Cyberspaces and Global Affairs

Book excerpt: From the "Facebook" revolutions in the Arab world to the use of social networking in the aftermath of disasters in Japan and Haiti, to the spread of mobile telephony throughout the developing world: all of these developments are part of how information and communication technologies are altering global affairs. With the rise of the social web and applications like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, scholars and practitioners of international affairs are adapting to this new information space across a wide scale of issue areas. In conflict resolution, dialogues and communication are taking the form of open social networks, while in the legal realm, where cyberspace is largely lawless space, states are stepping up policing efforts to combat online criminality and hackers are finding new ways around increasingly sophisticated censorship. Militaries are moving to deeply incorporate information technologies into their doctrines, and protesters are developing innovative uses of technology to keep one step ahead of the authorities. The essays and topical cases in this book explore such issues as networks and networked thinking, information ownership, censorship, neutrality, cyberwars, humanitarian needs, terrorism, privacy and rebellion, giving a comprehensive overview of the core issues in the field, complemented by real world examples.