@conference {636421,
	title = {The Chinese People{\textquoteright}s Liberation Army{\textquoteright}s Evolving Strategic Thinking on Information Warfare and Cyber/Network Warfare},
	booktitle = {WCFIA Undergraduate Thesis Conference},
	year = {2016},
	month = {February 4},
	publisher = {Weatherhead Center for International Affairs},
	organization = {Weatherhead Center for International Affairs},
	address = {Cambridge, MA},
	abstract = {This examination of the evolution of the Chinese People{\textquoteright}s Liberation Army{\textquoteright}s strategic thinking on information warfare and cyber warfare between the late 1990s and the present reveals not only a relatively high degree of consistency between the thinking of early information warfare theorists and their contemporaries in certain areas, but also substantive changes in the PLA{\textquoteright}s current approach to information operations and {\textquotedblleft}cyber military struggle.{\textquotedblright} In particular, the PLA{\textquoteright}s conceptualization of cyber reconnaissance, attack, and defense as integrated; emphasis on civil-military integration, including the mobilization of non-military cyber forces; and offense-oriented approach to cyber deterrence constitute highly distinctive elements of Chinese strategy. This assessment of the relative validity of the alternative explanations{\textemdash}including a process of ideational diffusion, reactivity to shifting US strategy in the context of a nascent security dilemma, and the influence of traditional strategic concepts, such as {\textquotedblleft}people{\textquoteright}s warfare{\textquotedblright}{\textemdash}associated with notable changes and continuities offers new insights on the underlying dynamics influencing the PLA{\textquoteright}s strategic thinking on and operational approach to cyber warfare, within the context of its strategy for information operations and prioritization of winning future {\textquotedblleft}informationized{\textquotedblright} local wars.},
	author = {Kania, Elsa}
}
