ABSTRACT The digital age has permanently changed the way states conduct political warfare—necessitating a rebalancing of security priorities in democracies. The utilisation of cyberspace by state and non-state actors to subvert democratic elections, encourage the proliferation of violence and challenge the sovereignty and values of democratic states is having a highly destabilising effect. Successful political warfare campaigns also cause voters to question the results of democratic elections and whether special interests or foreign powers have been the decisive factor in a given outcome. This is highly damaging for the political legitimacy of democracies, which depend upon voters being able to trust in electoral processes and outcomes free from malign influence—perceived or otherwise. The values of individual freedom and political expression practised within democratic states challenges their ability to respond to political warfare. The continued failure of governments to understand this has undermined their ability to combat this emerging threat. The challenges that this new digitally enabled political warfare poses to democracies is set to rise with developments in machine learning and the emergence of digital tools such as ‘deep fakes’.

中文翻译：

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数字时代的政治战：网络颠覆、信息作战和“深度造假”

摘要 数字时代已经永久性地改变了国家进行政治战争的方式——需要重新平衡民主国家的安全优先事项。国家和非国家行为者利用网络空间颠覆民主选举、鼓励暴力扩散并挑战民主国家的主权和价值观，正在产生高度不稳定的影响。成功的政治战运动也会让选民质疑民主选举的结果，以及是否特殊利益或外国势力是特定结果的决定性因素。这对民主政体的政治合法性具有极大破坏性，民主政体取决于选民能够信任选举过程和结果，而不受恶意影响——无论是感知的还是其他的。民主国家实行的个人自由和政治表达的价值观挑战了他们应对政治战争的能力。政府继续未能理解这一点，削弱了它们应对这一新兴威胁的能力。随着机器学习的发展和“深度造假”等数字工具的出现，这种新的数字化政治战对民主国家构成的挑战势必会加剧。