TY - JOUR

T1 - African Countries in the Epoch of Information Globalization: New Challenges in the New Age

AU - Pantserev, K. A.

AU - Sidorova, G. M.

AU - Zherlitsina, N. A.

N1 - Pantserev K. A., Sidorova G. M., Zherlitsina N. A.African Countries in the Epoch of In-formation Globalization: New Challenges in the New Age. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2019, vol. 11, issue 4, pp. 590–605. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2019.411

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - The article is devoted to the problem of ensuring security of North and Central African coun-tries in the age of informational globalization. Today there is a new up-and-coming social and economic order based on telecommunications. The central place in this new system of public relations belongs to information and communication technologies. One can observe the situ-ation when the creation of the knowledge-based economy is turning into the main strategic priority of the policy of every country, which considers ICT as an effective tool, which can ensure a sustainable social and economic growth. But at the same time, it is necessary to keep in mind that information technologies, when used effectively, are able to destroy existing or-ders, to overthrow political regimes that used to be rather stable and influential. Based on case studies of North African countries, authors show key instruments that have been used in those countries in order to manage public opinion. Among those instruments authors highlight: 1) aiming for bad expectations which entails the notion of an impending disaster and mass depression; 2) substitution of definitions which supposes that in order to create positive im-ages of the opposition that resist the governmental forces, Western mass media calls militants and terrorists “rebels”; 3) implementation of mass dissatisfaction which means the situation when popular bloggers or representatives of opposition movements begin to promote the dis-satisfaction of legal power; 4) use of biased materials. In this way, authors conclude that the effective resistance in the information warfare strictly depends on the presence of a national idea on the one hand and on the level of the informational culture of the society on the other. The last point seems to be the key element that can guarantee the survival of the State, es-pecially if it pretends to pursue self-reliant political line based on its national interests and cultural values

AB - The article is devoted to the problem of ensuring security of North and Central African coun-tries in the age of informational globalization. Today there is a new up-and-coming social and economic order based on telecommunications. The central place in this new system of public relations belongs to information and communication technologies. One can observe the situ-ation when the creation of the knowledge-based economy is turning into the main strategic priority of the policy of every country, which considers ICT as an effective tool, which can ensure a sustainable social and economic growth. But at the same time, it is necessary to keep in mind that information technologies, when used effectively, are able to destroy existing or-ders, to overthrow political regimes that used to be rather stable and influential. Based on case studies of North African countries, authors show key instruments that have been used in those countries in order to manage public opinion. Among those instruments authors highlight: 1) aiming for bad expectations which entails the notion of an impending disaster and mass depression; 2) substitution of definitions which supposes that in order to create positive im-ages of the opposition that resist the governmental forces, Western mass media calls militants and terrorists “rebels”; 3) implementation of mass dissatisfaction which means the situation when popular bloggers or representatives of opposition movements begin to promote the dis-satisfaction of legal power; 4) use of biased materials. In this way, authors conclude that the effective resistance in the information warfare strictly depends on the presence of a national idea on the one hand and on the level of the informational culture of the society on the other. The last point seems to be the key element that can guarantee the survival of the State, es-pecially if it pretends to pursue self-reliant political line based on its national interests and cultural values

KW - информационная политика

KW - информационная безопасность

KW - инфор- мационное общество

KW - африканские страны

KW - информационные технологии

KW - information policy

KW - nformation security

KW - information society

KW - African countries

KW - information technologies

UR - https://aasjournal.spbu.ru/article/view/6483/5048

UR - https://aasjournal.spbu.ru/article/view/6483

M3 - Article

SP - 590

EP - 605

JO - ВЕСТНИК САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА. ВОСТОКОВЕДЕНИЕ И АФРИКАНИСТИКА

JF - ВЕСТНИК САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА. ВОСТОКОВЕДЕНИЕ И АФРИКАНИСТИКА

SN - 2074-1227

IS - 4

ER -