Greg Simons

Greg Simons
Turiba University · Department of Communication Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy

About

146
Publications
52,961
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Introduction
Greg Simons is currently an Associate Professor at Turiba University in Riga, Latvia. His research interests include: changing political and geopolitical dynamics and relationships, mass media, public diplomacy, political marketing, crisis management communications, media and armed conflict, and the Russian Orthodox Church. He also researches the relationships and connections between information, politics and armed conflict more broadly, such as the GWOT and Arab Spring.
Additional affiliations
September 2007 - present
School of Business Administration Turiba
Position
  • Senior Lecturer
Description
  • Teach at the doctoral level, supervise PhD students, course development and administration, on the doctoral promotion board.

Publications

Publications (146)
Article
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Academics and policymakers from the Global North (Western-centric United States unipolar order) and the Global South (non-Western-centric multipolar order) are increasingly in agreement with each other as events, trends, and processes in the 21 st century develop, indicating that the Global North is in a state of relative hegemonic decline. There i...
Article
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The European Parliament has stressed on numerous occasions in public documents and speeches its non-conditional support for the principles of democracy, the rule of law, good governance, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Yet as the pandemic has developed these principles have not been defended by various member states of the EU, be...
Article
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China is the single largest state-based international actor that is a major threat to the continued hegemony of the United States' unipolar order. As such, a campaign of obstructive foreign policy is being waged against China through the obstructive marketing of China as a sinister threat and unreliable actor against the 'rules-based order.' By att...
Article
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The world is rapidly changing, it is moving away from the Global North (Western-centric United States Unipolar Order) hegemony that is in relative decline. In its place, the Global South (Non-Western-centric Multipolar Order) is on the ascendency. This global turbulence in the geopolitical hegemony encourages increased competition and conflict betw...
Article
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As the 21st century progresses, the level of competition and conflict between the Global North and the Global South continues to increase in intensity. The incumbent hegemonic order, the Western centric United States unipolar order (Global North) is being perceived as entering a state of relative decline in relation to the rise of the Non-Western c...
Article
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Populism is a highly contested and politicized word in the world of political science, and Sweden is no exception in this respect. It is a loaded and emotive word and term that is broadly defined and interpreted by various actors and interests. It has academic definitions , and practical applications that are used to describe the term and its effec...
Article
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Now is the one of the most critical points arriving in recent global history, where the ability to be a subject and not an object of events is not only desirable, but an act that can determine the difference between life and death of nations and civilisations. The global geopolitical order is undergoing a massive and all-encompassing transformation...
Article
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The significance and symbolism of the Great Patriotic War and Victory Day has grown in its political and social importance in terms of the communication of collective memory in the inter-generational transmission of norms and values by mass media. Victory Day is the iconic moment that has come to symbolise and concentrate the desirable values and t...
Article
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A great deal of chaos and upheaval has taken place, with much more to come, as the global order undergoes an all-encompassing and significant change in the balance of power and influence continues to shift. Many observers, especially in the West, tend to be focused on the tangible elements available to powers in the international system (available...
Article
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The bedrock of realism in international relations is founded on the notions of a state-centred approach to the study of rational logic of man in pursuing national self-interest. However, this is an increasingly difficult task of trying to derive meaningful assessments and interpretations of people, events and processes in the geopolitics of the 21s...
Chapter
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Chapter
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Chapter
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Chapter
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Chapter
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Chapter
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Chapter
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Chapter
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Chapter
In this chapter, based on the authors’ sociocultural concept of media generations, which focuses on media users in the pre-digital and digital information and communication environment, we reveal the differentiating and identifying features of “analogue” and “digital” media generations and the intermediate media generation of the “digital borderlin...
Book
Full-text available
This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in o...
Article
Full-text available
There is a noticeable and growing evolution of the global geopolitical balance of power and influence in the 21st century's system of international relations. The current hegemon, the unipolar United States, and the political system of Western liberalism that supports it, is under great strain and is in a state of relative decline. The challenger i...
Book
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Russia’s Muslims, numbering some 15 million, constitute far from a homogeneous sociopolitical group. So … What does it mean to be a Muslim in Russia today? How is the image of Islam constructed, and how do the country’s Muslims—and non�Muslims—perceive and react to it? These are the questions that gave rise to this book. Using a multidisciplinar...
