Narrative Dominance, Information Warfare and the Freedom to Think
Published on February 1, 2024
This policy brief was originally published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), as part of CIGI’s project on freedom of thought: Legitimate Influence or Unlawful Manipulation?. You can read it here.
Summary
“A fair contest where contenders use facts, logic and reason to persuade a free, open-minded audience is an ideal way for a society to settle its affairs. Evidence from cognitive sciences, however, puts a dampener on such hopes.…our cognitive makeup is susceptible to biases and manipulation. The human mind is vulnerable. The collective is even more so.”
In this policy brief, Nitin Pai writes that with society today structured around the production, consumption and effects of information, the ancient practice of information warfare has become the centrepiece of international politics. Nation-states and non-state actors, among others, are engaged in a relentless global contest to control narratives and influence people’s thinking for political purposes. Cognitive autonomy thus becomes a national security objective. There must also be constitutional safeguards to prevent governments from directing information power against their own citizens.
Pai presents a high-level analysis of the external, geopolitical dimension of information warfare and offers recommendations for defence and national security policies for liberal democratic states.
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