The military in the noosphere

Author: Purcell, Darren

Source: Information, Communication and Society, Volume 8, Number 2, June 2005 , pp. 194-216(23)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

Websites are often used by governments to articulate particular views on international affairs, and even to lobby for a particular position. Using work by Arquilla and Ronfeldt (1999), Castells (2001) and Chadwick (2001) as a theoretical framework for understanding the importance that cyberspace holds for governments and states, the author analyzes the efforts of the Slovenian Ministry of Defense (MoD) to adopt the Internet to communicate with publics it defined as important. Through this website, the MoD literally served as a combatant in the noosphere, while displaying tendencies that Chadwick argues serves particular purposes in maintaining domestic political legitimacy. The analysis is based on a socio-semiotic approach (Hodge & Kress 1988) dependent on a well-developed understanding of the context within which signs and symbols exist. The paper outlines the role of the military in Slovenia, incorporates interview data with public relations staff in and then links these to a descriptive analysis of website content. The paper concludes that it is important for non-hegemonic states to actively contest cyberspace images in the noosphere, if only to serve the domestic public the state needs for legitimacy. Further directions in comparative work are proposed.

Keywords: noosphere; geopolitics; semiotics; ICTs; Slovenia; representations of space

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691180500146318

Affiliations: 1: Department of Geography, 684 SEC 100 Boyd Street, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019-1007, USA

Publication date: 2005-06-01

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