Article
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Corresponding Author: The world order is currently evolving and there is an evident shift as the Western-centric United States unipolar order's is relatively weakening and its hegemony is challenged by the rising Non-Western-centric multipolar order. This is happening across different strategic geopolitical regions, including the Indo-Pacific regio...
Chapter
Full-text available
Simons, G. (2022), Western Political and Hybrid Warfare as a Mechanism of the New Cold War Containment of Russia in the 21st Century. In Kurilyev, K. P. (Ed.), Western Flank of the CIS and Baltic States After 30 Years of Independence, Moscow: URSS, pp. 11-21.
Article
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Aim. The aim of this article is to identify the types of mass mediated propaganda in Western mainstream media sources before the Special Military Operation began on 24 February 2022. Methodology. The author used academic literature on propaganda use, and mass media approaches to covering armed conflicts. A critical analysis of mass mediated materia...
Article
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In the 21st century, great power geopolitics is back as the Western-centric U.S. unipolar order is facing relative decline due to the challenges posed by the non-Western-centric multipolar order, specifi cally by China and Russia. In political and practical terms, geopolitics is about being able to manage and represent the nature of international r...
Article
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This article represents an example of a non-Western study into the public perception of the mass media's role during the coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh, which is of particular importance given the global environment of a high level of informational uncertainty and health risk that is equally applicable to countries around the world. Quantitativ...
Article
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This discussion article envisages five different contemporary challenges and pays special attention to the arguments as to why contemporary journalism losses its professional priorities and gets mixed in with other types of mass communication, particularly with public relations (PR) and propaganda. This clarification is of great importance not only...
Article
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Journalism as a definition emerged more than two centuries ago and became actively promulgated in the study of media by core Western countries. Meanwhile, this term is often interpreted too freely, the term and practice are transgressing in the 21 st century. This is a theoretical paper that seeks to understand how the role of journalism and mass m...
Article
Full-text available
Journalism as a definition emerged more than two centuries ago and became actively promulgated in the study of media by core Western countries. Meanwhile, this term is often interpreted too freely, the term and practice are transgressing in the 21st century. This is a theoretical paper that seeks to understand how the role of journalism and mass me...
Article
Full-text available
Regional multipolarity has increased the complexity of geopolitical interests along with the worsening of international relations. Geopolitics is a means of not only interpreting the state of the political environment, but also in projecting the desired geo-economic end state for an actor. A much more pragmatic approach to securing perceived nation...
Article
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Cancel culture and wokeism are dangerous trends that are increasing in their intensity and the self-destruction of Western civilization is a matter of time as the underlying historical myths and value/normative philosophies that led to its global hegemony is destroyed by a messianic ideology that is engineering an exclusive homogenous worldview in...
Conference Paper
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MEDIA INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION IN THE ERA OF COVID-19: “VAXXERS” VERSUS “ANTI-VAXXERS”
Article
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Sweden is usually ranking very highly in terms of global democracy and transparency indexes. The 2018 elections in Sweden were very divisive and bitterly fought, where there was an open conflict between the mainstream political establishment parties and the anti-political establishment Swedish Democrats. Mainstream Swedish media were not neutral by...
Article
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Geopolitical regionalisms are a mechanism of managing influence in a particular region at a particular point in time. They exist and are driven by powers vying for influence at the expense of others, in turn, influenced by the nature of the geopolitical era in which they exist. The Cold War saw a bipolar world, where geopolitical regionalisms were...
Article
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This article investigates and analyses the mass media and analytical (non-academic) reporting on the economic consequences of the Coronavirus. The collected sample of indicative works seeks to understand how the problem is framed as a crisis, with a focus on the identification of government policy and its consequences on the economy, and prediction...
Article
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This article examines the nature of the origin, definitions and functional principles of so-called fake news – reports that are deliberately false in nature which can create a stir in society around a non-existent informational case born of the same news source. In combination with viral technologies and mechanisms of distribution in the media and...
Article
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Armed conflicts are generally associated with the use of hard power for coercing and forcing an opponent to do something against its will in a situation where war is an extension of politics. However, there are many scholarly observations about the important role of soft power in armed conflicts, the interaction between hard and soft power, and the...
Conference Paper
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Communicating Memory of Historical Pandemics in Digital Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Article
