Cyber-Mobilization: The New "Levée en Masse"

T he means and ends of mass mobilization are changing, bypassing the tra- ditional state-centered approach that was the hallmark of the French Revolution and leaving advanced Western democracies merely to react to the results.Today's dynamic social, economic, and political transitions are as important to war as were the changes at the end of the 18th century that Clausewitz observed.Most important is the 21st century's levée en masse, a mass networked mobilization that emerges from cyber-space with a direct impact on physical reality.Individually accessible, ordinary networked communications such as personal computers, DVDs, videotapes, and cell phones are altering the nature of human social interaction, thus also affecting the shape and outcome of domestic and international conflict.Although still in its early stages, this development will not reverse itself and will increasingly influence the conduct of war.From the global spread of Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks, to the rapid evolution of insurgent tactics in Iraq, to the riots in France, and well beyond, the global, nonterritorial nature of the information age is having a transformative effect on the broad evolution of conflict, and we are missing it.We are entering the cyber-mobilization era, but our current course consigns us merely to react to its effects. Background: The Levée en Masse in the French RevolutionThe French Revolution marked the beginning of the age of modern warfare, characterized by the culmination of a fundamental shift from dynas-Summer 2006