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What: Professors Ben O’Loughlin and Alister Miskimmon will talk #AI, #publicdiplomacy + #strategicnarrative with host Sean Aday at the George Washington University / online.
When: 25 March 12 PM EST
Link to register and join: https://form.jotform.com/250565460458158
This discussion is based on a chapter O’Loughlin and Miskimmon published in Sean’s new Handbook of Public Diplomacy.
Please join us for the book launch seminar:
The Left and Digital Politics
Imagining progressive alternatives in the age of digital monsters.
Tuesday 11 March, 17.00-19.00
Moore Annex Lecture Theatre
Royal Holloway University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, TW20 0EQ
With the author:
Dr Marco Guglielmo, University of Valencia (Spain)
and
Professor Ben O’Loughlin, Director of the New Political Communication Unit
About the book (open access here):
Digital platforms are more than devices, algorithms and websites. They organise societies through the leadership of platform capitalists and their allies in political institutions. We know that this leadership, or hegemony, fosters exploitation and inequalities. We also know that a politics of resistance is emerging among platform workers and communities around the digital commons.
Less known is how the left has been changing to have a say in digital politics. And what do left-wing parties think and do about platform societies? The Left and Digital Politics answers these questions by developing an updated Gramscian critical theory of (counter-)hegemony in platform societies and a comparative analysis of the ideologies and practices of key European left-wing parties.
The book provides a map of left-wing ideas and practices on digital politics, a compass to point out how some left-wing parties perform as barriers or allies of radical change, and an analytical toolkit to open new routes towards platform socialism.
The seminar:
We have chosen to adopt an interactive format for this event. After a 20-minute presentation, we will start an interactive session with open-ended Q&A.
Navigating the book's contents will enable a collective and open discussion on urgent questions. Have progressive of all sorts lost the battle over the Internet? Is there any future for social media beyond nativist moguls as Donald Trump and Elon Musk? Are there any chances to halt the proliferation of ‘digital monsters’ spreading online hate and disinformation? What possibilities exist to redirect Generative Artificial Intelligence into a toolkit for emancipation?
Reflecting on how multiple actors among the Left have thought about the digital transition during the 2010s, alongside the author’s normative propositions for a progressive digital organisation, will engage the audience in thinking about reclaiming progressive values for transformative technologies.
The author:
Marco Guglielmo (he/him) is Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Valencia (Spain). Previously, he was Lecturer in Politics at the Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Royal Holloway. His current research focuses on progressive imaginaries of the digital commons and alternative forms of artificial intelligence. Marco is co-editing with Dr Kat Gupta, Dr Pauline Heinrichs and Professor Ben O’Loughlin the book Navigating Platform Power: Agency and Resistance in Digital Spaces.
“Transforming Gramsci’s project of the Modern Prince into a Digital Princess*+ may not happen overnight, but Guglielmo’s book provides great inspiration. It advances concepts in networked revolution and informs strategies for wars of position and movement for a socialist future. The author holds the left to account in its search for a better digital politics, by challenging us to unearth patterns of agency of the digital platform ‘subaltern’. I recommend The Left and Digital Politics whole-heartedly to all those fighting for digital justice, and beyond.”
– Professor Phoebe Moore, University of Essex
“This book sets a new standard for understanding the thorny relationship between the left and digital politics today. Combining innovative theory with detailed empirical studies, Guglielmo sets out to understand how left-wing political projects have made use of digital technologies, both practically and ideologically. In so doing, he sets out new pathways towards platform socialism in an era of neoliberal rule, exhaustively mapping out the contemporary terrain and lines of potential alliance and conflict.”
– Dr Alex Williams, University of East Anglia
Do platforms have a lock on our future? Ben O’Loughlin has reviewed four books looking at how they can be challenged, newly published in the International Journal of Press/Politics. At stake is the operation of society, economy, and politics. For many it is existential. Yet some have found ways to counter-organise, and find alternative paths, as Ben finds in the books. Read here.
Time: 5.00-6.30pm
Date: Thursday 23 January 2025
Place: Shilling Lecture Theatre
The World White Web provides an interdisciplinary analysis of far-right radicalisation in the digital age, drawing from criminology, history, and computer science to explore how technology and imagery accelerate extremist recruitment. The book examines 20,000 internet memes to reveal white supremacy’s deep historical roots. It demonstrates how far-right propagandists leverage historical narratives and symbols to influence modern-day recruitment, bridging fringe and mainstream ideas across diverse time periods, countries and contexts, amid technological and social changes. Topics include racism and xenophobia in Greek and Roman antiquity, antisemitism in the Middle Ages, anti-Black racism rooted in the Antebellum South, the weaponisation of the Reconquista in Spain, the ‘memeification’ of the Rurik Dynasty in Russia, Crusader iconography in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, eco-fascist propaganda in the Balkans, neo-Nazi mythology in India, and Völkisch ideology in Germany and Austria. The book emphasises the importance of interdisciplinary, socio-technical and multi-stakeholder approaches to truly comprehend and address the contemporary manifestations and threats posed by the global interconnectedness of the far right online.
