The Real Cyber War: The Political Economy of Internet Freedom [Paperback]

Contemporary discussion surrounding the role of the internet in society is dominated by words like: internet freedom, surveillance, cybersecurity, Edward Snowden and, most prolifically, cyber war. Behind the rhetoric of cyber war is an on-going state-centered battle for control of information resources. Shawn Powers and Michael Jablonski conceptualize thisrealcyber war as the utilization of digital networks for geopolitical purposes, including covert attacks against another state's electronic systems, but also, and more importantly, the variety of ways the internet is used to further a states economic and military agendas.
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Moving beyond debates on the democratic value of new and emerging information technologies,The Real Cyber Warfocuses on political, economic, and geopolitical factors driving internet freedom policies, in particular the U.S. State Department's emerging doctrine in support of a universal freedom to connect. They argue that efforts to create a universal internet built upon Western legal, political, and social preferences is driven by economic and geopolitical motivations rather than the humanitarian and democratic ideals that typically accompany related policy discourse. In fact, the freedom-to-connect movement is intertwined with broader efforts to structure global society in ways that favor American and Western cultures, economies, and governments.
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Thought-provoking and far-seeing,The Real Cyber Warreveals how internet policies and governance have emerged as critical sites of geopolitical contestation, with results certain to shape statecraft, diplomacy, and conflict in the twenty-first century.

International Communication Book Award, International Studies Association, 2017.

"Shawn M. Powers and Michael Jablonski’s seminal new bookThe Real Cyber War. . . . will help to inspire a change in course that will restore the internet to what it might become (and what manyl“¾