Reimagining the cult of the divisive: How tactical realities shape cyber-enabled influence operations
Christopher Whyte, Ugochukwu Etudo · Comparative Strategy · 2025
Despite an expanding landscape of cyber-enabled attempts to generate malign influence in Western democracies for strategic gain, scholarship continues to lack evidence-driven theorization. In existing analysis, a “cult of the divisive” mentality pervades across most expert examinations, emphasizing the oversimplified assumption that counter-society operations are a form of strategic maneuver wherein belligerents discover fault lines in target nations and generically exacerbate them to create sociopolitical division for purposes of distraction. This article develops recent research findings and argues that theory based on an operational understanding of IO constraints and objectives cedes predictive capacity we currently lack.