Information Technology and Military Power

Cornell Studies in Security Affairs

By: Jon R. Lindsay

Narrated by: Kelly Libatique

Militaries with state-of-the-art information technology sometimes bog down in confusing conflicts. To understand why, it is important to understand the micro-foundations of military power in the information age - and this is exactly what Jon R. Lindsay's Information Technology and Military Power gives us. As Lindsay shows, digital systems now mediate almost every effort to gather, store, display, analyze, and communicate information in military organizations. He highlights how personnel now struggle with their own information systems, as much as with the enemy.

Throughout this foray into networked technology in military operations, we see how information practice - the ways in which practitioners use technology in actual operations - shapes the effectiveness of military performance. The quality of information practice depends on the interaction between strategic problems, and organizational solutions.

Information Technology and Military Power explores information practice through a series of detailed historical cases, and ethnographic studies of military organizations at war. Lindsay argues, convincingly, that a better understanding of how personnel actually use technology can inform the design of command and control, improve the net assessment of military power, and promote reforms to improve military performance.

The book is published by Cornell University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2020 Cornell University (P)2022 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Practitioners on the application of military power would be wise to pick up a copy of this book." (The Journal of Military History)

"This book will appeal to a wide audience. Military personnel working in large command centers will find this book especially helpful." (Strategic Studies Quarterly)