DEFENSE AND SECURITY STUDIES
Computers and the internet in interstate war: the consolidation of a new military power in the 21st century? / V. 6 • N. 2 • 12th Edition • November 2011
armies of several countries use information technology to create strategies and operations resulting in the creation (initial stage) of a new military power: cybernetic power2. On this basis, this research has been raised specifically in order to analyze the elements of this new environment for war. In accord with the tripartite definition of the term “power” introduced in the introductory paragraphs, this study will focus on the reasons why computer technologies can be considered as weapons for armies, the reason new war theater has evolved (simultaneously creating new forms of interstate conflict), and why military strategy is currently involved in (and shifting to) the use of information technologies. This document is composed of three parts. The first of these is an analysis from different perspectives of the reasons why computers, computer systems, and networks are subject to be used as weapons and targets. The second area seeks to understand and explain the nature of cyberspace and its use as a means to attack states, their infrastructure, and people. Lastly, we intend to analyze cyber wars (understood as the embodiment of military strategies used to attack the enemy based on technology and cyberspace).
Research Methodology This study is based on a process of literary review and research involving the media as well as academic and official documents; therefore, the approach is both academic and practical. The objective of this study clearly falls within the study of the cyber wars, a topic that has acquired great prominence in recent years as a phenomenon that describes inter-state conflicts (we refer to those inter-state conflicts happening in cyberspace) thus influencing positioning and development of cybernetic power. It is clear that since this is a topic currently under discussion and development, this text will mainly provide readers with tools to help them build their own understanding of the issue.
In summation, this research is based on three specific objectives. The first scrutinizes how information technologies have become a new type of weapon used in interstate conflicts; the second, aims to understand why cyberspace is configured in which the computer-based attacks put a grave risk to national defense and security; and the third, to explain how the combination of these factors have resulted in the emergence of cyber war. It should be noted that the structure established for this research responds to the concept that land, air, and naval power became important features in war through the synergy of specific technologies (canons, airplanes, ships) and theaters, and how this led to the classification of new forms of war.
Computer Technology: Weapons for Modern Armies The revolution of information technologies and communications has become “a phenomenon that grows in the form of a new social and economic paradigm which has spurred an unprecedented transformation in humanity and produced instant global communication with individual and collective effects, resulting in a generalization of unprecedented actions”3. Information technologies, as a cause-effect of globalization, as stated by Manuel Castells, have permeated most of the activities undertaken by individuals and organizations. Since the purpose of information technologies is to connect political, economic, cultural, religious, and social systems, computers and networks were precipitously demanded all over the world. At the same time information technologies transformed a transnational world into a sphere of constantly flowing information, eliminating the limitations of
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CASTELLS, Manuel. La era de la información: economía, sociedad y cultura en la sociedad red. (vol.1) Alianza editorial. Madrid, 2005.
ESTUPIÑAN, Francisco. Mitos sobre la globalización y las nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 2001. [On line], available at: http://www.ull.es/publicaciones/latina
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