ABSTRACT

The paper focuses on how technology impacts on irregular conflicts, i.e. conflicts fought by non-state actors. The ability to inflict destruction and produce casualties is no longer directly related to the ability to organize large numbers of people and manage vast stores of resources that has been typical of large, organized state armies, and consequently smaller groups can now inflict more serious and extensive damage than their predecessors. It follows that the relationship between irregular fighters and technology is one of the most crucial elements in understanding contemporary conflicts. The paper is divided into five sections. The first is a brief paragraph focused on the definition problem, explaining why and how we use the term ‘irregular fighters’, and the second is a historical overview on how the relationship between ‘irregular fighters’ and technology has changed in the last two centuries. The third section is a study of current trends in the relationship between modern technology and current irregular warfare. The fourth section is intended to study current impacts of technology on irregular warfare, looking at ISIS’s operations in 2016–2017 and its use of drones. Finally, the conclusions section presents both lessons learned and findings.

摘要

本文重点关注技术如何影响非常规冲突，即非国家行为者发起的冲突。造成破坏和造成伤亡的能力不再与组织大量人员和管理大量资源的能力直接相关，而这种能力是大型、有组织的国家军队所特有的，因此较小的团体现在可以造成更严重和更广泛的破坏。伤害远超前辈。由此可见，非正规战士与技术之间的关系是理解当代冲突的最关键因素之一。本文分为五个部分。第一部分是一个简短的段落，重点关注定义问题，解释我们为什么以及如何使用“非正规战士”一词，第二个是对“非正规战士”与技术之间的关系在过去两个世纪中如何变化的历史概述。第三部分是现代技术与当前非常规战争关系的当前趋势研究。第四部分旨在研究当前技术对非常规战争的影响，考察 ISIS 在 2016 年至 2017 年的行动及其对无人机的使用。最后，结论部分介绍了经验教训和调查结果。