Armed Forces, Cyberspace, and Global Images: The Official Website of the Israeli Defense Forces 2007–2015

Oren Golan, Eyal Ben-Ari

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study centers on the relation between militaries, violence, and publicly available digital images. Military websites can be characterized as forms of representation of national institutions comparable to the sites of any large organization. However, the way these websites publicly frame and explain the military’s use of organized violence has not been investigated. Accordingly, this study examines how contemporary militaries manage their public and online relation to their core expertise, organized violence. The analysis is based on a longitudinal analysis of the Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) official websites (2007–2015) and interviews with key webmasters. The integration of the Internet and new media into the IDF’s official websites highlights its deliberate move into the cybernetic realm to manage, order, manipulate, and handle its public images and representations as a legitimate social institution charged with using violence in the defense of the country.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)280-300
Number of pages21
JournalArmed Forces and Society
Volume44
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.

Keywords

  • Israel
  • armed forces
  • digital militarism
  • new media
  • violence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Safety Research

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