Some elements of defining information warfare

ENInformation itself in a much broader sense is the weapon. Some bad news come every day forming public opinion and raising fear. Democracies around the world face rising levels of disinformation. Can we be defeated before the conventional war even started? Collective memory recalls some devastating informational attacks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Nowadays politics recognize threats to our public matters and democratic political system. In such an environment states face a decline of trust in democratic institutions. Trust in government and parliament is at a record low. Aggressors understand the importance of an approach that seeks to influence the population of target countries through information operations, proxy groups, and other influence ways. The potential for a democratic process to overcome pervasive foreign manipulation must be supported by international law. The paper overviews key challenges in international law describing informational war. The paper observes some changes in doctrine and strategies to deal with this challenge. The present work aims to help understand information war within the context of hybrid warfare. Keywords: hybrid war, hybrid actions, hybrid threats, Information Warfare, hybrid warfare, democracy, international law, disinformation, propaganda. [From the publication]

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