As the title suggests, this book is concerned with a very big question. How do actors—whether social movements, corporations, or government—achieve the outcomes that they desire? How, for instance, did activists convince Nike to stop using sweatshop labor? How did the Zapatista rebels in Mexico win so much support from international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)? While Jarol Manheim's Strategy in Information and Influence Campaigns does not necessarily answer those specific questions, it does provide a framework—indeed, multiple frameworks—for the analysis of such attempts to influence.

Information and influence campaigns (IICs) are much broader than the election campaigns that many political scientists study. They consist of “an effort by one party, through some combination of communication and action, to change the behavior of another party to its advantage” (p. 3). And thus, while candidates for political office might lead an IIC, so might a corporation, a social movement, an interest group, a government, or other type of policy advocate. Manheim arranges such campaigns on a continuum, with information-centered campaigns—those that attempt to persuade with arguments—on one end and influence-centered campaigns—those that attempt to persuade by exerting pressure—on the other end. Importantly, he suggests that IICs arise from imbalances in power, with the party holding less power most likely to launch a campaign.

After defining IICs, Manheim goes on to discuss the various channels that can be used in such a campaign, from the mass media to interpersonal communication. He discusses the different audiences for IICs, as not all campaigns are designed to speak to the public at large. He also pays attention to the actors involved in IICs and the networks that they form. Often there are intermediaries between the campaigner and target, such as foundations, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders. Manheim also discusses the strategies involved in conducting a campaign and how an actor might defend itself from an IIC launched by another party.

Characterizing this book is the hard part, as it is unlike most selections reviewed in these pages. It is definitely not a standard scholarly book that cites the literature on a topic, develops a new theory, and tests hypotheses in three or four empirical chapters. Neither is it a cookbook designed for campaigners who want to exert influence; the intended audience is clearly a scholarly one. In fact, it is probably best to describe it as a textbook, though it is detailed enough that even professors will find it a useful resource on IICs. For instance, Appendix B is an 80-page review of the literature on IICs, what Manheim calls a “bibliographic inventory.” Although it is difficult to label exactly what this book is, one thing is certain: It is one of the best overviews of IICs that you will find.

For those who want to know how to conduct a winning IIC, it might be a frustrating read because the book is written at a fairly abstract level. There is a good reason for that, however. As Manheim explains, there is no one-size-fits-all model for an IIC. The world is complex, the number of actors involved may be large, and thus there is a degree of art involved in designing such a campaign. One highlight, then, is the various examples of real-world IICs that are provided in text boxes every few pages. Some of these draw on Manheim's previous research. One example is the effort by the Taliban to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people by creating a code of conduct for their own members (p. 125). Another is the campaign by union members to convince a Catholic hospital to pay a living wage by drawing attention to Catholic teachings on the matter (p. 46). Moreover, the book kicks off with three fascinating accounts of IICs from three different eras. The first concerns efforts to abolish slavery in Britain in the eighteenth century, a campaign that was quite modern and remarkably broad in its approach. The second tells the story of the campaign by Thomas Edison to associate the electric chair as a form of capital punishment with Westinghouse, Edison's chief rival as a provider of electricity. The third discusses the campaign against sweatshop labor during the 1980s.

Earlier I mentioned Appendix B, which is unlike any other appendix you will find. So as to dispel the notion that the study of IICs is focused exclusively on applied work, that is, “mere description” of various campaigns, Manheim put together one of the most extensive reviews of basic research in political communication and related fields that you will find. It starts with Machiavelli's reflections on power in the 1500s and continues with a tour of the literature on strategic communication, public information campaigns, media effects, attitudes and persuasion, public opinion, framing, risk perception, news management, digital media, propaganda, social movements, NGOs, and social marketing. And I could go on. One wonders whether this information was originally included in the text but later relegated to an appendix in order to make the book more appealing to students. But regardless of where it is located, the appendix demonstrates both the depth and breadth of Manheim's knowledge of IICs while providing a useful resource to the scholar who needs a not-so-narrow overview of the literature on the topic.

One complaint I have concerns style. The book frequently includes lengthy lists (often presented using management-speak or academic-speak), such as 11 different campaign styles (p. 128), five potential campaign objectives (p. 88), 10 objectives of persuasion (p. 68), or seven ways in which channel strategies can vary (p. 50). Needless to say, though perhaps necessary for the sake of being exhaustive, lists like these are not compelling reading. Second, the book contains a lot of charts and figures with arrows running in seemingly every direction. Some are useful; others are complicated to the point of having little value without extensive study and more description than Manheim is able to provide in the text. Finally, the literature review in the appendix takes an “Author X found this, Author Y found this, Author Z found this” format instead of integrating the literature in a more theoretical fashion.

In sum, Strategy in Information and Influence Campaigns is a rather unconventional scholarly book. It does not advance an argument per se, making it difficult to judge on its academic merits. But as a textbook, the book more than succeeds in providing an abundance of information about IICs and how to analyze them.