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Although information is nothing new to war or conflict, the speed at which it reaches a much wider target audience, and thus its potential impact and consequences, is changing due to the rapid development of information and communications technology. Regime change and information warfare have been around for a very long time in the history of organ...
Article
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In this paper, the concept of studying the specifics of digital communication between the older (analogue) and younger (digital) generations in Russia is proposed. The process of communication opens up the possibility of a perception of communicative and cultural memory by the digital generation, which is in the process of socialization and awarene...
Article
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The Arab Spring was regarded with suspicion by Russian decision-makers, their worst fears were seemingly confirmed with the case of Libya in 2011 when NATO was seen as abusing the UN Security Council R2P mandate for the purpose of regime change. This had a great impact on Russia’s decision to support the Syrian government, when the regime change pr...
Article
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Events in Belarus erupted quickly from just before the election and have continued in the wake of it, carrying the hallmarks of a Colour Revolution-typology of an attempt at regime change. This comes at a time of heightened tensions between the West and Russia within the framework of the branded international relations event known as the New Cold W...
Article
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Aim. This paper critically examines these political and informational aspects of hybrid as used and defined in the West.Methodology. The paper applied critical discourse analysis to the collected research materials. In this manner, the power relations and dynamics are revealed more clearly for the reader.Results. It reveals that Western hybrid warf...
Article
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Foreign policy is about setting the policy aims and goals of a given country in the competitive environment of international affairs. When analyzing it, one should pay attention to many factors, namely, economic and energy potential, military-technical means, the presence of trade and economic partners, political weight and state image in the inter...
Article
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The Coronavirus pandemic has caused a great deal of disruption and fear for countries and peoples around the globe. It has spread in a seemingly unstoppable manner, which has created a global crisis in terms of strategies to mitigate its effects, and how these strategies are communicated is vital to the credibility and legitimacy of those relevant...
Article
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In the period of the 21 st century leading up to the Corona Virus pandemic, there was increasing consensus that the global order that had existed since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union where the unipolar hegemony of the United States was in relative decline, weakening and transforming. It was transforming from a un-ipola...
Article
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This article seeks to compare and analyse the historical and contemporary arguments concerning the existence of the brand the 'Great Game' in Central Asia with that of a 'new' Great Game in the South Caucasus, while assessing the validity and problems of using this term. The article analyses the regional state of affairs and possible impacts of the...
Article
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Nowadays hybrid warfare is considered a significant security challenge; within this wider threat category are cyber incidents that are considered one of the main perceived threats in modern society for every country. The number of incidents in cyber space is constantly growing, but methods of its realisation are evolving. One of the most dangerous...
Chapter
The Internet and social media have been often hailed as being the hope for democratic and open spaces of free communication. As such, these technical instruments have become an essential tool of communication and interaction in the twenty-first century. It has revolutionised the way people think and interact with each other, and therefore it is of...
Article
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This paper is an attempt to try and understand the processes and interactions that take place in society when a group attempts to lobby in favor of contentious forms of public policy, which may not necessarily be in national or public interest, through the political marketing lens. What are the necessary environmental conditions in society and poli...
Presentation
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We invite you to take part in the all-Russian scientific and practical conference with international participation on the basis of the Department Journalism on April 23-24, 2020. PROFESSIONAL CULTURE OF A JOURNALIST IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS The Faculty of Journalism has been studying the professional culture of journ...
Chapter
This chapter presents how public diplomacy (PD) is conceptualised and operationalised from a Russian perspective, which differs from the Western one. The chapter states that the practice and terminology of PD are different in Russia, and it is not the same as its Western alternatives, as it includes the elements of engagement, but it does not inclu...
Chapter
This chapter deals with different aspects of Russia’s public diplomacy in the Middle East. It reveals historical interactions with the Muslim world and indigenous populations of Muslims as a cultural identity and relational basis for cooperation. It also covers Russia’s interests and motivations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region see...
Book
Russian public diplomacy attracts growing attention in the current global climate of tension and competition. However, it is often not understood or is misunderstood. Although some articles and book chapters exist, there are almost no books on Russian public diplomacy neither in Russian, nor in English. This edited collection is an in-depth and bro...
Chapter
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Propaganda is a mechanism of the information domain that attempts to shape and influence the cognitive domain concerning events and processes that are located in the physical domain. It is a very deliberate tool that is intended to mobilise public sentiment through creating an environment that is dominated by an emotional form of logic, often in a...
Article
