ABSTRACT
The second chapter discusses the intellectual origins of the fifth generation warfare (5GW) concept, which was first introduced in the early 2000s, namely ideas related to non-lethality, neocortical warfare, and netwar and noopolitik. The second part of the chapter is dedicated to discussion of the Chinese theory of unrestricted warfare, which has been claimed to have been a major inspiration for the theory of 5GW. The third part of the chapter summarizes 5GW as described in Daniel Abbott’s The Handbook of 5GW. The final part of the chapter introduces some of the new belligerents in 5GW, namely super-empowered individuals, criminal organizations, and deep states.
