The use of disinformation and malign influence has become a key tool in the attempts to weaken democracy and cooperation in the West. The pandemic has offered an opportunity to use the uncertainty of a previously unknown disease to undermine trust in the Western society and to fuel conspiracy theories. In this seminar we get perspectives from two leading US experts, Jed Willard and Adam Berinsky.
Willard, who contributed a chapter on hybrid warfare to an anthology published this year by the Swedish Defense University, provided an introduction to disinformation and its role in modern state competition. Berinsky focused on conspiracy theories and their political impact.
SFWF:s Senior Fellow Patrik Oksanen gave a Swedish overview of the footprints of malign influence from Russia and China in a Swedish context. The second part of the seminar was a moderated discussion.
The webinar is now available in full on our Facebook page.
Participants:
Jed Willard, Director of Global Engagement at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation at Adams House, Harvard University
Adam Berinsky, the Mitsui Professor of Political Science at MIT and the director of the MIT Political Experiments Research Lab (PERL)
Patrik Oksanen, Senior Fellow at Stockholm Free World Forum and member of the Swedish Royal Academy of War Sciences as well as the Royal Society of Naval Sciences
Moderator: Gunnar Hökmark, President of the Stockholm Free World Forum and former Former Member of European Parliament.
Click here to watch the panel discussion
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This episode of Freeworld Connect is brought to you in cooperation with the US Embassy Stockholm.