Tim Hayward (political scientist)

Last updated

Tim Hayward (born 1955) is Professor of Environmental Political Theory at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland [1] and director of the university's Just World Institute, [2] a body set up to "foster interdisciplinary research into the global challenges facing the international order, with particular attention to issues of ethics and justice". [3] Between 1995 and 2017, Hayward published four books on ecological values, human rights and political theory. [4] Hayward has allegedly spread propaganda to his students, supporting Putin's Russia and Bashar Assad's Syrian regime. [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Writing in Contemporary Political Theory, Anahí Wiedenbrüg wrote that Hayward's book Global Justice and Finance, published in 2019, "is a wakeup call for all those working in contemporary, normative, liberal political theory. His general normative outlook gets very uncomfortable for the political liberals working within the global justice tradition". According to John O’Neill, the book "is particularly strong in its criticisms of approaches to global justice that simply take the transfer of money and finance to be adequate responses to the problems of global justice without examination of the background nature of the institutions of global finance". [8]

In 2017, he co-founded the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (SPM), a group whose stated purpose is to "facilitate research into the areas of organised persuasive communication (including propaganda and information operations) and media coverage, with respect to the 2011-present conflict in Syria including related topics". [9] The group's publications have attracted criticism and accusations of bias. [10] [11]

According to The Times , in April 2020 Hayward "retweeted to his 13,000 followers a Canadian environmentalist's claim that the WEF, United Nations and Imperial College London might be part of a scheme to exploit the [COVID-19] pandemic by promoting vaccines and creating genemodified flu-resistant chickens". [12]

In March 2022, the chair of the British parliament's Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon, spoke in the House of Commons about "pro-Putinist propaganda at some of our leading universities", citing Hayward amongst several other academics. Along with the comment "As long as we’re still able to hear two sides of the story we should continue striving to do so", Hayward had previously shared a tweet from a Russian representative to the United Nations describing the Mariupol hospital airstrike as "fake news". [13] [14]

According to the BBC, students have accused him of “sharing Russia war lies” and conspiracy theories about the Syrian war. A Ukrainian student “told the BBC she was distressed by Prof Hayward's recent tweets.” [15]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Putin</span> President of Russia (1999–2008, 2012–present)

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. At 24 years, 11 months and 16 days, he is the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since the 30-year tenure of Joseph Stalin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michel Chossudovsky</span> Canadian economist and author

Michel Chossudovsky is a Canadian economist and author. He is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa and the president and director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which runs the website globalresearch.ca, founded in 2001. Chossudovsky has promoted conspiracy theories about 9/11.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russia–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

The United States and Russia maintain one of the most important, critical, and strategic foreign relations in the world. Both nations have shared interests in nuclear safety and security, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, and space exploration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RT (TV network)</span> Russian state-controlled international television network

RT, formerly Russia Today, is a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government. It operates pay television and free-to-air channels directed to audiences outside of Russia, as well as providing Internet content in Russian, English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Portuguese and Serbian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Russia relations</span> Bilateral relations

The State of Israel is represented in the Russian Federation through an embassy in Moscow and a consulate-general in Saint Petersburg. Russia is represented in Israel through an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate in Haifa. Russia is a member of the Quartet on the Middle East. For many years, Israel was a haven for Russian Jews. This was especially the case during the aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1990s. Israel and the Soviet Union, Russia's predecessor state, were on opposing sides during the Cold War. However, the relationship between Israel and Russia has improved significantly since the early 2000s, with the election of the more pro-Israel Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the election of the more pro-Russia Israeli leader Ariel Sharon. Putin has had a close relationship with long-serving Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences</span> Research institute in Moscow, Russia

The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, formerly Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, is a Russian research institution for the study of the countries and cultures of Asia and North Africa. The institute is located in Moscow, and formerly in Saint Petersburg, but in 2007 the Saint Petersburg branch was reorganized into a separate Institute of Oriental Manuscripts.

The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is the website of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement".

Media portrayals of the Russo-Ukrainian War, including skirmishes in eastern Donbas and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution after the Euromaidan protests, the subsequent 2014 annexation of Crimea, incursions into Donbas, and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, have differed widely between Ukrainian, Western and Russian media. Russian, Ukrainian, and Western media have all, to various degrees, been accused of propagandizing, and of waging an information war.

Sputnik is a Russian state-owned news agency and radio broadcast service. It was established by the Russian government-owned news agency Rossiya Segodnya on 10 November 2014. With headquarters in Moscow, Sputnik maintains regional editorial offices in Washington, D.C., Cairo, Beijing, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro. Sputnik describes itself as being focused on global politics and economics and aims for an international audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State propaganda in the Russian Federation</span> Propaganda promoting views, perceptions or agendas of the Russian federations government

The propaganda of the Russian Federation promotes views, perceptions or agendas of the government. The media include state-run outlets and online technologies, and may involve using "Soviet-style 'active measures' as an element of modern Russian 'political warfare'". Notably, contemporary Russian propaganda promotes the cult of personality of Vladimir Putin and positive views of Soviet history. Russia has established a number of organizations, such as the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia's Interests, the Russian web brigades, and others that engage in political propaganda to promote the views of the Russian government.

