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Whose Story Wins

The Rise of the Noosphere, Noopolitik, and Information Age Statecraft

Overview

As the noosphere expands, it will profoundly affect statecraft—the conditions for traditional realpolitik strategies will erode, and the prospects for noopolitik strategies will grow. Thus, the decisive factor in today’s and tomorrow’s wars of ideas is bound to be “whose story wins”—the essence of noopolitik.

Why is this important?

"In this Perspective, the authors urge strategists to consider a new concept for adapting U.S. grand strategy to the information age—noopolitik, which favors the use of “soft power”—as a successor to realpolitik, with its emphasis on “hard power.” The authors illuminate how U.S. adversaries are already deploying dark forms of noopolitik (e.g., weaponized narratives, strategic deception, epistemic attacks); propose ways to fight back; and discuss how the future of noopolitik might depend on what happens to the global commons—i.e., the parts of Earth that fall outside national jurisdictions and to which all nations are supposed to have access."

Creator

David Rondfelt
John Arquilla

Publication Date

July 30, 2020