ABSTRACT
In this chapter we investigate information operations (IO) as a part of international peace and security. In contrast to cyber operations, the focus in information operations is on influencing human decision-making, attitudes, and behaviour. The chapter is motivated by the current discussion on information operations in the scientific community and in the media. Many of the books on this subject focus on analysing the doctrine of information operations (Allen, 2007; Armistead, 2004; Armistead, 2007; Armistead, 2010; Paul, 2008; Steele, 2006). As the term information warfare has tended to be used interchangeably with the term information operations, similar content can be found in books on information warfare (Jones & Kovacich, 2016). Compared to the abundance of doctrine-based writing, public analyses of the practice of information operations are rare, however (Larson et al., 2009; Muñoz, 2012). After the Russian occupation of Crimea, there was a surge in literature on Russian information operations (NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, 2004; 2015a; 2015b; 2016a; 2016b; 2016c; Pynnöniemi & Rácz, 2016). Yet despite numerous publications on the subject, attempts to develop a theory of information operations have been scarce (Armistead, 2010). The lack of theory is, however, only a partial shortcoming since there is a well-established body of propaganda theories that has been updated to cover modern information technology (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2012).
