A Review of: e-Democracy–An Invitation to i-Warfare? by D Remenyi, JIW, Volume 2, Issue 2, Published 2003
A Review of: e-Democracy–An Invitation to i-Warfare? by D Remenyi,
JIW, Volume 2, Issue 2, Published 2003
This paper was published in 2003 and will be evaluated in that context. It was a time when most of the Internet’s structure was determined and expanding. Personal computers were common and growing in usage. Home networks were booming and social media and communication software were increasingly being used. Optimistic scenarios were being envisaged where if people could communicate, then an e-Democracy which would influence law making, policy, and political processes could be developed to assist in the development of the best interest for the majority of the people, an international democracy communicated by individuals’ understanding of the various elements of the political process. However, this is not what happened. The author claims that it needs an environment where the rules of law prevail (whose law?), civil rights are upheld, and governments can reform peacefully. This would be the outcome if information is freely and rapidly available. Some 22 years later, the situation has certainly changed but not in that way. True, things such as e-voting have flourished (but not without problems of data corruption and manipulation). So why has this electronic nirvana not been created? Basically, the one factor that politics is based on that is, power, has not been considered.
Lukes (2005) outlines a useful structure with which to consider power. He simplifies his analysis by dividing power into three dimensions:
- The first dimension is overt. Someone has the open authority to make a decision.
- The second dimension is hidden agenda-setting that is deciding WHAT is to be debated, and thus narrowing the focus of debate by excluding options, and
- The third dimension is more hidden; it is manipulating desires and beliefs, so the people do not even realize that control is taking place.
Now it is the second and third dimensions that are not so obvious. However, controlling such things as topics on software products that offer opinions and ‘news’ are restricting nuances in news, withholding events, and so on. This is very much the aim of propaganda. However, with much more personalised software that enables individuals to interact with any opinion, the owners of that software will then have enormous power to stop the spread of unwanted ideas. This is not quite the open debate envisaged; it is more a concept of controlled democracy.
Over the last two decades, communication and information technologies have increased in their scope and penetration. The illusory optimism has developed into caution as the penetration of, for example, the Internet of Things are being used for surveillance, which seems innocuous on the surface, has many worried about ‘invisible’ control over populations. Advances such as nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, and autonomous drones seem to have the potential to be oppressive, almost the opposite of what the author was forecasting. Mealbach (2023) postulates that these technologies are, in fact, going to destroy democracy systematically through ideological subversion, propaganda, disinformation, and psychological operations. These are not new approaches, but the technology is now pervasive and has a ‘captive’ audience. This ‘runaway’ effect may or may not be guided but the acceptance of it is a fait accompli.
It is instructive that a ‘new’ addition to Information Warfare is Cognitive War (du Cluzel 2020). Cognitive Warfare attempts to degrade rationality or to manipulate a population such that arguments amenable to the ‘attacker’ are accepted.. Thus, the target audience has attitudes and behaviours of the instigator. This is exactly Lukes’ third power dimension, as stated above.
References
Du Cluzel, F 2020, Cognitive Warfare, Innovation Hub Nov 2020, NATO, viewed 10 December 2025, <https://innovationhub.act.org>.
Lukes, S 2005, Power: A Radical View, 2nd edn., Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.
Mealbach, B 2023, Quantum Psyops: The Silent Coup, independently published.
AUTHORS
Security Research Institute Edith Cowan University
Perth, Australia.
Professor Bill Hutchinson was Foundation IBM Chair in Information Security at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. He was Director of SECAU (Security Research Centre) and was coordinator of the Information Operations and Security programmes. From 2000 to 2010, he was the Chief Editor and founder of the Journal of Information Warfare.
Published In
Keywords
Journal of Information Warfare
The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.
Quick Links
Archive
