Abstract

What explains the operational methods chosen and employed by states when conducting information operations (more commonly referred to as propaganda)? This is the guiding research question of Dr Maguire’s presentation and forthcoming book with Oxford University Press. Focused on more covert forms of propaganda in particular, Dr Maguire finds that beyond the dominant scholarly strategic-level explanations of state use of covert influence, perceptions of operational efficacy shape decision-making to operate through intermediaries. In the information domain, intermediaries are not simply selected as passive proxies to mitigate risks and costs; they are chosen specifically due to sponsor perceptions of their authority (shaped by their perceived authenticity and credibility) with target audiences and, therefore, their potential for influence.

Dr Maguire’s empirical evidence is generated from multi-archival and elite interview research on two prominent practitioners of covert propaganda – the British and American governments – examining their practices across Cold War Southeast Asia. He demonstrates that British and American perceptions of operational efficacy manifested in their decisions and actions in two ways: through the authority of the message – or content – they produced; and through the authority of the messenger – or intermediary – who disseminated their messages. Perceptions of the importance of both encouraged relationships between intelligence and propaganda institutions in both states’ governments, which Dr Maguire terms the ‘intelligence-propaganda nexus’. This presentation will introduce these conceptual frameworks and apply them to a case chapter from the book, which examines how British practitioners sought to utilise international liaison partners in Southeast Asian states as intermediaries for covert influence.

About the Speaker

Thomas Maguire is an Assistant Professor of Intelligence and Security in the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University, and Visiting Fellow with the King’s Centre for the Study of Intelligence in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London (KCL). He is the Principal Investigator of a Dutch Government-funded grant project, ‘Sharing Secrets’, examining state decision-making on whether and how to disclose intelligence to influence external audiences. He is also interested in the politics and impacts of international security cooperation, in particular exploring post-colonial security relationships between states in Africa and Asia and the United Kingdom during and after the Cold War era.