Indicators are still at the heart of the debate on ‘sustainable development’ (SD), whatever the level or stance taken. However, initiatives of ‘indicators for sustainable development’ (ISD) cannot be related to a well-defined object. Facing this heterogeneity, an analysis of the uses and impacts of ISD in decision- and policy-making situations appears to be a necessity. Consequently, the present thesis focalises on the discussion and analysis of the characteristics of ISD-initiatives that are influencing the usability of ISD in decision situations? At a secondary level, the thesis identifies of a key which allows to read and analyse these characteristics, i.e. the usability-profile of ISD-processes, with respect to the configuration of the decision situation. A discussion of the mechanics of decision-making processes and the handling of information within these, identifies that the utilisation of assessments in policy-making can be apprehended with three different characteristics: legitimacy, credibility and salience (L,C,S). Applied to the context of ISD, legitimacy refers to the perception of the policy-actors of the procedural fairness, credibility to the perception of the scientific soundness and salience to the perception of stakeholder- and policy-relevance. A discussion of alternative and existing utilisation-analyses of ISD shows that the L,C,S-framework has sufficient depth and width to figure as a potential, overarching framework of ISD-characteristics. Simultaneously, the confrontation of the L,C,S-framework with the issue domain of SD, as well as a translation of L,C,S on the level of ISD-initiatives, shows that a secondary level of analysis is necessary. The linkages between an L,C,S-based analysis of the usability-profiles of ISD, the principles of SD and the policy making processes can be identified to be best discussed at the level of the institutionalisation of ISD, i.e. the ‘institutional embeddedness’ of ‘soft’ information-processes for SD-management into public decision-making culture. ISD can be identified as ‘boundary organisations’, i.e. objects which are set to facilitate the interactions between different existing actor arenas which have different cultures of understanding, constructing, organising and digesting information. We propose thus to add to the analysis of the usability of ISD, a second, institutional axis which allows to situate the mechanics of L,C,S between actor arenas, and allows to conceive a ‘usability-profile’ for ISD-initiatives. The institutional reading of ISD-initiatives is than developed further. In order to enhance their usability, ISD-processes need to be governed and steered: their usability can be managed and co-constructed through the lenses of the three usability-characteristics. Simultaneously, ISD are themselves acknowledged as being part of the government- and governance-instruments of the SD-domain. By translating information between actor-arenas, ISD foster a ‘governance-enhancing’ function, which in the end renders ISD as being part of the steering (or governance) instruments of SD. As a consequence, the enhancement or even management of the usability of ISD will distil down to ‘steer the steering’. Such a double-bound governance function can be addressed as ‘reflexive governance’, i.e. the governance of the governance instrument.

This study investigates the accountability of agencies responsible for countering Malign Information Influence (MII) during the 2018 general election in Sweden and the 2017 snap election in the United Kingdom. Using a comparative methodology, the study emphasizes the importance of timely, accurate, transparent, and sufficiently disseminated information as prerequisites for accountability. Qualitative data analysis of annual reports and media coverage was conducted, revealing that both Sweden and the UK were highly aware of the MII risks and implemented various measures to protect electoral integrity. While the conditions of timeliness were fulfilled,  limitations were identified in terms of transparency as well as dissemination. The study highlights common challenges and areas for improvement in the accountability mechanisms of government agencies, providing valuable lessons for countries facing similar issues. Ultimately, the thesis underscores the ongoing challenge for agencies to protect the electoral process from new sharp power threats, while also maintaining citizen trust. Suggestions for future research include incorporating mixed-methods approaches, broadening the research question to explore additional factors, conducting in-depth data analyses, and exploring additional cases to further enhance the generalizability of findings.

