Kurilkin, A.V. Theoretical and methodological fundamentals for the studies of information warfare and psychological operations.

Abstract: There is need for the formation of the new methods for the fighting in the international arena, leading to the formation of the theory of information warfare. An additional impulse for the development of information psychological strife was due to the fact that after the end of the 2nd World War and the formation of the Potsdam – Washington system the world was divided into two large camps, and there was an ideological opposition between them. The combination of the above-said factors as well as the active development of mass media and new communication methods lead to the formation of the new arena for the international politics. It was cyberspace, and it is noted in many works of foreign authors. The methodological basis for the studies was formed with the systemic, structural-functional, comparative historical, comparative political, geopolitical, cultural-civilization methods, methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling, observation. The goal of the article is to study information psychological influence as a new matter in the political sphere of human life. The goals of this article involve description of the history of development of information warfare and cyber-wars, studying methods, technologies and experience of foreign states. Another important purpose is to single out the differences between the information warfare and classical political campaigns in various directions and analysis of the information warfare and cyberwars from the standpoint of political theory and theory of international relations.

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