ABSTRACT
Many future warfare tactics – including cyberwarfare and disinformation – exploit the informational dimension to gain strategic leverage. Such information tactics also blur the boundary between war and peace, as they can be used in both spheres (and all the space between). This chapter invokes traditional just war principles, as expressed in the language of jus in vi, to unpack the ethical dilemmas of information warfare. It also considers necessity and order as principles that can help avoid undesirable escalation while leaving open possibilities for negotiation and peacemaking. While information war may not cause material damage, the social harm it inflicts may even be worse. We know how to rebuild structures, how to grieve the dead, how to hold individuals countable for wrongs done in traditional war. But how do we rebuild societies devastated by disinformation, grieve the loss of trust, or hold algorithms responsible for the wrongs done in information war?