Sociala medier har kommit att bli en del av det utvidgade offentliga rummet som en konsekvens av IT-utvecklingen. Det är därmed också en plats för opinionsbildning och politisk påverkan, vilket kan utnyttjas av såväl politiska som kommersiella intressen för dold informationspåverkan. Astroturfing är en av många former av dold informationspåverkan och syftet med denna studie är få en större förståelse för astroturfing genom att besvara följande problemformulering. Vad kännetecknar digital politisk astroturfing, och varför används astroturfing för informationspåverkan i sociala medier? För att besvara problemformuleringen har jag genomfört kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra experter samt genomfört en litteraturstudie. Resultatet visar att de två främsta kännetecknen för astroturfing är att det försöker se ut som en gräsrotsrörelse och att de som ligger bakom har dolt sin verkliga identitet och sitt verkliga syfte. Detta kan göras på många olika sätt och metoderna kan kombineras för att passa in i det sammanhang där en försöker använda astroturfing för att påverka. Resultatet från såväl tidigare forskning som intervjuer visar därmed att det är väldigt svårt att med säkerhet identifiera astroturfing. Resultatet visar också att det främsta skälet till att astroturfing används i sociala medier är att det är enkelt och billigt. Litteraturen hävdar att ikläda sig formatet social rörelse ger en viss legitimitet och kan bidra till mobilisering, vilket bekräftas av intervjuerna. Men intervjuerna visar också att det sannolikt inte har någon större betydelse i förhållande till h et är att få till astroturfing i sociala medier. / Social media has become part of the extended public space as a consequence of development in ICT. It is thus a space to form public opinion and for political influence, which means it can also be exploited by political and commercial interests for concealed information influence. Astroturfing is one of many available information influence activities and the purpose of this study is to attain a greater understanding of astroturfing by answering the following research question: What characterizes digital political astroturfing, and why is astroturfing used for information influence in social media? To answer the research question I have conducted qualitative interviews with four experts and done a literature study. The results show that the two main characteristics of astroturfing are; that it tries to look like a grassroots movement and; that those who orchestrate it have concealed their real identity and purpose. This can be done in many different ways and the methods can be combined to fit the context in which one is trying to use astroturfing as an information influence activity. The results from both previous research and interviews thus show that it is very difficult to identify astroturfing with certainty. The results also show that the main reason why astroturfing is used in social media is that it is easy and inexpensive. The literature claims that mimicking a social movement gives a certain legitimacy and can contribute to mobilization, which is confirmed by the interviews. But the interviews also point out that it is unlikely to have any major impact compared to how inexpensive it is to orchestrate astroturfing in social media.

Information influence from authoritarian states poses significant challenges for democracies all around the world. The projecting of strategic narratives has become a key-strategy in cross border influence. Utilizing the theoretical framework of strategic narratives, this study seeks to comprehend information influence in Russian state media. Specifically, how state-owned Sputnik portrays Sweden concerning the Quran burnings in the country during year 2023. With the use of a narrative analysis the study has investigated how the narratives were constructed and were able to identify recurring patterns in the news reporting. The strategic narratives that was found were (1) Sweden as an Islamophobic country, (2) Ridiculing of Sweden (3) Sweden as a divided country (4) Positive image of Russia (5) Sweden as a country in conflict (6) Sweden as a state in decline.

Information influence in its most manipulative form can be equated with an attack that threatens democratic values. In order to be able to identify, respond to, and counteract such an attack, it can be argued that it is fundamental to increase the understanding of information influence as a phenomenon. The Chinese President Xi Jinping has formulated an aim to make China democratic by2049. Despite this ambition, actions taken by Xi indicate the opposite direction. This thesis is motivated by the above paradox and attempts to provide insight to the matter by, based on the theoretical framework of strategic narratives, analyzing, by combining textual and narrative analysis, what patterns can be discerned in how democracy is portrayed in Chinese English-language state media. This study uses Global Times as empirical base. From the identified narrative patterns one can distinguish three strategic narratives; 1) The narrative where Western democracy is described as dysfunctional, 2) The narrative where democracy is described as a tool in the pursuit of more power, 3) The narrative whereChina's definition of democracy is described as superior and one Neutral, non-strategic, narrative. The analysis further demonstrates how these strategic narratives can be understood as information influence, produced to create mistrust between actors with the purpose to shape the receiver's perception about democracy. The thesis concludes that Global Times uses certain strategic narratives in combination to exert information influence. The overall strategy, as previous research already identified, is that China shapes its own definition of democracy by discrediting the Western and the generally accepted variant of the concept of democracy, while emphasizing its own. This study has sought not just to contribute with empirical evidence that they are doing this but to also describe how the systematic of the procedure appears – which the identified narrative patterns describe.

