The Evolution of the Concept of Information Warfare in the Regulatory Legal Acts of Russia, United States and NATO

The modern world is constantly in a state of information warfare, which makes the study of the phenomenon of information warfare extremely relevant . The purpose of the article is to analyze the evolution of the concept of information warfare in the regulatory legal acts of Russia, United States and NATO . The work uses methods of analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, comparison, as well as historical and political analysis, which are used to compare documents reflecting the gradual change in approaches to information warfare in various legal systems . The paper presents the evolution of normative legal acts and doctrinal documents on the subject of information warfare, identifies their substantive features, similarities and differences, and classifies them . Special attention is paid to the legal definitions of the concepts of “information warfare”, “information operations”, “psychological operations”, “cyber operations”, “cognitive warfare” in the context of national security strategies and military doctrines of these policy actors . It is concluded that there are conceptual differences in the legal definition of the phenomenon of information warfare: in the Western tradition, information operations have been widely reflected in legal documents for a long time, — since the middle of the 20th century, due to the advent of nuclear weapons and the increasing role of non-kinetic means of defeating the enemy, they were considered instrumentally and mainly in the form of psychological operations, but later, as a result of technological and social changes, they received an expanded interpretation, including aspects of cyber operations and cognitive warfare, and currently represent an integral element of hybrid warfares that take place not only in wartime, but also in peacetime, whereas in Russian legislation there is no term of information warfare,— it can only be derived indirectly, and the documents themselves emphasize the protective function and sovereign component of the information space based on traditional values . As part of the research, three tables have been created to visually present the key similarities, differences, and evolution of the concept of information warfare in the regulatory legal acts of United States, NATO, and Russia . The theoretical significance of the work lies in the fact that it contributes to understanding the dynamics of the evolution of the concept of information warfare in various legal systems and may be useful to specialists in the field of international law, researchers of information warfare and other interested parties.

1. Fridman O. Russian “hybrid Warfare”: Resurgence and Politicisation. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2018. 237 p.

2. Mumford A., Carlucci P. Hybrid warfare: The continuation of ambiguity by other means. European Journal of International Security. 2022;8:1–20. DOI:10.1017/eis.2022.19.

3. Nye J. Bound to lead: The changing nature of American power. New York: Basic Books; 1990. 307 p.

4. Nye J. Soft power: The Means to success in world politics. New York: Public Affairs; 2004. 191 p.

5. Nye J. Smart power and the war on terror. Asia-Pacific Review. 2008;15(1):1–8. DOI: 10.1080/13439000802134092

6. Rid T. Active measures: The secret history of disinformation and political warfare. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2020. 512 p.

7. Arquilla J., Ronfeldt D., eds. Networks and Netwars: The future of terror, crime, and militancy. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation; 2001. 372 p.

8. Rid T. Cyber war will not take place. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2013. 218 p.

9. Libicki M.C. What is information warfare? Washington: National Defense University; 1995. 110 p.

10. Carey J.W. Communication as culture: Essays on media and society. New York: Psychology Press; 1992. 241 p.

11. Panarin I.N. Hybrid war and Yalta-2. Moscow: Goryachaya liniya-Telekom; 2022. 452 p. (In Russ.).

12. Panarin I.N. The first world information war: The collapse of the USSR. Saint Petersburg: Piter; 2010. 256 p. (In Russ.).

13. Frolov D.B. Information warfare in the sphere of geopolitical relations: Dr. polit. sci. diss. Moscow: Ros. akad. gos. sluzhby; 2006. 426 p. (In Russ.).

14. Grinyaev S.N. Battlefield — cyberspace: Theory, techniques, tools, methods and means of information warfare. Minsk: Harvest; 2004. 448 p. (In Russ.).

15. Vasiliev A.D., Podsokhin F.E. Information warfare: Linguistic aspect. Politicheskaya lingvistika. 2016;(2):10–16. (In Russ.).

16. Popadyuk A.E. Information warfare as a factor of destabilization of the institution of the presidency in the Russian Federation: PhD polit. sci. diss. Moscow: Mosk. gos. un-t; 2021. 180 p. (In Russ.).

17. Pocheptsov G.G. Information wars: A new tool of politics. Moscow: Algoritm; 2015. 254 p. (In Russ.).

18. Tkachenko S.V. Information war against Russia. Saint Petersburg: Piter; 2011. 224 p. (In Russ.).

19. Mazarr M.J. Mastering the gray zone: Understanding a changing era of conflict. Carlisle: Strategic Studies Institute; 2015. 120 p.

20. Sorokin I.O. Information wars as a phenomenon of post-industrial (information) society: Main paradigms. Journal of Political Research. 2025;(1):25–40. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.12737/2587-6295-2025-9-1-25-40

21. Deppe C., Schaal G. Cognitive warfare: A conceptual analysis of the NATOACT cognitive warfare exploratory concept. Front. Big Data. 2024;7:1452129. DOI: 10.3389/fdata.2024.1452129