Testing the Importance of Information Control: How Does Russia React When Pressured in the Information Environment?

摘要

Applying big data and sentiment analysis to TASS reporting and 15 years of Russian Foreign Ministry documents, this paper tests the importance Moscow places on information control. By comparing the Russian government's responses to four categories of foreign policy tools-diplomatic, information, military, and economic (the DIME construct)-this research finds that Russia reacts far more negatively to information tools than to military, diplomatic, or economic tools. The broader findings demonstrate the efficacy of information as a tool for pressuring authoritarian states, and provide democratic states an option for responding to influence or cyber campaigns launched by authoritarian, state-level peers.