Indicators are still at the heart of the debate on ‘sustainable development’ (SD), whatever the level or stance taken. However, initiatives of ‘indicators for sustainable development’ (ISD) cannot be related to a well-defined object. Facing this heterogeneity, an analysis of the uses and impacts of ISD in decision- and policy-making situations appears to be a necessity. Consequently, the present thesis focalises on the discussion and analysis of the characteristics of ISD-initiatives that are influencing the usability of ISD in decision situations? At a secondary level, the thesis identifies of a key which allows to read and analyse these characteristics, i.e. the usability-profile of ISD-processes, with respect to the configuration of the decision situation. <p>A discussion of the mechanics of decision-making processes and the handling of information within these, identifies that the utilisation of assessments in policy-making can be apprehended with three different characteristics: legitimacy, credibility and salience (L,C,S). Applied to the context of ISD, legitimacy refers to the perception of the policy-actors of the procedural fairness, credibility to the perception of the scientific soundness and salience to the perception of stakeholder- and policy-relevance. A discussion of alternative and existing utilisation-analyses of ISD shows that the L,C,S-framework has sufficient depth and width to figure as a potential, overarching framework of ISD-characteristics. Simultaneously, the confrontation of the L,C,S-framework with the issue domain of SD, as well as a translation of L,C,S on the level of ISD-initiatives, shows that a secondary level of analysis is necessary. The linkages between an L,C,S-based analysis of the usability-profiles of ISD, the principles of SD and the policy making processes can be identified to be best discussed at the level of the institutionalisation of ISD, i.e. the ‘institutional embeddedness’ of ‘soft’ information-processes for SD-management into public decision-making culture. ISD can be identified as ‘boundary organisations’, i.e. objects which are set to facilitate the interactions between different existing actor arenas which have different cultures of understanding, constructing, organising and digesting information. We propose thus to add to the analysis of the usability of ISD, a second, institutional axis which allows to situate the mechanics of L,C,S between actor arenas, and allows to conceive a ‘usability-profile’ for ISD-initiatives. <p>The institutional reading of ISD-initiatives is than developed further. In order to enhance their usability, ISD-processes need to be governed and steered: their usability can be managed and co-constructed through the lenses of the three usability-characteristics. Simultaneously, ISD are themselves acknowledged as being part of the government- and governance-instruments of the SD-domain. By translating information between actor-arenas, ISD foster a ‘governance-enhancing’ function, which in the end renders ISD as being part of the steering (or governance) instruments of SD. As a consequence, the enhancement or even management of the usability of ISD will distil down to ‘steer the steering’. Such a double-bound governance function can be addressed as ‘reflexive governance’, i.e. the governance of the governance instrument. <p> / Doctorat en environnement, Orientation gestion de l'environnement / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

