Is There Information Warfare in Southeast Asia?

Abstract

In the post-Cold War order, Southeast Asia has been one of the most volatile regions in the world. New challenges now face both state and nonstate actors. One of the most important of these is the transformation and communication technology and its implications for the emergence of so-called information warfare. This paper examines the forms of information warfare in Southeast Asia, with passing reference also to Northeast Asia, in order to assess the scope of the threat and the various responses to it. It does do by locating the significance of information warfare in the context of economic development policies, the domestic politics of individual states, and the broader regional sociocultural trajectory. The conclusion suggests that information warfare in Southeast Asia is actually on quite a modest scale but that there are important tensions emanating from Northeast Asia that may spill over into the region.