New wars in IR: Defining the content and concept

Document Type : Original Independent Original Article

Authors

Associate Professor of International Relations, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran

Abstract
   This study is intended to define the concept and content of new wars, viz. cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, information warfare and hybrid warfare. The main argument, therefore, is that what are the common grounds in the conceptualization of new wars? To answer the question, this hypothesis is tested that technology mainly constitutes the common ground in the entire array of contemporary wars. In other words, eventually the revolutionary change in technology and specifically cyber revolution shape such new forms of Warfare as cyber warfare, cognitive War and hybrid War and transform essentially the classic wars including information wars. Indeed, the level of preparedness to cope with these wars is heavily rested upon national records in technology and knowledge. With this in mind, the objective is to draw on four new types of war, namely cyber, cognitive, information and hybrid and shed new lights on the prime significance of technology with a focus on the content and concept of these new wars. A descriptive-analytical approach was taken based on deskwork at libraries and using the Internet. 

Keywords

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