"The anti-Taliban discourse during the Swat military operation, as mediated by the Pakistani state in its propaganda campaign, was aimed at maligning the Taliban militants in order to build support and legitimacy for the military offensive. The dominant trends in the analysis of state’s propaganda
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narratives in Pakistan’s two mainstream newspapers reveal that the main ideological discourse (Islam and national security) of the state remained unchanged during the conflict. In fact, the state tried to build its anti-Taliban narrative on the same ideological discourse. Since the meta-narrative of the state did not undergo any transformation, the post-9/11 anti-terrorism narrative of the state remains a superficial discourse. The discourse analysis of Pakistani state’s anti-Taliban narratives reveals this temporality and superficiality. The state, through its propaganda campaign, portrayed the Taliban as evil, as anti-state actors, who needed to be eliminated in the interests of the country. However, the state ideology supports a pro-Taliban narrative. The only conflict is operational and temporary. Thus, the state propaganda is not directed towards all Taliban, and it is event-specific and time-specific. The state has not abandoned the Islamic ideology and its so-called strategic discourse. The Islamic ideology and the national security discourse, on the basis of which Pakistan supported the Taliban in the 90s, suit more a pro-Taliban discourse. That is why the state’s anti-Taliban propaganda kept clashing with the ideology of the state." (Conclusion, page 23)
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"Democracy Redefined: Leading authoritarian regimes are working to reshape the public understanding of democracy. A redefined and heavily distorted version of the concept is communicated to domestic audiences through state-dominated media. Especially on television, these regimes put forth a dual mes
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sage that stresses their own achievements while belittling the core institutions of genuine democracy, which is often kept at arm’s length with the appellation “Western.” [...] Internet Under Threat: The leading authoritarians—particularly in China, Iran, and Russia—are using advanced and well-funded techniques to subvert legitimate online discourse. In addition to controlling access through physical, economic, and technological means, these regimes have enlisted loyal commentators and provocateurs like the “Fifty Cent Party” in China and the “Brigades” in Russia to overwhelm or disrupt undesirable discussions [...] Authoritarian Foreign Aid: These regimes are using soft-power methods to advance their interests internationally, particularly through billions of dollars in no-stringsattached development aid. Chinese leaders enunciate a doctrine of win-win foreign relationships, encouraging Latin American, African, Asian, and Arab states to form mutually benefi cial arrangements with China based on the principle of noninterference. As part of this strategy, the win-win philosophy is implicitly contrasted with that of the West, which Beijing portrays as pushing a self-serving and alien “democracy agenda” onto developing nations." (Main findings, page 3-4)
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"This book shows how to predict wars. More specifically, it tells us how to anticipate in a timely fashion the scope and extent of interstate conflict. By focusing on how all governments-democratic or not-seek to secure public support before undertaking risky moves such as starting a war, Getting to
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War provides a methodology for identifying a regime's intention to launch a conflict well in advance of the actual initiation. The goal here is the identification of leading indicators of war. Getting to War develops such a leading political indicator by a systematic examination of the ways in which governments influence domestic and international information flows. Regardless of the relative openness of the media system in question, we can accurately gauge the underlying intentions of those governments by a systematic analysis of opinion-leading articles in the mass media. This analysis allows us to predict both the likelihood of conflict and what form of conflict-military or diplomatic/economic-will occur. Theoretically, this book builds on a forty-year-old insight by Karl Deutsch-that all governments seek to mobilize public opinion through mass media and that careful analysis of such domestic media activity could provide an "early warning network" of international conflict. By showing how to tap the link between conflict initiation and public support, this book provides both a useful tool for understanding crisis behavior as well as new theoretical insights on how domestic politics help drive foreign policy." (Publisher description)
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"Although the primary purpose of this study is to define the roles that the mass media play in achieving integration in China, it also serves as an excellent survey of radio, the press, book publishing, and film. In addition it details propagande methods. Appendixes give statistics. Contains notes,
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a bibliography, and an index." (Eleanor Blum, Frances G. Wilhoit: Mass media bibliography. 3rd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 Nr. 258)
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"The wall poster used by the Chinese Communists as a medium of mass persuasion was assigned a new and radically different function by Mao Tse-tung." (Abstract)