No 54 (2023): Political communication and armed conflicts: perspectives, debates and approaches

In a world marked by various conflicts, political communication plays a prominent role in both risk management and the construction of narratives that help address radicalization. The invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and more recently the intensification of the conflict between Israel and Palestine can be considered prominent examples of contemporary armed conflicts. In these conflicts, the management of information flows and the struggle to "win the narrative" become as strategic as the military techniques on the ground. Aware of this context, Más Poder Local presents in its issue 54 a monograph on "Political Communication and Armed Conflicts," coordinated by researchers José Manuel Moreno Mercado (University of Granada) and Pablo Moral Martín (UPO-UNED).

José Manuel Moreno Mercado is renowned for his study of media coverage of armed conflicts. Among his recent works, we can highlight "The Syrian conflict in the Spanish press: an analysis of the securitization of war" (Revista Española de Ciencia Política, 2021) or "Armed conflicts and narrative construction through Twitter. The case of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan" (Revista Española de Ciencia Política, 2022). On the other hand, Pablo Moral Martín specializes in disinformation, digital diplomacy, and natural language processing (NLP). His recent works include the articles "The security-development nexus and resilience as substitutes for human security in European Union policies: the case of the Sahel" (Relaciones Internacionales, 2020) and "A tale of heroes and villains: Russia’s strategic narratives on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic" (Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 2023).

Within this monograph, we find the work of Belén Alamo Herrero (University of Granada), who, through a critical discourse analysis, examines the news coverage of the Syrian Arab Agency during the Russian intervention in Syria between September 2015 and February 2016. Alamo Herrero delves into the mental frameworks and linguistic constructions used by the pro-government Syrian press to legitimize Russian interference. Alongside this work, José L. Salido Medina and Daniel F. Pérez-García from the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies present a crucial study focused on the concept of "alternative narratives" (as opposed to "counter-narratives") and their application for preventing violent extremism through intervention campaigns. The growing academic interest in understanding radicalization phenomena is accompanied by a reflection on the strategies that can be deployed to prevent or moderate such processes. The authors delve into the characteristics of an alternative narrative campaign while pointing out the fundamental elements that will influence the success of these campaigns. The monograph's third article, written by Guillermo López Rodríguez (University of Granada), investigates the variables that explain the level of engagement with the Instagram accounts of different armies (France, Israel, Spain, Australia, and the United States). The author provides a series of recommendations to improve the communication of these institutions on the rapidly expanding social network that is Instagram. Similarly, it allows for reflection on a new aspect of public diplomacy, related to digital communication through social networks. The monographic section of the issue concludes with a consulting note by José Luis Manfredi, Prince of Asturias Professor at Georgetown University, diagnosing the main challenges of political communication in an international society marked by numerous conflicts. Professor Manfredi emphasizes disinformation as a major challenge to coexistence and trust in institutions. For the author, fostering social trust is the major challenge facing international society.

In conclusion, this issue 54 starts with a clear conviction: research in political communication has much to contribute to the field of international relations to achieve a peaceful and sustainable world, promoting a de-escalation of radicalization and armed conflict processes, while also addressing the risks arising from growing political polarization. The issue contributes to the expansion of the theoretical corpus of a distinct research area, the one that links media and conflicts, still under construction within the Spanish-speaking academia.