WHEN COMMUNICATION MEETS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PERSPECTIVES: UNDERSTANDING DISINFORMATION IN A MULTICENTRIC POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

In this theoretical chapter, we explore how some interpretive concepts tracing back to the analytical tradition of International Relations (hereafter IR) can help explain the rising phenomenon of disinformation in our current political environment. Information plays an increasing- ly decisive role in political processes, affecting domestic issues and rewriting the reputation of actors involved in international affairs. Electoral confrontations, inter- nal conflicts, and international disputes are just some of the phenomena affected by the shock wave of disinformation. Reality – intended as a set of collectively recognizable and objectively definable phenomena – has progressively evolved into an object of discussion with- in the discipline. Therefore, if the analytical current of realism is motivated by describing reality, subsequent theoretical approaches have challenged the validity of such a description. Political phenomena can be understood as the result of social construction (Anzera & Massa, 2021a).