Subversion: The Strategic Weaponization of Narratives, with Andreas Krieg

This is the video recording of our online seminar featuring Andreas Krieg on 22 May 2023 (excluding the Q&A). In this talk, Andreas Krieg discusses his book Subversion: The Strategic Weaponization of Narratives.

**About Subversion**
Now more than ever, communities across the world are integrated into a complex, global information ecosystem that shapes the nature of social, political, and economic life. The ripple effects of actors trying to manipulate or disrupt this information ecosystem are far more severe than the primary effects that are merely being felt in the information space. In fact, the weaponization of narratives has already shown its potential to transform the character of conflict in the twenty-first century.

Subversion examines how malicious state and nonstate actors take advantage of the information space to sow political chaos. Andreas Krieg reveals how the coordinated use of weaponized narratives can achieve strategic-level effects through a six-stage process. Preying on vulnerable states and communities to find the fault lines within societies, these campaigns begin in the information space with an ultimate goal of producing tangible results (such as changes to policy or voting behavior, or spurring political violence). Krieg closely examines recent subversion campaigns by two states in particular, focusing on Russia’s interference in Western public discourse and the United Arab Emirates’s demonization of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

Subversion will provide scholars and policymakers with a comprehensive understanding of one of the most urgent threats in international politics along with recommendations on how vulnerable communities can become more resilient.

**About Andreas Krieg**
Andreas Krieg is an associate professor in the School of Security Studies at King’s College, London. He is the coauthor (with Jean Marc Rickli) of *Surrogate Warfare* (Georgetown University Press, 2019) and the author of four other books. Outside of academia, Krieg works as a geostrategic consultant at his London-based political risk firm, MENA Analytica Ltd.

[williamsmith]

Thank goodness the Egyptians did overthrow the Ihkwan government. Can you imagine leaving that terror group in charge of Egypt? You’d have a major theater war in the Levant with Israel, and probably in the Horn with Ethiopia.

[jgibbs]

Man, everything said before 11:40 was mislabelled. Every example used was not subversion at all but the "tools" of subversion i.e., misinformation, disinformation, propaganda - and their influence on the principles of social identity theory, and in/out-group differentiation theory. At 11:40 it is spot on though, "undermining cohesion" is the exact outcome desired from an effective subversion campaign. Further, stop using Jan 6th as an example of subversion (as you define it), the people who demonstrated on Jan 6th, were not disputing the authority of the government, nor were they attempting to undermine it, they were simply demonstrating against what they felt was an unlawful outcome of the election. They still believed in the principles of the Constitution, just not the manner in which the other party won the election. Your premise "weaponization of a narrative" is an excellent example for Jan 6th though. The media redefined the narrative post-event, repeated it constantly for 3 years now, and now even researchers such as yourself have been conditioned (via your schema of the event) to believe something else occurred on that day - other than what actually did. That said, that's not subversion, that's classical disinformation strategy - which is a tool of subversion.