Russia’s ‘Strategic Narratives’: The Case of Syria and the ‘Arab Spring’

Abstract

Russia’s governing elite promotes a distinctive set of strategic narratives to influence how it is perceived in the world and positively influence public opinion abroad, advancing a Russian vision of the international system, while aiming to reinforce its legitimacy at home. These narratives have often explicitly or implicitly challenged the narratives and policies of the Western liberal democracies, in terms of international legal norms, of social-ethical values and of Russia’s status in the international order. Western academic and policy sources have devoted increased attention to the Russian government’s use of information tools and strategies in support of its political and diplomatic efforts to promote these narratives. This article aims to examine how information management, carefully targeted at the operational level to promote Russian interests in specific situations, is linked with the dissemination of strategic narratives that seek to underpin key broader policy objectives in the case of the Arab Spring and the conflict in Syria.