framing analysis;
• To advance knowledge on the role of AI in information warfare and understanding how to enhance state/international information security;
• To learn how to carry information campaigns for achieving strategic and tactical objectives.

Expected Learning Outcomes

To analyze discourses and narratives
Perform framing analysis of media texts
Assess the effectiveness of propagandistic messages
Determine factors enhancing/weakening the efficiency of propagandistic campaigns
Discuss informatively the possibilities and limitations of establishing control over the networked information space
Evaluate professionally the role that AI plays in conducting information warfare in digital networks
Develop and carry out information campaigns

Course Contents

MODULE 1 Theme 1. Introduction to Information Warfare: Basic Concepts
Theme 2. Discourse-Analytical Methods of Analyzing Information: Articulating and Rearticulating Messages
Theme 3. The Discursive Constructions of the Self and the Enemy: Populistic & Antagonistic Discourses
Theme 4. Narrative Warfare, Framing and Propaganda: Factors Influencing Public Perception
MODULE 2 Theme 5. The Political Economy of Media: Global Communication Infrastructure
Theme 6. Information Warfare in Global networks: the Power of Artificial Intelligence
Theme 7. Technology of Information Campaigns: Strategy and Tactics
Theme 8. Hegemonic Discourses and Strategic Information Campaigns: Targeting Different Cultural Groups

Assessment Elements

WEEKLY REACTION PAPERS
Group Presentation
Seminar Participation
Final Presentation
Final Paper and Its Exam Defense

Interim Assessment

2025/2026 2nd module
0.2 * Final Presentation + 0.3 * Final Paper and Its Exam Defense + 0.1 * Group Presentation + 0.3 * Seminar Participation + 0.1 * WEEKLY REACTION PAPERS

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Analyzing narrative : discourse and sociolinguistic perspectives, Fina De, A., 2012
Communication and power in the global era : orders and borders, , 2013
Discourse analysis as theory and method, Jorgensen, M., 2014
Propaganda and persuasion, Jowett, G. S., 2015
Social media and the post-truth world order : the global dynamics of disinformation, Cosentino, G., 2020
Social media, politics and the state : protests, revolutions, riots, crime and policing in the age of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, , 2015
The basics of information security : understanding the fundamentals of InfoSec in theory and practice, Andress, J., 2014

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Boyd-Barrett, O. (2016). Western Mainstream Media and the Ukraine Crisis : A Study in Conflict Propaganda. Milton: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1365333
Exploring public relations : global strategic communication, Tench, R., 2017
Images of nations and international public relations, Kunczik, M., 2014
Mediated politics : communication in the future of democracy, , 2001
Mosco, V. (2009). The Political Economy of Communication: Vol. 2nd ed. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Political communication : a critical introduction, Savigny, H., 2017
Propaganda and information warfare in the twenty-first century : altered images and deception operations, Macdonald, S., 2009
The Handbook of International Crisis Communication Research, edited by Andreas Schwarz, et al., John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4509799.

Authors

Baisha OLGA Anatolevna

Course Syllabus