Modern Wars and Old Strategies: From Propaganda to Psychological Operations

The present article deals with propaganda and psychological operations. It consists of two parts. The first part delineates that following the Cold War, the concept and strategies of war changed. Within the framework of modern warfare concept, representation of war through media has become more important for both sides of the conflict and consequently they allocate more resources to control and manage war propaganda. This has influenced propaganda techniques too. However, the strategic goals of propaganda as well as propaganda strategies have not undergone much changed. Hence, Harold D. Laswell’s analysis on the strategic goals of propaganda and propaganda strategies during World War I is briefly reviewed the first part of the article. It is argued that although Laswell’s book was written seventy-five years ago, his analysis is still valid and operational. The goals and strategies of propaganda have remained the same but propaganda techniques have got more complicated and, from a terminological standpoint, the term ‘psychological operations’ has replaced the term ‘propaganda’ in political and military literature. Thus, referring to the military definitions, some concepts associated with propaganda are reviewed. How America or NATO utilized propaganda and psychological operations in the three wars (Persian Gulf War, Kosovo War and Invasion of Afghanistan) during the post-Cold War period is what the second part of the paper examines. The possibility of utilizing Laswell’s propaganda strategies to understand America and NATO's measures is also considered. Finally, some attributes of modern warfare related to the war which led to invasion of Afghanistan is discussed.