Framing Strategies Used in Authoritarian Block Building: Russia and China

• In Event: Crisis, Disinformation and Authoritarian Narratives in Russia and China

Abstract

Authoritarian states are consolidating regional blocs to counter the global decoupling and sanction pressures. Extant literature notices authoritarian regimes have been constructing alternative narratives about international events aiming at building legitimacy for their position and actions, but we know little about how these state-sponsored narratives are formulated and spread in the online public sphere. By collecting large-scale text data about regional bloc building from the most popular social media platforms in Russia and China, the two leading authoritarian states of Eurasia authoritarian states, this paper adopts automatized text analysis and critical discourse analysis to interrogate the framing strategies used by authoritarian states, the rhetoric similarity and divergence between state authority, key opinion leaders and the general public as well as the dissemination effectiveness of these narratives. This study enriches our understanding of authoritarian regional alliance-building strategies and the dynamics of authoritarian propaganda from a comparative perspective.

Authors

• Ming Ma, Free University Berlin

• Alexander M. Libman, Freie Universität Berlin

• Genia Kostka, Freie Universität Berlin