Government Responses to Asymmetric Threats: The State of the Literature on Information Operations from 2002 to 2022

Information operations have attracted renewed attention among pundits and scholars in recent years. Information operations are nothing new; in fact, the old empires of China and Russia reportedly relied on them. However, the advent of social media has significantly reshaped their utility and usage on the world stage, broadening their scope and impact. Specifically, social media platforms have introduced new dynamics by enabling rapid dissemination of information and fostering user-generated content. Social media has thus significantly reshaped the scholarly discourse around information operations. Alongside scholarship on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, research has also studied traditional media and its role in direct propaganda. Taken together, both strands of scholarship highlight how media can amplify disinformation and influence public opinion.

In this report, I present an overview of the existing state of research on the nature and the effectiveness of states’ use of information operations against other states and on states’ responses to adversaries’ information operations from 2002-2022. Information operations are defined as “actions taken by organized actors (governments or non-state actors) to distort domestic or foreign political sentiment, most frequently to achieve a strategic and/or geopolitical outcome.” They can comprise false news, disinformation campaigns, or networks of fake accounts. They can also rely on conventional, digital, or social media.

View Publication