Bio: Dr Ashton Kingdon is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Southampton. She is also an Advisory Board Member at the Accelerationism Research Consortium, a research fellow at VOX-Pol, a core member of the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN), a member of the steering committee for the British Society of Criminology's Hate Crime Network and former head of Technology and Research Ethics at the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. Ashton Kingdon’s research is interdisciplinary, combining criminology, history, and computer science to explore the ways in which extremists utilise technology and imagery for recruitment and radicalisation. She has advised the UK, US, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian governments and law enforcement, military, United Nations, and social media companies as to the risks posed by extremists operating online. In addition to extremists’ use of technology to recruit and radicalise, her expertise also lies in analysing the relationship existing between terrorism and climate change.
Thanks to Akil Awan at the Conflict, Violence and Terrorism Research Centre (CVTRC) for organising this.
Our amazing PhD filmmaker-student Aleks Rydzkowska has published her new interactive documentary (idoc) Trolls Vs. Elves. Her aim is help audiences better understand disinformation - though you can play it as a troll if you want! Watch the trailer and dive in here: https://docubase.mit.edu/project/trolls-vs-elves/
We have published a new report, Academic Access to Social Media Data for the Study of Political Online Safety. This in response to Ofcom’s call for evidence on this topic. As new threats reach the social media environment, platforms continue to obstruct independent research. It’s time to act.
Elon Musk is a key actor in the Trump administration, Meta stopped using factcheckers right when GenAI makes mis/disinformation more sophisticated, and TikTok is accused of threatening the national security of Western countries. What does this mean for society and democracy?
The ability of independent researchers to answer these and other questions is under threat as platforms limit data access to academics. The EU is already pushing them to revert this trend, yet other governments such as the UK are lagging behind. Ofcom/Parliament must act.
The goal of the report is four-fold. First, we discuss the threats that social media pose to society and democracy, particularly in light of recent development in Generative AI and platform ownership.
Second, we detail what data researchers need for conducting independent research on online safety. Third, we discuss the challenges they currently face. Finally, we advocate for the creation of a new independent body to foster, manage and oversee academic platform research.
The report builds on, and aims to contribute to, parallel efforts in other countries. Take a quick look at our Executive Summary for a brief overview of the report.
Domenico in his moment of victory, with Lizz and Tom in support.
Congratulations to Dr. Domenico Galimi who passed his PhD viva yesterday. Domenico’s thesis is entitled, Evolutionary Narratives of Terrorism: A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Red Brigades. What explains this evolution? Domenico’s development of the idea of a vector of change. He was supervised by Dr. Elizabeth Pearson, Prof. Ben O’Loughlin and Prof. Tom Dyson. His examiners were scholars of terrorism and counter-terrorism Dr. Elisa Orofino (Anglia Ruskin University) and Prof. Andrew Silke (Royal Holloway). We are also grateful to Dr. David La Rooy who was there at the crucial start of Domenico’s journey.
Abstract:
This research reconceptualizes terrorist groups as metaphorical organisms for the purposes of research, necessitating an evolutionary lens for comprehensive understanding. Drawing upon the foundational tenets of Critical Terrorism Studies and Narrative Criminology, the research innovatively expands upon Nikolas Tinbergen’s evolutionary framework. While Tinbergen's original model posed four behavioural questions, this research introduces a tailored framework of six, specifically crafted for the study of terrorist organizations. This metaphorical approach addresses a significant gap in the literature, offering a method uniquely suited to analysing the evolution and behaviour of terrorist groups. Through the case study of the Red Brigades, the research underscores the significance of not only evolutionary strategies, but the whys underlying them, in the persistence or decline of terrorist groups, providing a framework for further research applicable to both upcoming and retrospective terrorist groups. This thesis finds, first, that transdisciplinary evolutionary models can be successfully applied to terrorist organisations and at meso-level analysis; second, that, in contrast with the majority of accepted literature, the Red Brigades evolutionary capability was significantly more constrained beyond strong initial movements; third, that specific events, called Vectors of Evolutionary Change, were especially pivotal in changing said evolutionary trajectory, but were not recognised or emphasised as such by majority literature.
Congratulations are due to Andrew Lo who passed his PhD entitled, Strategic Narratives of China’s Foreign Policy: Host Diplomacy and National Image Branding. His PhD was supervised by professors Ben O’Loughlin and Jinghan Zeng. His thesis was examined by Professor Michelle Bentley, Dr. Yan Wu and Dr. Carolijn van Noort. We have put the abstract of this thesis below.
Well done to Andrew!
