How to Lose the Information War
Russia, Fake News and the Future of Conflict
by Nina Jankowicz
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Pub Date Jul 09 2020 | Archive Date Aug 07 2020
Bloomsbury Academic | I.B Tauris
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Description
Since the start of the Trump era, the United States and the Western world has finally begun to wake up to the threat of online warfare and the attacks from Russia. The question no one seems to be able to answer is: what can the West do about it?
Central and Eastern European states, however, have been aware of the threat for years. Nina Jankowicz has advised these governments on the front lines of the information war. The lessons she learnt from that fight, and from her attempts to get US congress to act, make for essential reading.
How to Lose the Information War takes the reader on a journey through five Western governments' responses to Russian information warfare tactics - all of which have failed. She journeys into the campaigns the Russian operatives run, and shows how we can better understand the motivations behind these attacks and how to beat them. Above all, this book shows what is at stake: the future of civil discourse and democracy, and the value of truth itself.
Advance Praise
“As a journalist who has spent years covering the complex issue of information warfare I can confidently say that this book is a must-read for our age. This outstanding work forensically details and analyses the past decade-plus of Russia's influence operations and their inexorable spread to the United States. The Kremlin's threat is an urgent one and we are in desperate need of more authors like Jankowicz. Her expertise is grounded in an intimate knowledge of information warfare that only those who have experienced it firsthand can claim, and this book is, accordingly, an exceptional achievement.”” – David Patrikarakos, author of 'War in 140 Characters
“At this moment of economic and political crisis, as disinformation spirals out of control, Nina Jankowicz take a closer look at how different countries have sought to cope with the onslaught. She takes us to the front lines of the information war, offering a clear and accessible account of what's been tried, what works and what doesn't.” – Anne Applebaum, author of Gulag: A History (2003) and Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine (2017)
“In this wide-ranging and sobering account of Russian information operations in Europe and the United States, Nina Jankowicz sounds a clear warning: unless politicians reassess their campaign tactics and seek to diminish, rather than exacerbate, the fissures that exist within their own societies, the West will remain vulnerable to domestic and foreign groups seeking to undermine democracy.” – Angela Stent, author of Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest (2019)
“Nina Jankowicz has written an essential account of the contemporary information war waged by Russia. Read to the end, because after a deep analysis of key case studies, she wisely eschews simple solutions, knowing that disinformation is not merely about Russian operations or online platform rules but also about the resilience of democratic institutions themselves.” – David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781838607685 |
| PRICE | £20.00 (GBP) |
Featured Reviews
Gemma M, Educator
I really enjoyed this book. It's a whistle-stop tour of Russian disinformation campaigns, with each chapter focusing on a different Eastern European country (Georgia, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia and Ukraine) - its history of relations with Russia, the story of the information war they've already been fighting for some time, what the underlying fissures are that fuel disinformation, and what the West can therefore learn from each of these 'case studies'.
I learnt a lot, feel far more armed with information around disinformation to better make sense of the current discourse, and was really fascinated by both the historical and recent stories of countries I know little about. It's a really easy read too - not at all academic, and littered with human stories and nice personal touches from the author.
Only thing I found a little distracting - it's very much written from a US perspective, which makes sense given the author's background, and is of course interesting considering the current state of disinformation in the US, but sometimes it was a little off-putting how much Jankowicz referred to America as this aspirational democracy. I can understand that being really appealing to a US audience, but didn't really do much for me as a Scot / European, and it sometimes felt a little insincere - 'let's learn lessons from the pretty traumatic pasts of these eastern European countries so the American dream can be alive'. It's obvious this wasn't the author's intention, however (she makes her views towards the current state of America very clear), so I think this is more due to me not being American and wanting a more global focus, which perhaps requires a whole other book.
I'd highly recommend reading this book - it's a brilliant whistle-stop tour of the history and current status of disinformation, as well as being a fascinating dive into Eastern Europe.
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