Wiki at War: Conflict in a Socially Networked World

In 2011, amid the popular uprising against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the government sought in vain to shut down the Internet-based social networks of its people. And, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange has been branded “public enemy number one” by some in the United States for posting material on the World Wide Web that concerns airstrikes in Iraq, U.S. diplomatic communications, and other sensitive matters.

In Wiki at War, James Jay Carafano explains why these and other Internet-born initiatives matter and how they are likely to affect the future face of war, diplomacy, and domestic politics. As he writes, “the war for winning dominance over social networks and using that dominance to advantage is already underway.” Drawing on his extensive knowledge of history and defense strategy, Carafano creates a cogent analysis of what is truly new about the “new media,” and what is simply a recasting of human warfare in contemporary forms.

Written in an accessible style, Wiki at War outlines the conditions under which a difference in degree becomes a difference in kind, details how ancient wisdom can still apply to national security decisions, and examines the conditions under which new expertise is required to wage effective diplomacy or successful military strategy. It casts in stark relief the issues that face political, military, and social leaders in trying to manage and control information, in both the international and domestic arenas.