HISTORICAL-THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION WARS

DOI: 10.31673/2786-7412.2025.040711

Abstract

The article emphasizes that with all the positive aspects of the
development of the information age or as it is also called post-industrial society,
unfortunately, this period can also be called the era of modern information wars. Even in
the conditions of a real war, citizens and society in general still do not sufficiently
understand the threat posed by modern information technologies. Information warfare,
most researchers agree that its formation and development of this phenomenon can be
traced through a certain evolutionary progress, during which the impact on humanity of
various means of communication, their improvement and adaptation to the requirements
of their time were clearly traced. The first stage is associated with the era of Antiquity,
the Middle Ages and partly the Modern Age until the 18th century. Already at that time,
methods were successfully used that influenced the consciousness of citizens or soldiers.
The second stage in the history of the concept of «information warfare» is primarily
associated with the growing role of information in the life of states (the emergence of the
printing press, newspapers, radio, television, etc.). This period is characterized by
serious shifts in the organization of information warfare and propaganda, the
development of its methods and forms.
The third stage in the history of information wars began with a period of fierce
confrontation in the world, which was called the «Cold War». The key elements in
achieving goals in information warfare were the management of the target audience and
the formation of «public opinion» by manipulating information. The third millennium
began with the rapid development of information and communication technologies. In
accordance with such successes in information and communication technologies, the
rapid pace of computerization and informatization of societies leads to the development
of the fourth stage of information wars, in which the creation of such an information
space is slowly turning into a theater of military operations, where each side of the
confrontation seeks to gain an advantage. Unlike military conflicts of the past, modern
information warfare – the war for consciousness is not an auxiliary element
accompanying hostilities. It takes place autonomously from armed confrontation (and
even denies it), has its own tools, strategies and goals. 
It is proven that information warfare is total in the sense that it is a war not of
armies but of nations, requires the mobilization of all state resources, is waged in the
global information space and uses the most destructive types of weapons – words and
information. The article pays considerable attention to the analysis of information
warfare from various points of view, in particular, to the manipulation of consciousness
and strategies of influence using media, studies human consciousness as a «penetrating»
sphere of application of information weapons, etc.

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