Jethro Norman
Participative warfare
War is changing through the use of personal digital devices. Ukraine, as the first conventional war to occur in an entirely connected information ecology, is an example of what experts are calling ‘participative warfare’. Participative warfare is characterised by the integration of various non-traditional actors into the conflict space, facilitated by advancements in technology and communication networks. Several national security smartphone apps launched by the Ukrainian government enable civilians to use their smartphones to report troop movements. The digital ecosystem has also enabled an increasingly prominent role played by Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) volunteers, including phenomena such as Ukraine's IT army, which is a globally dispersed online ‘army’ of volunteers who engage in cyber-attacks on Russian assets. By expanding the possibilities of engagement, however, participative warfare is blurring the lines between civilians and combatants, resulting in major gaps in the rules of war and raising concerns about the social and psychological effects of the abundance of graphic war footage easily accessible to smartphone users.
Digital technologies are not only changing how ordinary civilians can participate in war but also how foreign war volunteers travel to support the war in Ukraine, and what they do when they get there. Based on fieldwork in Ukraine, including interviews with volunteers for the International Legion (ILDU), humanitarian staff and officials, as well as private security and military contractors, this brief highlights how digital platforms have become important, outlines some of the emerging challenges that digital devices present and argues for regulation.
No comments:
Post a Comment