Digital Militarism

"Digital Militarism [...] unravels and explores ways of reading the complex, paradoxical, and often uncomfortable interplay between social media and militarist politics . . . Kuntsman's and Stein's work moves beyond the geopolitical and temporal specificity of the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories. Their work offers new ways of engaging and thinking about the everyday digitisation of militarism, and the militarisation of the digital everyday more generally . . . Digital Militarism is anything but ordinary."—Esperanza Miyake, darkmatter Journal

"Amidst the hype of Facebook revolutions and the ostensible democratizing power of social media, Adi Kuntsman and Rebecca Stein illuminate the counterpoint: online militarization and the extension of state politics into the virtual realm. They expose the machinery of the Israeli state power at work within social media, and show the possibilities for countering the force of this machinery. Powerfully argued, beautifully researched, and thought-provoking, Digital Militarism is vitally important."—Laleh Khalili, SOAS, University of London, author of Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies

"Digital Militarism is a pioneering book, showing how information and communication technologies have turned into wartime arsenals, and the Internet and social networks into digital battlefields. Just when one thinks that all has been said about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, a totally original perspective emerges. Digital Militarism is a must read."—Neve Gordon, Ben-Gurion University, author of Israel's Occupation

"Digital Militarism is a riveting guide to contemporary media strategies, improvisations, and accidents in the theatre of Israeli militarism. The book is as ethical as it is political, searchingly mindful of how documentary practice produces mixed consequences in the everyday and at the limit of life."—Lauren Berlant, University of Chicago

"With this genuinely innovative study, Kunstman and Stein open an entirely new direction of research on the Israel/Palestine issue, and pave the way for future debate on the growing digitalisation of military discourses (and militarisation of digital spaces) in the broader context of contemporary armed conflicts, making this book useful not only for scholars specialising in the area, but for all social scientists investigating the cultures and practices of war and soldiering. Finally, warning how information technologies can slowly and subtly transform into new weapons of war and contribute to a process of domestication of violence in a context of prolonged military occupation, the book highlights the need – political and ethical, as well as scientific – for further and deeper investigation into the topic."—Giorgio Gristina, Social Anthropology

"Digital Militarism is a well-researched and well-executed study, packed full of examples and visual imagery that help progress our understanding of militarism in the digital age. It skillfully demonstrates how the pervasive nature of social media holds enormous contemporary and strategic importance for those involved in war and violence. And not least, it highlights the pressures placed on the regulatory measures currently in place to manage social media usage by military actors."—Rikke Bjerg Jensen, Media, Culture & Society