Citation
Pavlíková, Miroslava; Mareš, Miroslav. 'Barnevernet Steals Children' an Analysis of Russian Information Warfare Narratives in the Czech Disinformation Media
. TRAMES: A Journal of the Humanities & Social Sciences Vol 24, no. 4 (2020): 589-605. DOI: 10.3176/tr.2020.4.07.
Findings
This article supports the hypothesis that Russian information warfare leverages a number of narratives and subnarratives regarding the Norwegian children's social welfare system (NCWS) to portray Western European states as morally rotten and deviating from traditional Christian values, demonstrating this through analysis of content in so-called disinformation media in the Czech Republic from 2014 to 2017. Through content analysis employing open and axial sociological coding, beginning with two working narratives and identifying a third during the analysis process, it classifies Russian information warfare in the Czech Republic as belonging to one of three narrative categories, each of which has sub-categories: first, narratives of the NCWS as fascist/Nazi; second, narratives of Norwegian twisted sexuality and moral decay; and, third, neo-Marxist policy narratives applies to the NCWS. The authors also identified narrative bridging between attributes of the different narratives and sub-narratives.
Tags
Method: Qualitative Operation: State Initiation of info ops threat/attack Attack: General population of the state that is threatened/attacked Geoscope: Single country UN Region: Eastern Europe DOD Region: EUCOM Country: Czech Republic Type: Article Year: 2020
Research Background
- Research questions
- How does Russian information warfare leverage narratives about the Norwegian childhood social welfare system in the Czech Republic's disinformation media environment? What narratives and sub-narratives are employed? (inferred)
- Hypotheses
- Russia has leveraged a number of narratives and sub-narratives in the Czech Republic regarding the Norwegian childhood social welfare system to implement its strategy of portraying Western European states as morally rotten and deviating from traditional Christian values. (inferred)
Variables or Concepts
- Independent variables & concepts
- Use of narratives regarding Norwegian children's welfare system (inferred)
- Use of sub-narratives regarding Norwegian children's welfare system (inferred)
- Dependent variables & concepts
- The strategy of portraying Western European states as morally rotten and deviating from traditional Christian values (inferred)
Methodologies
- Qualitative method description
- Case study of Russia's information warfare in the Czech Republic, employing content analysis with open and axial sociological coding to identify narratives in content from pro-Russian Czech media outlets
Time Frame
- Start: 2014
- End: 2017