Information revolution and the environment of future conflict.

The world stands at the threshold of a new age; an age pregnant with great promise as well as new conflicts. A revolution is sweeping over the world that is as significant as any that has gone before in human history. A revolution in technology that manipulates and communicates information is thrusting fundamental change upon the world - an information revolution. An information revolution is a fundamental and complete change in the way knowledge or intelligence is communicated and received. Thus, the information revolution is about much more than powerful technology, no matter how significant. The heart of the revolution is the ability to communicate and receive information in ways never before possible. Four hundred years ago at the dawn of the Industrial Age, commercialization and industrialization began to tear apart the world as it had existed for thousands of years. Over several hundred years of change it became today's world. The consolidation of what became known as the Industrial Revolution, changed the way men worked and earned wealth, the way men governed themselves, the relations between nation-states, and the way men fought wars. The information revolution portends similar fundamental changes in society. The information revolution is changing the world in a number of important ways. The power of nearly instantaneous communication of vast amounts of information - a world with information at your fingertips - is shrinking the globe in time and diffusing power to individuals and groups. This in turn, is eroding the power of hierarchies both within business and government and its institutions. The information age has given rise to a society of organizations at have special interests and greater influence than in the industrial age past. Activities of business and government occur under the scrutiny of these various organizations. Neither government nor business controls their own destiny. Business and non-governmental organizations are increasingly global in outlook. The interconnectedness of the world in the information age gives less meaning to national identity. Collectively, these changes are changing the character of global competition, diplomacy, politics, power and conflict. The information revolution is changing the environment of conflict. The revolutionary changes in computers, networking, telecommunications and the mass media are fundamentally changing the world. Distance, geography and national borders mean far less than they did twenty-five years ago. The combination of the mass media and the Internet are spreading cultural changes throughout the world, and in some areas seeding unrest and dissatisfaction. International politics, once the purview of diplomats and heads of state is now often affected by special interest groups, assembled as virtual organizations held together by computer networks, Internet newsgroups and e-mail. Today, diplomacy is often played out on CNN, as nation-states communicate messages to one another. The widespread availability of nearly instantaneous information and media images is making it more difficult to govern and is eroding national sovereignty. Computer networks are moving information past normal hierarchical channels and weakening organizational hierarchies. Globalization, transnational markets, transnational organizations and the rise of power of small groups and individuals define this new era. The information revolution is shrinking the globe in terms of time and is turning it into a true global village.