RAND Publishes Examination of Networked Opposition

Louis Lingg writes: "RAND has recently published, and made available on-line, Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy.

Chapters include: The Networking of Terror in the Information Age; Gangs, Hooligans, and Anarchists--The Vanguard of Netwar In the Streets; Networking Dissent: Cyber Activists Use the Internet to Promote Democracy In Burma; Emergence and Influence of the Zapatista Social Netwar; Netwar in the Emerald City: WTO Protest Strategy and Tactics; Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a Tool for Influencing Foreign Policy; The Structure of Social Movements: Environmental Activism and Its Opponents.

From RAND press release: 'The authors also find that, despite their diversity, all networks built for waging
netwar may be analyzed in terms of a common analytic framework. There are
five critical levels of theory and practice: the technological, social, narrative,
organizational, and doctrinal levels. A netwar actor must get all five right to be
fully effective. The most potent netwarriors will not only be highly networked
and have the capacity for mounting "swarming" attacks, they will also be held
together by strong social ties, have secure communications technologies, and
project a common "story" about why they are together and what they need to
do. Like Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda, these are the most serious
adversaries. But even those networks that are weak on some levels may pose
stiff challenges to their nation-state adversaries.'"