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Currently, international relations and the global order are in turmoil and disorder. The bases of the international order and the means by which it was regulated are in the process of being dismantled, such as the central considerations of the Treaty of Westphalia that guided international politics and diplomacy for centuries. As the world becomes...
Article
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Sweden has a global brand as being a democratic, happy and progressive society that is in consensus. However, when looking more closely at the key brand and reputational components of the Swedish international brand and reputation it is possible to see the various irregularities and contradictions that are present.
Article
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Sweden is a country that has a reputation and historical legacy as being “neutral” and working for peaceful solutions to different global problems after the bitter experiences in the 18th and 19th centuries that saw it fall as a regional power of the Baltic Sea region in a series of conflicts with the Russian Empire. Contemporary mainstream politic...
Article
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This article concerns how publics perceive and relate to a foreign politician. There is no formal relationship between these groups as the publics have no ability to participate in national elections that could validate or detract the aura of legitimacy of the politician. Therefore the relationship could be more informal in nature and based upon pe...
Article
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Since 2014, there has been a very concerted campaign launched by the neo-liberal Western mainstream mass media against Russia. The format and content suggest that this is an attempt to induce a moral panic among the Western publics. It seems to be intended to create a sense of fear and to switch the logic to a series of emotionally-based reactions...
Article
Full-text available
Since 2014, there has been a very concerted campaign launched by the neo-liberal Western mainstream mass media against Russia. The format and content suggest that this is an attempt to induce a moral panic among the Western publics. It seems to be intended to create a sense of fear and to switch the logic to a series of emotionally-based reactions...
Article
Full-text available
Currently, international relations and the global order are in turmoil and disorder. The bases of the international order and the means by which it was regulated are in the process of being dismantled , such as the central considerations of the Treaty of Westphalia that guided international politics and diplomacy for centuries. As the world becomes...
Article
Full-text available
Article
Russia has a long, complicated and, at times, contradictory relationship with Islam and Muslims. Islam is classified as one of the ‘traditional’ religions, along with Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. Throughout Russia’s history across the centuries, the efforts by the state and Muslims to define their relationship have led to contradictory outco...
Article
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The role of digital communication has been given a lot of credit and influence in its presumed power to bring about change in society, on a local or national or global level. When this presumed power for change or disruption is applied to the existing world order, there is a more nuanced outcome. In the current global order, the United States remai...
Article
There has been a rapidly spiralling worsening of relations between the West and Russia, especially in the wake of events in Ukraine from 2014. This worsening of relations manifests itself in the renewed and increased level of geopolitical competition and conflict that has simultaneously occurred in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea. A situation that has...
Article
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There is an increasing amount written on the decline of professional journalism around the world. One of the factors that are used to illustrate the decline of journalism is the interaction and collaboration between journalists and public relations (PR) practitioners in the production of mass media news content. On a theoretical and conceptual leve...
Article
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A military exercise is a hybrid construction that lies somewhere between reality and fiction, one which communicates a message that has multiple interpretations by different audiences. The symbolic interpretations and projections that are inherent in such an undertaking as Zapad-17 can perhaps be somewhat revealed through the lens of Jean Baudrilla...
Article
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The media audience builds relationships with the outside world, focusing on content, which, in fact, is an interpretation of reality. Media reality is constructed as a result of the selection of facts, the modeling of meanings and forms of information delivery. The concept of “moral panic” is increasingly used by the media to model the political ag...
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This article investigates how the infamous terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) uses branding and political marketing as means to increase their intangible value and assets in order to influence their tangible (operational) capacities. In order to investigate the logic of a terrorist organization as a political actor a perspective of politic...
Article
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The manner in which public diplomacy is being practiced is constantly evolving, new means are being developed to create political relationships between states and international publics. Countries are competing globally for the hearts and minds of international publics in their quest for gaining and accumulating soft power. This quest is driven by t...
Chapter
This study discusses salient trends demonstrated by contemporary warfare of these first years of the 21st century. The authors reinforce previous notions of Fourth Generation Warfare, but most importantly explore the workings of new components and how these have modified the theory and practice of warfare beyond the basic divisions of conventional...

Questions

Question (1)
Question
CfP: Communication Association of Eurasian Researchers Conference 'Building Bridges: Internationalizing Communication Theory, Practice, and Education', LCC International University 🇱🇹, June 27-29, 2020
Deadline: January 31, 2020

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