RAND Arroyo Center, 1998. — 168 p.This study was prepared for a research project on "Stability and the Military in Mexico". The research was sponsored by Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence and was conducted in RAND Arroyo Center's Strategy and Doctrine Program. The Arroyo Center is a federally unded research and development center sponsored by the United States Army.
The study reports on a case of "netwar," a concept that we have been developing for the purpose of understanding the nature of conflict in the information age (Arquilla and Ronfeldt, 1996b). Although the focus is on the Zapatista movement in Mexico, and on the responses thereto of the Mexican government and army, the study also identifies some implications for possible future netwars elsewhere around the world.
This study focuses mainly on the 1994-1996 period, in part because that was the heyday of this social netwar, but also because the study's preliminary findings were initially briefed to the sponsor in June 1996, and the first draft appeared in December 1996. This final publication is much revised and updated from the draft.Preface.
Figures.
Tables.
Summary.
Acknowledgments.
An insurgency becomes a social Netwar.
The advent of netwar: analytic background.
Definition of Netwar.
Networks vs. Hierarchies: Challenges for Counternetwar.
Varieties of Netwar.
Mexico-Scene of Multiple Netwars.
Emergence of the Zapatista Netwar.
Three Layers to the Zapatista Movement.
The Indigenas: Growing Desperation and Politicization.
The EZLN: Mixture of Vertical and Horizontal Designs.
Activist NGOs: Global, Regional, and Local Networks.
On the Eve of War.
Mobilization for conflict.
The EZLN in Combat-A "War of the Flea".
Transnational NGO Mobilization-A "War of the Swarm".
Transformation of the conflict.
Zapatista Emphasis on "Information Operations".
Attenuation and Restructuring of Combat Operations.
Government Efforts at Counternetwar.
The Netwar simmers-And diffuses.
Situational Standoff.
From the EZLN to the EPR-Diffusion in Mexico.
The Zapatista Netwar Goes Global.
Assessments of the EZLN/Zapatista Movement.
Actors to Watch: The Military and the NGOs.
Basic Implication for U.S. Military Policy: "Guarded Openness".
Beyond Mexico.
Toward a Demography of Social Netwar.
Evolution of Organization, Doctrine, and Strategy.
Favorable Conditions for Social Netwar.
Challenges to Authoritarian Systems.
Implications for the U.S. Army and Military Strategy.
Concluding Comment.
Appendix.
Chronology of the Zapatista social Netwar.
Rethinking mexico's stability and transformability.
Bibliography.
