Security, Civilisation and Modernisation: Continuity and Change in the Russian Foreign Policy Discourse

Frear, Matthew; Mazepus, Honorata

doi:10.1080/09668136.2020.1843601

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Even before the February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine (our main study took place in December, 2020, see below) Ukraine was considered a battleground state for Russia’s information war against the West. Researchers have carefully detailed how Russian official narratives frame large-scale protests in Ukraine—be it against corruption, against electoral fraud, or for European integration–as Western-supported attacks on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in Russia’s neighborhood [ 38 ]. The hostility towards Russia that many Ukrainians now harbor [ 39 ] presents a promising opportunity for testing the generalizability of the theory of motivated reasoning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Information battleground: Conflict perceptions motivate the belief in and sharing of misinformation about the adversary

et al. 2023

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Misinformation has emerged as a major societal concern. But why do citizens contribute to the dissemination of falsehoods online? This article investigates this question by focusing on the role of motivated reasoning and, in particular, perceptions of group-based conflict. It examines the effect of perceived conflict on the endorsement of false news in the context of a regional conflict between Russia and the West as experienced by Ukrainian citizens. In our survey experiment, a sample of Ukrainians (N = 1,615) was randomly assigned to read negative false news stories about Russia, the European Union or Tanzania–a country with no stakes in the conflict. The results show that higher perceived conflict between Ukraine and Russia makes Ukrainians less likely to endorse false news targeting the European Union, but more likely to endorse false news that paint a negative picture of Russia. This finding extends the support for motivated reasoning theory beyond Western contexts investigated so far. Importantly, the effects of conflict perceptions remain strong after controlling for group identity and political knowledge of participants. These results advance our understanding of why false information is disseminated and point to the importance of conflict de-escalation to prevent the diffusion of falsehoods.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Information battleground: Conflict perceptions motivate the belief in and sharing of misinformation about the adversary

et al. 2023

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“…As a result, studies subscribing to mainstream IR theories have occasionally tended to focus on a single issue. This premise may be problematic when analysing a multifaceted and adaptive portfolio, such as the case of Russian foreign policy as formulated and practised towards Venezuela (Frear and Mazepus, 2021; Rouvinski, 2020).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, constructivist approaches assert that “structural explanations for Russian foreign policy” (Roberts, 2017, p. 28) do not adequately consider the critical role ideas and beliefs play in Russian President Putin's foreign policy narrative. In other words, according to such accounts, Russian foreign policy is influenced and undermined by relations with a hostile West – particularly the United States (US) and the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – bent on limiting and controlling Russian interests abroad (Kari, 2017; Frear and Mazepus, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Russia in Latin America: Why support Venezuela in a crisis?

et al. 2023

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Russia has been a powerful ally in Venezuela's complex crisis, having developed political, economic and cultural relations with the Venezuelan state by employing various foreign policy instruments such as mutual support in multilateral fora, foreign aid, loans, commodity trading, military support and cultural diplomacy. What explains this support, despite Venezuela's severe political and economic crisis? Different perspectives have contributed to discussions on shifts in Russian foreign policy towards Latin America since the end of the Cold War. However, studies subscribing to traditional international relations theories have occasionally focused on a single issue or dimension. Such a focus may be problematic when analysing the multifaceted portfolio applied to Russian foreign policy. Based on the Two‐Good Theory approach, its focus on change and maintenance of the status quo, and the concept of substitutability, this research paper elaborates on Russia's foreign policy strategy towards Venezuela to explain policy priorities by examining the alliance with the Venezuelan Maduro regime. Furthermore, the paper highlights the link between the tangible characteristics of energy security and arms sales and intangible aspects, such as cultural diplomacy, which are important explanatory factors of Russian support for Venezuela.

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“…But a string of recent eventsmost notably, the Orange Revolution in 2004, the Euromaiden protests and the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014has trapped the two countries in an intense geopolitical conflict. Today, Ukraine is considered a battleground state for Russia's information war against the West, with researchers carefully detailing how Russian official narratives frame large-scale protests in Ukraine --be it against corruption, against electoral fraud, or for European integrationas Western-supported attacks on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in Russia's neighborhood (Frear & Mazepus 2021).…”

Section: Overview Of the Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Information battleground: Conflict perceptions motivate the belief in and sharing of fake news about the adversary

Osmundsen¹,

Petersen²,

Mazepus³

et al. 2022

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Why do people disseminate fake news online? We investigate this question by focusing on the effect of perceived conflict on the endorsement of fake news in the context of a regional conflict between Russia and the West as experienced by Ukrainian citizens. In our survey experiment, a sample of Ukrainians (N= 1,615) was randomly assigned to read negative fake news stories about Russia, the European Union or Tanzania – a country with no stakes in the conflict. We find that perceived conflict between Ukraine and Russia makes Ukrainians less likely to endorse fake news targeting the European Union, but more likely to endorse fake news about Russia. This finding extends the support for motivated reasoning theory beyond Western contexts investigated so far, but also advances our understanding of why false information is disseminated and point to the importance of conflict de-escalation to prevent its diffusion.

show abstract

Security, Civilisation and Modernisation: Continuity and Change in the Russian Foreign Policy Discourse

Cited by 11 publications

References 34 publications

Information battleground: Conflict perceptions motivate the belief in and sharing of misinformation about the adversary

Information battleground: Conflict perceptions motivate the belief in and sharing of misinformation about the adversary

Russia in Latin America: Why support Venezuela in a crisis?

Information battleground: Conflict perceptions motivate the belief in and sharing of fake news about the adversary

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