Join the Centre for Chinese Research on March 27th for a talk on “Creating Status Loss: Delegitimation through Information Warfare” featuring Dr. Alex Yu-Ting Lin.
About the Talk:
How do states compete for status? Current explanations suggest that states do so by enhancing their own status, such as by joining selective international institutions or winning wars. I theorize and test another strategy: reducing their competitor’s status through delegitimation. By spreading information about the target’s failure (i.e., character assassination), delegitimation can undermine the target’s status in the eyes of third-party states and – as a result – reduce the target’s ability to organize security and economic cooperation with said third-party states. I test my theory through a survey experiment in Canada, wherein select respondents were exposed to Chinese information campaigns about US failure in the Middle East. Exposure to delegitimation reduces the respondents’ assessment of US status, in turn reducing their (1) support for Canada to participate in joint military exercises with the US, and (2) assessment of US credibility in multilateral trade negotiations. I contextualize these results through a case study of Chinese delegitimation of US policy in Africa and its impact on African countries’ alignment with the US. My analysis highlights the changing character of war: the mechanisms and effects of information warfare, including America’s psychological operations, China’s “three wars”, or Russia’s active measures.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Alex Yu-Ting Lin studies the causes and strategies of revisionism, with a focus on US-China relations and Asian security. His book project, Contestation from Below, theorizes how smaller states shape when and why rising powers become dissatisfied with their status and seek to revise the international order. An article from the book project received the Patricia Weitsman award from the International Security Studies Section (ISSS), International Studies Association (ISA). His other research examines how states pursue their revisionist aims within international institutions or through misinformation. He is currently affiliated with the Notre Dame International Security Center, University of Notre Dame.
Dr. Lin will be joining the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs as Assistant Professor in Fall 2025.
He is also willing to hold a conversation with SPPGA graduate students after the talk!
