Please join the Harriman Institute for a conference on Authoritarian Propaganda: Narratives, Public Responses, and Limitations.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has again placed the Kremlin’s propaganda efforts at the center of public attention, prompting experts on media and misinformation to consider why such manipulations work and how we can limit their spread. To continue this vital discussion, the Harriman Institute at Columbia University invites you to join a one-day conference on the strategies and impact of authoritarian propaganda today.

At this forum, leading scholars of media and politics in Russia and China will discuss how the nature of information control in autocracies changes today, why and when autocrats such as Vladimir Putin can successfully shape public opinion domestically and abroad, under what conditions citizens can resist the influence of propaganda, and how governments and societies can counter the flow of false and harmful political messages.

This event is supported by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Program

9:30 – 11:00 am | Panel I: Information Control in Autocracies and Beyond

• Great Firewalls and Leaky Cauldrons
  • Dimitar Gueorguiev, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Director of Chinese Studies, Syracuse University
• Do Digital Platforms Undermine or Reinforce Russia’s Control Over the Information Environment?
  • Mariëlle Wijermars, CORE Fellow, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki
• The Commanding Heights of Media Control and Regulation
  • Jack Lewis Snyder, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science and the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University
• Chair: J. Paul Goode, Associate Professor and McMillan Chair of Russian Studies at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University
• Discussant: Anya Schiffrin, Director of the Technology, Media, and Communications Specialization at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

11:15 – 12:30 pm | Panel II: Russian Propaganda Narratives

• Fighting Words: Putin and Strategic Narratives
  • Sarah Oates, Professor and Senior Scholar, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park
• Priming the Public for War: Television and Russia’s Invasions
  • J. Paul Goode, Associate Professor and McMillan Chair of Russian Studies at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University
• Chair: Arturas Rozenas, Associate Professor in the Department of Politics, New York University
• Discussant: Anne Nelson, Adjunct Research Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

1:30 – 3:00 pm | Panel III: The Impact and the Limits of Russian Propaganda

• Are We Overestimating the Influence of Russian Propaganda?
  • Arturas Rozenas, Associate Professor in the Department of Politics, New York University
• Are We Underestimating the Influence of Russian Propaganda?
  • Scott Gehlbach, Elise and Jack Lipsey Professor in the Department of Political Science, the Harris School of Public Policy, and the College at the University of Chicago
• Anxiety and Information: Lessons from the Covid Pandemic in Russia
  • Bryn Rosenfeld, Assistant Professor in the Department of Government, Cornell University
• Chair: Timothy M. Frye, Carnegie Chair in US-Russia Relations, Kluge Center, US Library of Congress, and Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Politics, Department of Political Science, Columbia University
• Discussant: Alexander Cooley, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and Vice Provost for Academic Centers and Libraries at Barnard College, Columbia University

3:15 – 5:00 pm | Panel IV: Propaganda, Regime Support, and Regime Stability

• Is Putin’s Popularity (Still) Real? What We Can Learn from Public Opinion Research in Russia
  • Timothy M. Frye, Carnegie Chair in US-Russia Relations, Kluge Center, US Library of Congress, and Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Politics, Department of Political Science, Columbia University
• Correcting National Overconfidence: A Study of China with Potential Implications for Russia
  • Haifeng Huang, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California, Merced
• Manufacturing Compliance: Propaganda, Censorship, and Socialization in Russia and Belarus
  • Samuel Greene, Director of Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis, and Professor of Russian Politics, King’s College London
• Chair: Bryn Rosenfeld, Assistant Professor in the Department of Government, Cornell University
• Discussant: Junyan Jiang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Columbia University