I en tid av minskande tilltro till objektiv sanning och expertis blir konsten att övertala och kontrollera information avgörande i samhällsdebatten och en utmaning för demokratin. Inom den retoriska traditionen gör man dock en etisk distinktion mellan påverkan med den ömsesidiga nyttan som mål (argumentation) respektive påverkan med syfte att manipulera (propaganda). Retoriken utger sig också ha potential att vitalisera det demokratiska samtalet. Det finns i dagsläget begränsad forskning om hur samhället kan arbeta mot informationspåverkan och forskningen är tämligen frikopplad från den retoriska traditionen. Samtidigt finns ett retoriskt intresse för beredskapsretorik och för politisk retorik som med moderna medier når oss i det privata. Mot denna bakgrund kommer denna uppsats att studera kampanjen Bli inte lurad framtagen av Myndigheten för psykologiskt försvar, som är en beredskapskampanj om att möta informationspåverkan. För att synliggöra retoriken som präglar denna folkbildningskampanj används en retorisk analysmetod. Genom analysen och den teoretiska bakgrunden i klassisk retorik och modern visuell retorik kunde argumentationen, det publika tilltalet och den ickeverbala kommunikationen synliggöras. Argumentationen som analysen synliggör är informativ och söker vinna tillit genom ett starkt pathos som uppmålar en hotfull situation och genom ett starkt ethos som framställer myndigheten som folklig, men argumenterar mindre utifrån logos, utan underminerar motståndarnas trovärdighet. Det publika tilltalet som analysen synliggör framhäver medborgarnas demokratiska ansvar och hävdar rationalitet och social sammanhållning som gemensamma värderingar. Medborgarna uppmuntras både till källkritik och källtillit med anspelningar på samvetet och solidaritet. Den ickeverbala kommunikation som synliggörs i analysen förtydligar känslor och attityder i symboliska illustrationer samt kopplar problematiken till vardagliga upplevelser. Illustrationer och layout skapar en viss distans till problematiken och förmedlar trygghet. Att kampanjen på hemsidan presenteras i samarbete med magikerna Brynolf och Ljung skapar intresse, men kan förstärka en ogrundad misstänksamhet mot främmande perspektiv av rädsla att bli lurad. / In an era of decreased trust towards objective truth and expertise the art of convincing and controlling information becomes paramount to the public debate and to the democracy. Within the rhetorical tradition there is an ethical distinction between influence towards the common good (argumentation) and influence with the intent to manipulate (propaganda). The rhetorical tradition also claims potential to invigorate the democratic discourse. There is today limited research on how society can counter information influence and the research is quite disconnected from the rhetorical tradition. Meanwhile there is a rhetorical interest in emergency preparedness and for political rhetoric that through modern media reach us in our privet life. Against this background this essay will study the campaign Don’t be fooled, created by the Swedish Psychological Defense Agency, which is an emergency preparedness campaign about countering information influence. To make visible the rhetoric that marks this popular education campaign a rhetorical method of analysis is applied. Through the analysis and the theoretical framework of classical rhetoric and modern visual rhetoric the argumentation, the public appeal and the nonverbal communication could be made visible. The argumentation that the analysis show is informative and seeks to gain trust through a strong pathos which describes a threatening situation and through a strong ethos that depicts the agency as affable, though argue less from logos, but undermine the credibility of the opponent. The public appeal that the analysis show holds up the citizens democratic responsibility and claim rationality and social cohesion as common values. The citizens are encouraged to both source criticism and source trust with reference to the conscience and solidarity. The nonverbal communication that the analysis shows illustrates feelings and attitudes through symbolic illustrations and connect the problems to everyday situations. Illustrations and layout create somewhat of a distance to the problems and mediate safety. The choice to present the campaign through the website with the magicians Brynolf and Ljung creates interest but can also reinforce an ill-founded suspicion towards different perspectives by fear to be fooled.

The thesis aims to give readers a more precise knowledge of how narratives in the information environment, mainly social media platforms, can be created and structured by agents of influence operations to subvert and influence a target audience. As a case study, the thesis focuses on the influence agent “Shuoun Islamiya”, as the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency pointed out, to be the initiator of the influence operation targeting Swedish Social Services and the LVU-act. The research in this paper explores the narratives used by the agentto reveal three central narratives propagated by Shuoun Islamiya: Sweden as a fascist state, Swedish authorities as abusive towards children, and depicting Swedish authorities as targeting Muslim families in particular. The findings suggest that these narratives are strategically designed to weaken the existing narrative of Sweden as a democratic state and evoke strong emotions in the targeted audience to align with the influence agent's objectives. Construction of these narratives involves setting up antagonistic actors, portraying the Swedish state and the social services as villains who unfairly and systematically target families of immigrant and Muslim backgrounds. The families are, on the other hand, depicted as helpless victims,emphasising a conflict between the state and the families by using provocative and inflammatory language related to allegations of child kidnapping and abuse carried out by Swedish authorities. These narratives are conveyed mainly through social media platforms, showing a strong visual component in which non-related visually evocative images are oftenused to elicit emotional responses from the target audience. Further, results show how non-state actors can influence a sizable audience and take advantage of the digital information environment, combining false and misleading content taken out of context. Moreover, the analysis highlights potential security implications, including the risk of undermining social trust and cohesion. The study emphasises the need for a critical mindset among information consumers. It suggests avenues for future research, including examining other actors and assessing a potentially more profound impact of the influence operation.