book chapter
four faces of war
Abstract
This chapter offers a model that frames numerous theories about the future of warfare. It attempts to detail the general shifts in the changing character of war including the rise of indirect approaches, efforts targeting societies and their economic systems via cyber-attacks or influence operations that employ social media to tailor intimate and individualized messages to destabilize or paralyze polities before or during crises. This model challenges the traditional orthodoxy of Western military institutions with their preferred focus on conventional warfare, and offers a framework for policy makers, professionals, and security studies students to examine the probability and consequences of a larger and overlapping set of modes of conflict. © 2024 Oxford University Press.
Author keywords
cognitive warfare, critical infrastructure, future war, hybrid threats, influence operations, proxy wars, social media, societal warfare