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a virtual library and electronic publishing format. The web page helped judges
in Bosnia to build the rule of law. 276
IT impacts on conflict management in other ways. For example, some
view media coverage of conflicts as a form of military pressure, while others
view the media as a means of subtle diplomacy. Communications technologies
(the Internet, websites, etc.) serve selected audiences or regional or specialized
markets. Groups can communicate with one another nearly instantaneously and
simultaneously, sending messages, photos, or other website links at any time.
Still, diplomats claim budgetary constraints, security concerns, and
organizational culture as blockades to their ability to access these technologies.
This results in an environment in which individuals and groups are sometimes
empowered by information processing and communications to a greater extent
than foreign relations departments. 277 Information is so easily transmitted and
influential today that in 1997 author Warren P. Strobel entitled his book Late
Breaking Foreign Policy.
Potential IT Military Uses
If Albright is correct in her analysis that a new peacekeeping model is
required today, then IT is poised to play a significant role in developing the
capabilities to assist that model. One of the facilities involved with accelerating
the availability of tools and techniques to develop training applications for
policekeepers is the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) located in Marina
Del Ray, California. These efforts are the result of a $44.5 million contract
between the US Army and the University of Southern California that concluded
in August 1999. The Institute is charged with creating a system adaptable
enough to provide the correct virtual environment for policekeepers, such as the
proper terrain, culture, and situational context. 278 Policekeeping forces trained
by facilities such as ICT learn how to resolve disputes on city streets or in
crowded market squares before they become conflicts.
ICT’s first product has met these expectations. The Institute
constructed an interaction simulation vignette that depicts a peacekeeping
operation in Bosnia. It demonstrates how squad leaders and other
noncommissioned officers can learn “through simulation to deal diplomatically
276
Henry Perritt, Villanova School of Law, comment made during his presentation at
the Conference on Virtual Diplomacy in 1997.
277 Margarita S. Studemeister, “The Impact of Information and Communications
Technologies on International Conflict Management,” ASIS Bulletin, Feb/Mar 1998.
278 Jim Starling, “Soldiers Help Create Cultural Training Vignette,” Defense News, 4
September 2000, p. 14.
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