As the Inaugural William C. Pate Chair in Strategic Communication, Dr. Repnikova will launch a new research project that explores the emergence of the “information nexus” between China and Russia. Whereas most of the scholarship on China-Russia relations and comparisons examines security, economic and geopolitical spheres, the realm of strategic communication is increasingly important for understanding how the two countries engage with each other and with the rest of the world.
The concern with China-Russia convergence in the communication domain, especially in the context of jointly spreading disinformation, has already reached the highest levels of the US government. The scale, the core features, and the potential frictions in this convergence, however, remain little understood. This project will interrogate China-Russia alignment both at the top-down level of official communication ambitions and state media practices oriented towards each other and global audiences, as well as at the bottom-up or societal level of mutual communication and imagination articulated in popular culture and in investigative journalism. Drawing on primary materials and interviews in both languages, this project will produce a fresh and deeply empirical take on the evolving ties between China and Russia in the information space.
As part of this position, Dr. Repnikova also plans to actively engage in policy discussions on U.S. competition with China and Russia in strategic communication, to build new partnerships with academics and academic institutions that specialize in global strategic communication and in geopolitics of the popular, as well as to mentor more students and young scholars who are interested in political communication in China and Russia.