Thomas Colley
Biographic Data
| ID | 3086930 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas Colley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas |
| FAMILY NAME | Colley |
| SIGNATURE | COLLEY T |
| AFFILIATIONS | King's College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7649-2131 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 69 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
International lulz
This article examines trolling in international diplomacy. It explores a developing trend in diplomatic communications: encounters which have historically been characterised by formality and politeness have increasingly been used by political leaders to troll their targets. While the second Trump administration embodies this ‘trolling turn’ in diplomacy, it extends beyond MAGA. Many leaders, particularly authoritarians and those with authoritaria…
The War on Open-Source Intelligence
Strategic Narratives, Ontological Security and Global Policy
China’s Belt and Road Strategic Narratives up to the Second Belt and Road Forum
Two International Propaganda Models
Recent transformations in the media and communications environment have prompted states to invest heavily in external communications to pursue inter-state competition. Among authoritarian countries, Russia and China have invested particularly heavily in international news, through outlets like RT and CGTN. However, few comparative studies have examined the differences between authoritarian states’ use of international news for geopolitical purpos…
News as geopolitics
Recently, authoritarian states have invested heavily in statesponsored international news. Some states have instrumentalised this news geopolitically, with Russian electoral interference especially prominent. In comparison, we know less about how China's international news outlets coverand try to influenceother countries' politics. This article asks whether China used its state-sponsored media to influence the 2020 US election. It examines CGTN's…
How do strategic narratives shape policy adoption? Responses to China's Belt and Road Initiative
Strategic narratives are increasingly considered important for domestic and international support for foreign policy. However, debate continues about why some strategic narratives successfully shape policy outcomes, while others are rejected. How states construct strategic narratives is well established. We know less about how states appropriate the strategic narratives of others, and the role this plays in policy adoption. Addressing this, we in…
Explaining rebel-state collaboration in insurgency
Insurgencies are routinely conceptualised using a binary opposition between states and rebels. However, this neglects the complexity of their interaction, especially their collaboration. Although rebel-state collaboration is found throughout the history of insurgency, we lack a full explanation of why it occurs. This article endeavours to take the first step in developing a comprehensive theory by analysing rebel-state collaboration in two heuris…
Climate change strategic narratives in the United Kingdom
The challenges of studying 4chan and the Alt-Right
In 2019, the authors led a workshop at King’s College London examining how to study 4chan and assess their association with the Alt-Right. Unbeknownst to the authors, a participant was a 4chan user and started a mid-workshop thread on its notorious /pol/ (politically incorrect) board. It gained significant attention. Reviewing it later, the authors realised that this parallel thread illustrates perfectly the challenges researching 4chan – and sim…
The field of Strategic Communications Professionals
Communication has long been accepted as integral to the conduct of international affairs. The role that discourses, ideas, norms, and narratives play at the systemic level of world politics has been examined extensively. Scholarly interest has now turned to how international actors use political communication tools to create and counter threats, such as propaganda, hybrid warfare, fake news, and election tampering, and it is often taken for grant…
Strategic narratives in climate change
UK communication strategies for Afghanistan, 2001–2014
With the resurgence of the Taliban, the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIL) and a residual international presence in its territory, Afghanistan remains a central preoccupation for military strate
Is Britain a force for good? Investigating British citizens’ narrative understanding of war
It is commonly assumed in the foreign policy literature that narratives are uniquely persuasive and thus integral to obtaining public support for war. Yet, empirical research on “strategic narrative” is often vague on both the concept of narrative and how it persuades. Moreover, the stories publics use to interpret war are rarely examined. This paper offers a novel approach to studying “from the ground up” the war stories of individual British ci…
The challenges of studying 4chan and the Alt-Right
In 2019, the authors led a workshop at King’s College London examining how to study 4chan and assess their association with the Alt-Right. Unbeknownst to the authors, a participant was a 4chan user and started a mid-workshop thread on its notorious /pol/ (politically incorrect) board. It gained significant attention. Reviewing it later, the authors realised that this parallel thread illustrates perfectly the challenges researching 4chan – and sim…
Strategic narratives in climate change
Is Britain a force for good? Investigating British citizens’ narrative understanding of war
It is commonly assumed in the foreign policy literature that narratives are uniquely persuasive and thus integral to obtaining public support for war. Yet, empirical research on “strategic narrative” is often vague on both the concept of narrative and how it persuades. Moreover, the stories publics use to interpret war are rarely examined. This paper offers a novel approach to studying “from the ground up” the war stories of individual British ci…
Two International Propaganda Models
Recent transformations in the media and communications environment have prompted states to invest heavily in external communications to pursue inter-state competition. Among authoritarian countries, Russia and China have invested particularly heavily in international news, through outlets like RT and CGTN. However, few comparative studies have examined the differences between authoritarian states’ use of international news for geopolitical purpos…
News as geopolitics
Recently, authoritarian states have invested heavily in statesponsored international news. Some states have instrumentalised this news geopolitically, with Russian electoral interference especially prominent. In comparison, we know less about how China's international news outlets coverand try to influenceother countries' politics. This article asks whether China used its state-sponsored media to influence the 2020 US election. It examines CGTN's…