This thesis studies how China has used host diplomacy for national image branding. Mega diplomatic events in China deserve more research attention given their growing concerns and implications. Existing research has focused on summit diplomacy but has failed to explore the host’s perspective. Research on China’s host diplomacy has relied primarily on internal factors, resulting in overstating its effectiveness. Previous studies have disregarded the domestic audiences in host diplomacy. This project analyses three China’s host diplomacy events: (1) Belt and Road Forum, (2) World Internet Conference, and (3) China International Import Expo. The three case studies allow investigation of China’s rationale to use host diplomacy to (re)shape its global brand equity and address domestic social, economic and political challenges in the steps of strategic narratives and nation branding. The thesis combines both theoretical and empirical contributions to the subject via narrative analysis. The data for this project was collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews on-site in 2019. The thesis finds that China adopts system, identity and policy narratives to foreign and Chinese audiences differently, with intended and unintended overlaps. The thesis examines the China brand, showing that it is effective domestically due to its socio-political setting. Its effectiveness varies internationally from producing positive engagement to shaping global public policy. The findings reveal internal and external factors underlying the formation and projection of narratives to maximise the host advantages of favourable timing, location and people, and control of agenda-setting. The project improves identification and conceptual definitions of host diplomacy and its application in strategic narratives and nation branding, building up theoretical linkages with their accompanying rationale in China. Ultimately, these findings address longstanding questions in IR about identity, communication and power, enables a direct contribution to strategic narratives in constructivist IR and assists practitioners in understanding diplomatic events in the framework of host diplomacy. This study demonstrates how China leverages host diplomacy as a strategic tool to construct an alternative world order while positioning itself as a provider of global public goods.
As our autumn term ends, over a festive lunch (with at least some festive knitwear) our MSc Media, Power and Public Affairs class enjoyed a chance to catch-up and reflect on the term with Prof. Ben O’Loughlin — and for friendly debate about some of the issues in media and politics happening today. The students here are from around the world and this adds many perspectives and layers of experience to our classroom conversations.
Hybris, the goddess or personified spirit (daimona) of insolence, hubris, violence, reckless pride, arrogance and outrageous behaviour in general. A bit of a character.
Hubris, in all its guises, is an under-researched phenomenon in International Relations. We define hubris primarily as an over-confidence in one’s own beliefs that leads to overlooking alternative perspectives. Though the term is often used as an epithet against leaders with whom one disagrees, we also acknowledge that hubris is a common quality among the political classes with a unique impact on international affairs. Though typically understood as an individual-level trait, hubris undeniably scales the level of international politics—as the re-election of Donald Trump to the US presidency makes clear. We propose to explore this idea more deeply to investigate how hubris can be better understood as a factor in explaining failure and instability in the international system.
Existing scholarship has analysed hubris only in limited ways. At the level of individual political psychology, studies have analysed how leaders display hubris, often to negative effect. According to Owen and Davidson, hubris is a syndrome acquired over time, and is a ‘…disorder of the possession of power, particularly power which has been associated with overwhelming success, held for a period of years and with minimal constraint on a leader’ (Owen 2008; Owen and Davidson 2009). Owen and Davidson detail 14 symptoms of hubris syndrome impacting political leaders and their actions (Owen and Davidson 2009). While certainly a useful template for analysis of leaders like Trump and Putin, Owen and Davidson’s diagnosis raises questions about how hubris as an individual pathology scales to the level of the state and state action.
Beyond individual-level analysis, studies have noted the prevalence of hubris in narratives in international affairs. Button, for example, has examined the resurgence of the rhetoric of hubris, drawing on Hellenic thought to analyse contemporary politics (Button 2012). He argues that such rhetoric is a threat as it elides ‘…plurality and undermine(s) the conditions necessary for deliberation, good counsel, and shared political judgement’ (Button 2012). Studies have also focused on epistemic hubris—a species of the larger genus—that promotes unwarranted factual certitude or dismissal of inconvenient facts, in pursuit of political aims, to the detriment of collective interests (Barker, Detamble, and Marietta 2022; Pongiglione 2024). Nowhere is this more the case than in the frustrated efforts to forge a collective response to climate change.
Considering its widespread relevance and impacts, we propose to study hubris as a factor that helps explain instability and failure to cooperate. We invite contributors to interrogate this dynamic in relation to a diverse array of cases and subject matter. How do we conceptualise and theorise the role of hubris? How do we identify it and its effects empirically? How do we explain the causes of hubris and its consequences? By what benchmark do we evaluate hubris normatively?
We welcome papers that empirically and theoretically engage with the idea of hubris in IR. We will explore publication of the workshop papers in a leading peer-reviewed journal.
Those interested should submit their paper’s title and abstract (<250 words), as well as a short bio (<50 words) to the three convenors of the workshop (contact details listed below).
Funds are available to cover overnight accommodation for workshop participants.
Deadline: 6th January 2025
Convenor Contact details:
Alister Miskimmon, Professor, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen’s University, Belfast. A.Miskimmon@qub.ac.uk
Ben O’Loughlin, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Director of the New Political Communication Unit, Royal Holloway, University of London. Ben.Oloughlin@rhul.ac.uk
Adam B. Lerner, Associate Professor of Political Science, Director of the Bachelor of Liberal Arts, University of Massachusetts at Lowell. adam_lerner@uml.edu
The workshop is jointly organised by Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and Royal Holloway University of London. Funding has been generously provided by the Queen’s University North America Partnership Investment Fund.