Abstract
For scholars and students interested in politics, social media, sociology, media and communication and studies of disinformation and misinformation, this volume will answer questions regarding the involvement of the state in mis/disinformation campaigns and the meddling of governments and political parties in democratic institutions. The aim of the book is to ‘bring scholarly attention to a specific disinformation agent – the powerful state – and its most frequent target: its citizens’ (p. 2). By creating a better understanding of the inner workings of the state, editors and authors provide information guide in noticing patterns and commonalities in these strategies and to better identify harmful scenarios of government meddling within media for their political gains. The elements highlighted as the most relevant to the spread of state-sponsored dis/misinformation are ‘(1) strategic planning, (2) privileged access to material and symbolic resources, (3) sophistication, (4) perceived legitimacy, (5) institutional power, and (6) corporate and media collusion’ (p. 3). What draws this volume apart is its exploration of state and media through a broad spectrum of countries and continents, North (USA), South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia hence showing the colossal nature of state-sponsored disinformation. The book is organised by type of political regime according to the V-Dem classification and is divided into three parts and 19 chapters.