Here's one not to be missed (in Acrobat Reader), at
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR994/MR994.pdf/MR994.ch2.pdf
(with thanks to Chris Bailey (LabourNet) and uk-anti-maif list.)
[Here are a couple of tantalising snippets!]
Brian Jenkins
* * * *
THE ADVENT OF NETWAR: ANALYTIC BACKGROUND
The information revolution is altering the nature of conflict across the
spectrum. There are many reasons for this, but we would call attention
to two in particular.
First, the information revolution is favoring and strengthening network
forms of organization, while simultaneously making life difficult for
old hierarchical forms. The rise of networks - especially "all-channel"
networks, in which every node is connected to every other node - means
that power is migrating to nonstate actors, who are able to organize
into sprawling multiorganizational networks more readily than
traditional, hierarchical, state actors can. This means that conflicts
will increasingly be waged by "networks", perhaps
more than by "hierarchies". It also means that whoever masters the
network form stands to gain major advantages.
Second, as the information revolution deepens, conflicts increasingly
depend on information and communications matters. More than ever before,
conflicts are about "knowledge" - about who knows (or can be kept from
knowing) what, when, where, and why.
* * * *
Whereas cyberwar usually pits formal military forces against each other,
netwar is more likely to involve nonstate, paramilitary, and irregular
forces. Both concepts are consistent with the views of analysts
like Martin Van Creveld (1991) who believe that a "transformation of
war" is under way. Neither concept is simply about technology; both
refer to comprehensive approaches to conflict based on the centrality of
information - comprehensive in that they combine organizational,
doctrinal, strategic, tactical, and technological innovations, for
offense and defense.
DEFINITION OF NETWAR
To be more precise, the term netwar refers to an emerging mode of
conflict (and crime) at societal levels, involving measures short of
traditional war, in which the protagonists use network forms of
organization and related doctrines, strategies, and technologies attuned
to the information age. These protagonists are likely to consist of
dispersed small groups who communicate, coordinate, and conduct their
campaigns in an internetted manner, without a precise central command.
Thus, netwar differs from modes of conflict and crime in which the
protagonists prefer hierarchical organizations, doctrines, and
strategies, as in past efforts to build, for example,
centralized movements along Leninist lines.
* * * *
The URL given at top is for Chap. 2 The full book is at:
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR994/MR994.pdf/
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