Abstract
During the last decade, ‘information warfare’ has become a much-politicised term in Russian domestic and foreign affairs. This article sheds light on the conceptual roots that have been shaping this idea in the Russian academic, political, and public discourse. Moreover, the article points to the major actors leading the politicisation of this idea by promoting narratives describing the so-called ‘Western information war against Russia’. In the context of Russia’s contemporary attempts to re-establish itself as a global power and Western fear and distress associated with Russian activities in the information domain, a grounded understanding of the major conceptual narratives influencing Russian thinking about information warfare, as well as perspectives on how these narratives have been politicised, is of paramount importance.
Keywords: Information Warfare, Russia, Net-Centric War
About the author
Dr Ofer Fridman is a Sessional Lecturer at the University of Reading and a Visiting Research Fellow at the King’s Centre for Strategic Communications. His research focuses on the politicisation of ‘hybrid warfare’ in the context of the current tension between Russia and the West.
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