Over the past few years, the Internet has made a profound and radical transformation. The network went through a process of transformation from the trivial multi-level communicator to media complex, which, in turn, turned into a phenomenal cultural phenomenon, relevant to many spheres of human life: birth or death, creation, family, self-expression or self-promotion. The Internet has deprived us of the complex needs to live his own life: acceptance, condemnation, glory, and money, recognition and fame we can get on the Internet. The network is becoming more and more humane, absorbing more and more aspects of human existence.
The most striking examples of the growing importance of the Internet are attempts to use it to influence the political life of individual countries. Demonstrations and pickets, acts of disobedience and protest have also become digital by creating a surrogate of protest, packaged and convenient form of non-conformism, when disagreement and outrage do not require anything, not even physical effort, only basic computer skills. Posters, marches, blocking, rallies gained new forms and content into a cohesive cyber entertainment with the help of which you can safely and anonymously to protest against a particular phenomenon. Even though the form of such protests looks pretty harmless and tame, but can have quite serious implications for a state system or to be sufficiently serious threat.
American researchers John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt believe that the term "network war" refers to a new kind of conflict (and crime) at societal level, different from the traditional war, in which the main participants use network forms of organization and related doctrines, strategies and technologies that meet the requirements and opportunities of the information era. Such participants are likely to consist of dispersed organizations, small groups and individuals who support a connection between them, coordinate and conduct campaigns in specific «network» methods, often without a clearly defined Central leadership. Therefore, the network war is different from those kinds of conflict in which the main parties are trying to build a formal, standalone, hierarchical organizations, doctrines and strategies as it was in the past. (Arquilla & Ronfeldt, 2001)
A lot (if not most) of the subjects of netwar will be non-governmental, even private. Some of them can act as agents of any state, while others, on the contrary, will try to turn States into their agents. Scope the subjects of network war may be subnational, and supranational. Probable is the emergence of the most incredible hybrids. In a typical netwar, its chief participants likely will be a collection of disparate heterogeneous "nodes" that share common ideas and interests. Networks can be reduced to three basic types or typologies:
A chain or linear network, such as the smuggling network, in which people, goods or information in individual contacts and in which order to pass it from one end to the other, you need to pass it from one end to the other must pass through the intermediate nodes;
Central or wheel network, such as a franchise or a cartel where a set of entities associated with a Central (but not hierarchical) node or entity and to the entities to contact or to coordinate actions with any other must do so through the Central node;
Matrix network such as the cooperation network of militant peace activists, in which everyone is connected to all others.
Each of the networks can meet certain conditions and purposes, and all three can be found among the opponents related to network war - for example the linear chain in smuggling operations; the central node in terrorist and criminal syndicates; matrix variety – among militant groups that have a high degree of interconnectedness and decentralization. There can also be hybrids of these three varieties, in which different tasks use different types of networks.
Absolute and indisputable is the fact that the digital world will continue to become more influential, the flow of information and influence will be less and less manageable, reaction to new information more meaningful. Thus, the main challenge of our time for many democratic countries is the coordination of the virtual and the real world and creating connection between them, which would be based on the freedom to access and disseminate information. The network can no longer be ignored, because it has ceased to be just fun.
References
Arquilla, J. & Ronfeldt, D. (2001). Networks and netwars. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
