210084 SE BAK15: Osteuropastudien (2019W)

Political warfare is a term used to describe political, informational, military, economic and other measures that – while staying below the legal threshold of an open armed conflict – are aimed at compelling or coercing an enemy country’s government to do one’s will. These measures can be overt or covert, and range from economic sanctions and trade wars, political alliances and propaganda to psychological operations, disinformation campaigns, cyber-attacks, clandestine support for subversive foreign elements, etc.
This course will explore political warfare as it is practiced today by state and non-state actors, who consider political warfare as a relatively efficient and low-cost form of competition. It will start with an overview of the history of political warfare and especially its use by Soviet and Western states during the Cold War. The larger part of the course will focus on the contemporary period. Seminars, in particular, will examine how social media are exploited to deepen divisions and exacerbate discord within societies; study how political alliances are used to undermine liberal-democratic narratives in Eastern Europe and draw divisions between states; investigate how cyber-attacks, leaks, “kompromat” and disinformation campaigns are employed to interfere in electoral processes and sow distrust in democratic institutions. At the end of the course, we shall also discuss the future of political warfare focusing on the possible use of big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning.