Rethinking Strategy and Statecraft for the Information Age: Rise of the Noosphere and Noopolitik

20 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2021

See all articles by David Ronfeldt

David Ronfeldt

Independent

John Arquilla

Department of Defense Analysis

Date Written: January 30, 2021

Abstract

Updating ideas first proposed years ago, this paper urges that national-security and foreign-policy strategists turn to a new concept for adapting statecraft to the information age — noopolitik, which emphasizes ideational “soft power” — as a successor to realpolitik, an aging concept that has emphasized geopolitical “hard power.” Noopolitik derives from recognizing that a new globe-circling phenomenon is emerging atop our planet’s long-existing geosphere and biosphere: namely, the noosphere, as a “thinking circuit” and “realm of the mind” enabled by the digital information revolution.

As the noosphere grows, it will profoundly affect statecraft — the conditions favoring traditional realpolitik strategies will erode, and the prospects for noopolitik strategies will grow. Strategic narratives will matter more than ever. The decisive factor in today’s and tomorrow’s wars of ideas is thus bound to be “whose story wins” — the essence of noopolitik.

Various state and non-state actors have already taken the lead in deploying dark forms of noopolitik: e.g., political warfare, weaponized narratives, epistemic attacks — what China’s leaders now call “discourse power.” This paper identifies better ways to fight back and improve future prospects for the noosphere and noopolitik. Policymakers and strategists should, among other initiatives, rethink existing concepts of “soft power,” treat the “global commons” as a pivotal issue area for both civilian and military strategy, and institute a requirement for regular, systematic reviews of their nations’ “information posture.” Courses and curricula for teaching grand strategy should be redesigned to focus better on understanding social cognition and social evolution as well.

Keywords: strategy, statecraft, realpolitik, noopolitik, noosphere

Suggested Citation

Ronfeldt, David and Arquilla, John, Rethinking Strategy and Statecraft for the Information Age: Rise of the Noosphere and Noopolitik (January 30, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3910628 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3910628

John Arquilla

Department of Defense Analysis ( email )

Graduate School of Operational and Information Sci
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA 93943
United States
1-831-656-3691 (Phone)

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