This book seeks to critically review and evaluate the changes and consistencies in how warfare is interpreted and represented by academics, mass media outlets and political actors in the 21st century. The authors suggest that it is essential to understand the evolution and transformation of contemporary warfare's conceptualisation and practice in order to make sense of the current global geopolitical transformations that are in process, from a unipolar to multipolar global order. They therefore examine the various key actors in international relations from conceptual, theoretical and empirical perspectives through thematic chapters that demonstrate the increasingly central role played by intangible factors in the representation and management of contemporary armed conflict. The book stresses the need to reflect and rethink the potentially highly problematic trajectory of the global community within the framework of 21st century warfare's political and informational influence and effects.

‘Waging of war in the 21st century has become a highly politicised warfare, which means it is the main instrument for achieving political objectives. If it is fabricated, manipulated and justified for hearts and minds, that is facilitated by the new technological advances of our era and launched against global publics before the war takes place in regions away from the western hemisphere. This book illustrates the resulting cognitive dissonance induced by the mixture of politics and communication, such as the façade of humanitarian intervention and pre-emptive warfare in the post-cold war era that resulted in intertwined wars throughout the world, so we are really facing a different generation of warfare. As a result, this timely publication is very welcome and appreciated. Rethinking Warfare in the 21st Century unlocks the complexity of contemporary warfare through engaging with it on the levels of both theory and practice in the midst of an ongoing geopolitical power transition in international relations and global politics.’

Davoud Gharayagh-Zandi - Department of Political Science, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran-Iran

‘The late modern age has strengthened the role of information and communication in all areas of human interaction. The authors focus on the change, offering a comprehensive and convincing analysis of how the change affects the character, geographic scope and intensity of contemporary warfare.’

Andrei Tsygankov - Department of International Relations, San Francisco State University

‘Iulian Chifu and Greg Simons have put together a critical review of the current state of politics, information and knowledge within the context of contemporary warfare. This is done simultaneously from complementary theoretical and empirical points of view, posing searching research questions in the introduction and answering them in the conclusion, bringing together a vast amount of information that then transforms into clear and coherent lessons. The conclusions are as revealing and illustrative as they are concerning.’

Valentin Yakushik - Professor of Political Science, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics and Executive-in-Residence Fellow, Geneva Centre for Security Policy