Hur har EU:s tolkning av rysk desinformation som ett hot förändrats? : En diskursanalys av EU:s policydokument

Sammanfattning: In the recent years, disinformation as a hybrid warfare has gotten more attention on the international arena between state actors. Hybrid warfare comes in different forms and categorizes combinations of military and non military methods of attacking through cyber attacks, economic pressure, use of regular forces and deployment of irregular armed groups. But there is an invisible weapon which state actors tend to use even more in the last few years, causing conflict, threats and war through hidden shadows. Disinformation has been used since the times of the KGB and furthermore in different political and global events throughout the years. The state actor that stands out on this security agenda, Russia, has been identified as a threat to the European Union through an extensive misleading information that has been spread all over the world with an agenda of undermining the EU. Therefore, has the European Union identified Russia as a security threat in the official published policy documents. The aim of this study is to examine how the EU’s discourse has changed regarding disinformation as a threat from a state actor such as Russia. A discourse analysis has been applied on this essay and the method of choice is Carol Bacchis: What’s the problem represented to be? The chosen theory in this study- securitization, means that in a securitization process a problem first develops from being apolitical, to then politicized and finally securitized.In order to achieve and answer the research question a following of six policy documents from different time periods has been examined from the European Union. Finally, the results of this study shows how the discourse in EU regarding disinformation has changed throughout the years with EU first and foremost not naming a state actor that spreads misleading information, to later accepting that as a threat, and lastly identifying the state actor as a security threat and showcasing strategies and measures in official policy documents.