Research
History
The ambition to draw lessons from the past for the present defines the field of applied history, which provides intellectual inspiration for CSSC. Instead of studying history for its own sake, applied history examines the past to facilitate constructive responses to contemporary challenges.
Our aspiration, accordingly, is to provide a historical perspective on current events, and to use the study of history to distill insights that can contribute to continued human progress. Even when studying contemporary phenomena, our research has the ambition to historicize and to relate present-day events to long-term developments and historical precedents.
Statecraft
Statecraft is the art of managing government affairs. For thousands of years, human societies have been organized as states, which provide public goods and exercise a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. In the modern world, states are as important as ever, tasked with organizing welfare systems, providing security against internal and external threats, and interacting with the international environment in a manner consistent with their values and interests.
To achieve these objectives, political leaders must master the art of governing. The provision of evidence-based and historically informed perspectives on statecraft is therefore a key part of CSSC’s vision.
Communication
Communication refers to the production, distribution and reception of information. While symbolic exchanges define the human condition, in the twenty-first century they shape societal outcomes to an unprecedented extent. This is due to a series of communication revolutions that recently culminated with the emergence of the Internet.
Statecraft is now inextricably intertwined with communications systems, which provide infrastructural frameworks not just for democratic deliberation and diplomatic exchanges, but also for surveillance, espionage, cyber attacks, and the manipulation of public opinion. Seeking to provide scholarly perspectives on such phenomena, CSSC has an orientation toward information and communication, with an emphasis on their role in statecraft.
Historical perspectives on communication in statecraft
Based on the overarching intellectual orientation described above, CSSC conducts historically informed research about communication in statecraft. CSSC’s orientation toward communication is complementary to its partner centers in the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy, which focus on grand strategy, geopolitics, and diplomacy. The centers are united by their historical approach to the study of statecraft and international affairs.
The overall vision is developed into three broad research areas: Information and Security, Rhetoric, and Diplomacy.
Information and Security
The control of information flows is an important determinant of geopolitical outcomes. As technological change has vastly expanded the capacity to communicate and store information, states have been confronted with new opportunities, but also with new vulnerabilities. While communication technologies enable new forms of cross-border communication and political participation, recent years have seen rising concerns about disinformation and fake news.
The intimate connection between information and security, however, goes further back than the ICT revolution. The spread of propaganda was facilitated by the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century, which undermined established information monopolies and contributed to social and political upheaval. In the twentieth century, radio and audiovisual media became crucial to the exercise of political power.
Today, information warfare is integral to so-called hybrid warfare. In peacetime, states engage in public diplomacy to build legitimacy and to promote their interests and values. New communication technologies have also created a potential for election meddling and digital espionage, unsavory aspects of an information environment in which it is imperative to develop countermeasures that strengthen resilience and capacities for psychological defense.
To enhance understanding of these phenomena, CSSC supports research on the following topics:
- Propaganda and disinformation
- Information warfare, psychological operations, and their role in hybrid warfare
- Psychological defense
- Intelligence and counterintelligence
- Historical studies of how messages and communication systems have impacted political events and international relations
Rhetoric
Rhetoric, the art of persuasion, is key to statecraft, since persuasion potentially functions as a substitute for coercion in the exercise of political power.
The academic study of rhetoric famoulsy flourished in ancient Greece, where it developed in tandem with democratic government. Today, rhetoric is an established academic discipline devoted to the study of persuasive communication.
Throughout history, skillfully employed rhetoric has shaped political outcomes. While the ancient Greeks practiced rhetoric in the face-to-face setting of the agora where participation was limited to citizen males, rhetorical contests are today embedded in a digital and global media system with a more diverse range of participants.
As this shows, rhetoric remains vital to statecraft in the twenty-first century. Our research on rhetoric is limited to its role in statecraft and should be distinguished by a historical perspective. This includes the following lines of inquiry:
- Historical case studies of rhetoric and its role in statecraft
- Studies of classical works of rhetoric
- Comparative historical studies of rhetoric
- Studies of how rhetoric has interacted with broader historical developments, such as industrialization, democratization, globalization, and the spread of new media and communication technologies
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is “the established method of influencing the decisions and behaviour of foreign governments and peoples through dialogue, negotiation, and other measures short of war or violence”. Such methods are central to statecraft. The Peace of Westphalia and the Congress of Vienna stand testimony to the capacity of diplomacy to end conflicts and build durable security orders. Twentieth-century initiatives such as the European Union and the United Nations mark the continuation of these efforts.
Today, diplomacy remains key to the sustainment of peace and prosperity. It is of existential importance in a nuclear world, in which failures of negotiation potentially have devastating consequences. Also essential in today’s world is public diplomacy, the direct communication with foreign publics for which opportunities have multiplied with the emergence of satellite television and social media. Soft power is in this context an indispensable complement to hard power.
To nurture an evidence-based approach to diplomacy is of crucial importance to Sweden, a small country reliant on diplomacy to maintain its international standing. The following research topics are welcomed:
- The history of diplomacy
- Diplomatic challenges in the twenty-first century
- Public diplomacy and soft power
- Diplomacy in Sweden and the Baltic region
