Ethics and international security in the information age

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2003

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Abstract

According to Moore’s Law, every 18 months technology is developed reducing electronic systems to half their previous size.1 The resultant impact upon the field of information and communication has been revolutionary and can be framed in terms of three orders of manifestation. The first order manifestation of the information revolution is technological and refers to the unprecedently cheap, fast and user-friendly information devices that have been developed in the past two to three decades. Digitization, miniaturization and conversion of different media into each other have been the impetus for a worldwide communications infrastructure – the apex of which is the Internet. The first order (or technological) implications of the information revolution have, in the second order, impacted on social, political and economic activities allowing for the almost instant mobility of capital, the proliferation of multinational corporations, the global reach of news media coverage, and cross-border mobilization of individuals and interest groups. The behavioral implications of the information revolution, in the third order, raise questions of a structural nature about the validity of the nation-state, the expression of identity and the organization of the international community. This article aims to tease out the ethical implications of the technological, behavioral and structural dimensions of the information revolution and in turn international security in two ways. First, the impact of information technology (IT) on contemporary ethical issues in the pursuit of international security, for example weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and redistributive justice and human rights, are explored. Second, IT also introduces a whole new set of ethical questions to international security issues. These questions are most often related to the causes and conduct of war, personal privacy in opposition to state security, and information inequality.

Description

Keywords

Ethics, Information age, International security, Information inequality, Global communication

Citation

Pretorius, J. (2003). Ethics and international security in the information age. Defense & Security Analysis,19(2),165-175