The European Union's response to disinformation: tracing its security nature
Keywords:
desinformation, European Union, securitization theory, interpretative frameworks, agenda setting theoryCopyright (c) 2024 Revista Jurídica Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, disinformation entered the European Union’s political agenda as a security matter related to foreign action. Building upon the theory of securitization, the present study analyses the establishment of the European Union’s agenda concerning disinformation using the process-tracing method. It aims to examine the origin of a security interpretative framework from which institutional-level approaches to disinformation are made. The results confirm that the annexation of Crimea has had a significant influence on the establishment of this framework, which persisted during the studied period and was reinforced through a securitization process that elevated disinformation to the level of a threat through discursive practices. However, a broader understanding of the phenomenon would have prompted the evolution of the Union’s concerns.
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