Description
Disinformation has become closely associated with threats from Russia in British foreign policy (FP). But this has not always been the case, with the UK-Russia relationship being recast from “pragmatic partnership” to “strategic competition”. At the same time the UK has developed a set of FP roles, such as faithful ally, to help conceptualise how the UK counters Russian disinformation. So how has Russian disinformation emerged within elements of British FP behaviour towards Russia? This research takes a role theoretical approach to unpack how British beliefs about Russian disinformation interact with British FP role conceptions. Using an interpretive interactionist and narrative approach, it reveals how the British state narrates its beliefs about Russian disinformation as a “narrow social context”, and how this context shapes narrations of British FP roles. This research presents three core discussions. First, disinformation shapes FP by altering how actors conceptualise their own and others FP roles. Second, disinformation is important for the UK as it centres and adapts existing British FP roles, such as defender of the faith and faithful ally. Finally, role theory provides insight into how states interact within narrow social contexts through a process of role emergence as actors develop new meanings to their FP roles.
