Professor Aoi’s book, titled Senryakureki komyunikēshon to kokusai seiji: Anzen hoshō no atarashii ronri (English Title, Strategic Communications) was published in October 2022 by Nikkei Business Publications.
The first work of its kind in Japanese, and one of the first to internationally consider the need for a doctrinal approach to the practice of strategic communications, the book explores Strategic Communications as an emerging international policy area. It also examines Strategic Communications as a new discipline that is emerging as a multi-disciplinary field, evaluates the factors behind the emergence of the new discipline, investigating the concept of strategic communications from a theoretical, historical, and public policy perspective. The book analyses Strategic Communications as comprising three approaches: persuasion, coercion, and engagement and depicts Strategic Communications as comprising three functions:
- The ability to construct or shape the international environment based upon the projection of one’s own values and interests;
- Defence against disinformation, counter-narratives, and malign influence activities that seek to agitate and divide society;
- Resilience-building to provide for longer-term stability and resistance to information manipulation and malign influences.
Intended as an aid to policy discussions, especially those pertaining to national/international security, this book provides an interdisciplinary overview of related fields, examines the background, definition, and concept of Strategic Communication, and—based on its historical evolution—sheds light on the diplomatic and security requirements of today. It introduces examples from the U.K. and Europe and analyses Japan’s Strategic Communication practices and issues.