ABSTRACT
Contemporary society is undergoing significant changes which promise to alter, and in fact are altering, the nature of conflict and crime. Two significant factors are technological and organizational changes which enhance the power of relatively small actors. The information revolution allows small groups to exercise power and extend their influence in seconds, across vast distances without regard to geographic limitations. Accompanying this access and ability to move information via the Internet, cell phone, fax and emerging digital technologies is a shift from hierarchies to network forms of organization. These two factors usher in the era of asymmetric threat, where non-state actors can extend their influence and challenge states and state institutions to gain social, political or economic influence.
