Propaganda

Propaganda is a word derived from the Vatican's establishment of the Sacre Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in 1622. It is a process of persuasion designed to induce ideas, opinions, or actions beneficial to the source. As a process, it is value-neutral although the word has acquired pejorative meaning. Analysis of propaganda would more profitably benefit by examination of intentions. In, for example, the case of combat propaganda, more usually termed psychological warfare, the intention is to persuade enemy soldiers to defect, desert, surrender, or otherwise influence their behaviour on the battlefield with a view to defeating them. As such, these ‘munitions of the mind’ have become increasingly more sophisticated with advances in psychology and communications, especially during the course of the 20th century.Before 1914, propaganda was usually associated with religion and the implanting of ideas to be cultivated in support of existing beliefs and ‘faith’. Its wartime applications, in the Napoleonic or the American independence wars, were confined largely to calls to arms, lampooning the enemy, glorifying victory, and sustaining morale. The intention by the few to impress the many can be traced back to the ancient world in art, architecture, and symbolism. The advent of printing in the 14th century shifted the emphasis from script to print. In wars of religion, propaganda from the pulpit remained a potent method of swaying emotions, hence the Vatican's Sacre Congregatio. Massive advances in communications technologies in the 19th century, the development of a global cable network, and the arrival of the mass media by the end of the century extended propaganda to a global audience.
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