Routledge Strategy in Information and Influence Campaigns: How Policy Advocates, Social Movements, Insurgent Groups, Corporations, Governments and Others Get What They Want

Information and influence campaigns are a particularly cogent example of the broader phenomenon we now term strategic political communication. If we think of political communication as encompassing the creation, distribution, control, use, processing and effects of information as a political resource, then we can characterize strategic political communication as the purposeful management of such information to achieve a stated objective based on the science of individual, organizational, and governmental decision-making. IICs are more or less centralized, highly structured, systematic, and carefully managed efforts to do just that. Strategy in Information and Influence Campaigns sets out in comprehensive detail the underlying assumptions, unifying strategy, and panoply of tactics of the IIC, both from the perspective of the protagonist who initiates the action and from that of the target who must defend against it. Jarol Manheim’s forward-looking, broad, and systematic analysis is a must-have resource for scholars and students of political and strategic communication, as well as practitioners in both the public and private sectors. Review "Manheim has written an always readable and often startling guide to perhaps the greatest force presently shaping our world: strategic communication. Based on many decades of study this book draws together the wisdom of ages and the latest insights into the subject. It clarifies its operation with an impressive line-up of cases of the best (and the worst) of communication in practice. This is an invaluable text for scholars, students and communication practitioners alike."―Nicholas J. Cull, University of Southern California "Manheim develops an elegant framework to unite his foundational insights about strategic communication. For students, the book can yield thousands of ideas for innovative research. For practitioners, this book can make their own strategic campaigns more effective."―Patrick Sellers, Davidson College "A foremost expert in the role of information/influence campaigns in public persuasion, Manheim offers with Strategy a comprehensive, accessible book that will find an eager audience of scholars and students. With clarity and precision, he reveals what social scientific inquiry reveals about messages that offer information and influence and the impact that those messages possess for varied audiences."―Trevor Parry-Giles, University of Maryland "Much attention is paid by pundits, scholars, and political activists to the nature, funding, and impact of candidate campaigns. But way too little attention is paid to public affairs efforts, what Manheim calls ‘information and influence campaigns’, which is too bad, because they have just as much impact on our system than do political candidates, parties, and their campaigns. Hopefully, this book will trigger additional examinations of this relatively new and rapidly growing American phenomenon."―Les Francis, Principal and Senior Strategist, Washington Media Group "This is a masterful analysis of how influence campaigns and strategic communication work. No other book comes close in terms of scope, insight, and readability. Manheim has written a classic."―Lance Bennett, University of Washington "Manheim is one academic who truly understands the real world, the tough world of business and the rougher world of advocacy. He brings an academic's disciplined thinking to the chaos of our world. Becoming smarter about why we do things and how we can do them better is the rich reward this book offers."―John Ashford, Chairman and CEO, The Hawthorn Group "Given the wide net Manheim casts, it is anticipated that this study will serve as a useful resource to not only scholars, but also those wishing to bring about change in a variety of contexts. In short, the author succeeds in producing a comprehensive guidebook for those who want to use information to influence others. Lastly, Manheim's bibliographic reviews on cam