How do strategic narratives shape policy adoption? Responses to China's Belt and Road Initiative
Strategic narratives are increasingly considered important for domestic and international support for foreign policy. However, debate continues about why some strategic narratives successfully shape policy outcomes, while others are rejected. How states construct strategic narratives is well established. We know less about how states appropriate the strategic narratives of others, and the role this plays in policy adoption. Addressing this, we in…
Explaining rebel-state collaboration in insurgency
Insurgencies are routinely conceptualised using a binary opposition between states and rebels. However, this neglects the complexity of their interaction, especially their collaboration. Although rebel-state collaboration is found throughout the history of insurgency, we lack a full explanation of why it occurs. This article endeavours to take the first step in developing a comprehensive theory by analysing rebel-state collaboration in two heuris…
Climate change strategic narratives in the United Kingdom
The field of Strategic Communications Professionals
Communication has long been accepted as integral to the conduct of international affairs. The role that discourses, ideas, norms, and narratives play at the systemic level of world politics has been examined extensively. Scholarly interest has now turned to how international actors use political communication tools to create and counter threats, such as propaganda, hybrid warfare, fake news, and election tampering, and it is often taken for grant…
UK communication strategies for Afghanistan, 2001–2014
With the resurgence of the Taliban, the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIL) and a residual international presence in its territory, Afghanistan remains a central preoccupation for military strate
UK communication strategies for Afghanistan, 2001–2014
With the resurgence of the Taliban, the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIL) and a residual international presence in its territory, Afghanistan remains a central preoccupation for military strate
Is Britain a force for good? Investigating British citizens’ narrative understanding of war
It is commonly assumed in the foreign policy literature that narratives are uniquely persuasive and thus integral to obtaining public support for war. Yet, empirical research on “strategic narrative” is often vague on both the concept of narrative and how it persuades. Moreover, the stories publics use to interpret war are rarely examined. This paper offers a novel approach to studying “from the ground up” the war stories of individual British ci…
Strategic narratives in climate change
The field of Strategic Communications Professionals
Communication has long been accepted as integral to the conduct of international affairs. The role that discourses, ideas, norms, and narratives play at the systemic level of world politics has been examined extensively. Scholarly interest has now turned to how international actors use political communication tools to create and counter threats, such as propaganda, hybrid warfare, fake news, and election tampering, and it is often taken for grant…
Climate change strategic narratives in the United Kingdom
The challenges of studying 4chan and the Alt-Right
In 2019, the authors led a workshop at King’s College London examining how to study 4chan and assess their association with the Alt-Right. Unbeknownst to the authors, a participant was a 4chan user and started a mid-workshop thread on its notorious /pol/ (politically incorrect) board. It gained significant attention. Reviewing it later, the authors realised that this parallel thread illustrates perfectly the challenges researching 4chan – and sim…
How do strategic narratives shape policy adoption? Responses to China's Belt and Road Initiative
Strategic narratives are increasingly considered important for domestic and international support for foreign policy. However, debate continues about why some strategic narratives successfully shape policy outcomes, while others are rejected. How states construct strategic narratives is well established. We know less about how states appropriate the strategic narratives of others, and the role this plays in policy adoption. Addressing this, we in…
Explaining rebel-state collaboration in insurgency
Insurgencies are routinely conceptualised using a binary opposition between states and rebels. However, this neglects the complexity of their interaction, especially their collaboration. Although rebel-state collaboration is found throughout the history of insurgency, we lack a full explanation of why it occurs. This article endeavours to take the first step in developing a comprehensive theory by analysing rebel-state collaboration in two heuris…
Strategic Narratives, Ontological Security and Global Policy
China’s Belt and Road Strategic Narratives up to the Second Belt and Road Forum
Two International Propaganda Models
Recent transformations in the media and communications environment have prompted states to invest heavily in external communications to pursue inter-state competition. Among authoritarian countries, Russia and China have invested particularly heavily in international news, through outlets like RT and CGTN. However, few comparative studies have examined the differences between authoritarian states’ use of international news for geopolitical purpos…
News as geopolitics
Recently, authoritarian states have invested heavily in statesponsored international news. Some states have instrumentalised this news geopolitically, with Russian electoral interference especially prominent. In comparison, we know less about how China's international news outlets coverand try to influenceother countries' politics. This article asks whether China used its state-sponsored media to influence the 2020 US election. It examines CGTN's…
International lulz
This article examines trolling in international diplomacy. It explores a developing trend in diplomatic communications: encounters which have historically been characterised by formality and politeness have increasingly been used by political leaders to troll their targets. While the second Trump administration embodies this ‘trolling turn’ in diplomacy, it extends beyond MAGA. Many leaders, particularly authoritarians and those with authoritaria…
The War on Open-Source Intelligence
Political science (12 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Narrative (6 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Media Studies and Communication (5 works) · China (4 works)