External Communication In Social Media During Asymmetric Conflicts: A Theoretical Model And Empirical Case Study Of The Conflict In Israel And Palestine

Description

Social media increasingly shapes the way in which we perceive conflicts and conflict parties abroad. Conflict parties, therefore, have started using social media strategically to influence public opinion abroad. This book explores the phenomenon by examining, (1) which strategies of external communication conflict parties use during asymmetric conflicts and (2) what shapes the selection of these communication strategies. In a comprehensive case study of the conflict in Israel and Palestine, Bernd Hirschberger shows that the selection of strategies of external communication is shaped by the (asymmetric) conflict structure. Cover Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Wars of words and images – The effectualness of pictures and stories of war and their strategic exploitation by conflict parties 1.2 Research focus, research questions and core thesis 1.3 Overview – Thesis outline 2. Conceptualization 2.1 Conceptualizing “external communication” 2.2 Conceptualizations of strategies of external communication 3. Theory – Explaining the selection of strategies of external communication 3.1 Theoretical expectations of established theories 3.2 The conflict structure as explanation for the selectionof strategies of external communication 3.3 Interests 3.4 Opportunities 3.5 Relations of the pathways, variation across timeand possible alternative explanations 4. Case selection, research design & methodology 4.1 The case of the conflict in Israel and Palestine 4.2 Identifying strategies of external communication 4.3 Explaining the selection of external communication strategies Empirics I – Identifying strategies of externalcommunication in the conflict in Israel and Palestine 5. Empirics I – Identifying strategies of external communication in the conflict in Israel and Palestine 5.1 Results of the quantifying qualitative content analysis 5.2 Robustness check – Results of the automated quantitative large‐scale content analysis and the semi‐structured interviews Empirics II – The impact of the operational environment on the selection of the strategy of external communication in the conflict in Israel and Palestine 6. Empirics II – Interests 6.1 General pattern – Interests resulting from the distribution of capabilities 6.2 Detailed example: Interests resulting fromthe distribution of economic & financial capabilities 6.3 Detailed example: Interests resulting from the distributionof social/institutional capabilities 7. Empirics II – Opportunities 7.1 Opportunities to convince 7.2 Opportunities to present – Overview 7.3 Opportunities to present – The impact of the distributionof military capabilities 7.4 Opportunities to present – The impact of the distributionof economic & financial capabilities 7.5 Opportunities to present – The impact of the distributionof social/institutional capabilities 7.6 Identifying the most successful strategy by controlling for efficiency 8. Empirics II – Crisis communication and alternative explanations 8.1 Routine vs. crisis communication 8.2 Alternative explanations 9. Conclusions 9.1 Summary 9.2 Theoretical core contributions 9.3 Limitations and proposals for future research:Thinking beyond the conflict in Israel and Palestine 9.4 Practical recommendations 10. Literature and sources 10.1 Academic literature 10.2 Interviews 10.3 Software 10.4 News articles, magazines and blogs 10.5 Conference Documents, legislative documents and (other) primary sources 10.6 Statistics and data bases 10.7 Sources of maps 10.8 List of figures 10.9 List of tables 10.10 Online annex