Foreign Influence in Europe

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course will be co-taught by senior State Department officials Molly Montgomery and Jenifer Moore. Russia has long employed a modular toolkit of economic, political, informational, and covert action-based “hostile measures” to advance Russian interests by influencing European policies and publics. Since Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and Donbas, European governments and publics have become increasingly aware of and determined to counteract Russian hostile measures campaigns – variations of which are sometimes also referred to as active measures, hybrid warfare, gray zone operations, low-intensity conflict, and other terms. While Russia is the most well-known, sophisticated, and prolific hostile measures actor in Europe, it is far from the only one. An array of foreign governments seek to influence policy and publics in Europe to achieve their foreign policy aims via overt and covert means. China’s campaigns have become more visible recently, whether its “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy or its campaigns to win influence using economic tools like the Belt and Road Initiative or PPE donations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other actors such as Turkey and the Gulf states mount campaigns with more limited aims in places like the Western Balkans. This course will explore the actors who mount hostile measures campaigns in Europe, assess their aims, and evaluate their success – or failure. We will identify the tools and tactics they employ and analyze how these campaigns manifest in case studies drawn from across Europe. Finally, we will seek to understand and formulate counter-influence strategies that can enable European governments and other actors to blunt or immunize their societies against hostile measures campaigns.