Tim Anderson is an Australian academic and activist. He was a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney until early 2019, and the author of several books on independent development and anti-imperialism. In 1979, he was convicted and imprisoned for an alleged Ananda Marga conspiracy to murder a National Front leader Robert Cameron, but was pardoned in 1985 after an inquiry and awarded compensation. In a linked case, in 1990 he was convicted of ordering the 1978 Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing and sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment, but was acquitted on appeal in 1991. He subsequently became active in prisoners' rights and civil liberties groups, and has been involved with international solidarity and civil rights campaigns. He has worked as an academic since the early 1990s.

Piers Gregory Robinson is a British academic researcher in the field of media studies. He is also a co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies and a founder of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (SPM). He has authored a number of publications on the CNN effect. He has attracted criticism for disputing the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War.

The firehose of falsehood, also known as firehosing, is a propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels without regard for truth or consistency. An outgrowth of Soviet propaganda techniques, the firehose of falsehood is a contemporary model for Russian propaganda under Russian President Vladimir Putin.

<i>The Grayzone</i> US-based fringe news website and blog

The Grayzone is an American news website and blog described as fringe and far-left by numerous sources. It was founded and edited by American journalist Max Blumenthal. The website was initially founded as The Grayzone Project and was affiliated with AlterNet until early 2018.

Vanessa Beeley is a British activist and blogger known for sharing conspiracy theories and disinformation about the Syrian civil war and about the Syrian volunteer organisation the White Helmets.

Paul McKeigue is a professor of genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics at the University of Edinburgh, a post he assumed in 2007. He is a signatory to the Great Barrington Declaration. Earlier in his career, he was a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and University College Dublin.

The Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (SPM) is a controversial group of academics and activists whose stated purpose is to study propaganda and information operations surrounding the Syrian civil war. It was formed by environmental political theory professor Tim Hayward and former academic Piers Robinson in 2017.

Oriental Review (OR) is an online magazine that describes itself as "an international e-journal focusing on current political issues in Eurasia and beyond". It was founded in 2010. Despite its claims of editorial independence, the website has been described as under the control of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Ionov</span> Russian businessman and political figure

Alexander Viktorovich Ionov is a Russian businessman and political figure living in Moscow. He is the head of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), which promotes secession movements in countries other than Russia. In July 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Ionov and on three groups he is said to lead, including the AGMR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine</span> International approval or condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War which began in 2014. The invasion caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II, with more than 8.2 million Ukrainians fleeing the country and a third of the population displaced. The invasion also caused global food shortages. Reactions to the invasion have varied considerably across a broad spectrum of concerns including public reaction, media responses, and peace efforts.

References

  1. ↑ "Tim Hayward | School of Social and Political Science". www.sps.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  2. ↑ "People - About Us - Just World Institute". www.jwi.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  3. ↑ "About Us - About Us - Just World Institute". www.jwi.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  4. ↑ Keate, Georgie; Kennedy, Dominic (14 April 2018). "Apologists for Assad hold senior positions in British universities". The Times. pp. 8–9.
  5. ↑ Ellery, Ben. "University of Edinburgh academic Tim Hayward accused of spreading propaganda". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  6. ↑ "University of Edinburgh Professor accused of Professors 'sharing Russian propaganda'". HeraldScotland. 12 March 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  7. ↑ "Students accuse lecturer of sharing Russia war lies". BBC News. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  8. ↑ Wiedenbrüg, Anahí; Hayward, Tim; O'Neill, John (2020). "Disenchanting Global Justice: Liberalism, Capitalism and Finance" (PDF). Contemporary Political Theory. 21 (3): 475–497. doi:10.1057/s41296-020-00440-2. S2CID   225163453.
  9. ↑ "About". Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  10. ↑ "Syria: on academic freedom and responsibility". openDemocracy. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  11. ↑ Ellery, Ben. "University of Edinburgh academic Tim Hayward accused of spreading propaganda". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  12. ↑ Kennedy, Dominic (11 April 2020). "British academics sharing conspiracy theories online". The Times. p. 6.
  13. ↑ Bloodworth, James (16 March 2022). "Putin apologists aren't "asking awkward questions" – they're degrading truth". New Statesman. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  14. ↑ Learmonth, Andrew (15 March 2022). "UK Government to quiz Edinburgh University over academic's 'pro-Putin' Tweets". The Herald. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  15. ↑ Hadjimatheou, Chloe (31 May 2022). "Students accuse lecturer of sharing Russia war lies". BBC News. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.