[In Progress]
Choucri, Nazli. Cyberpolitics in international relations. MIT press, 2012.
Review
td;dr Traditional IR theory stinks. Also, computers are a thing people should care about.
Cyberpolitics is one of first books that pushed the IR community to think about cybersecurity in a meaningful way. Choucri argues that cyberspace constitutes a new “space”, and as such, “provide[s] opportunities for expanding power and influence in world politics” (p. 5).
Choucri argues that traditional IR theory has failed us. It is static, state-focused, unable to combine perspectives, and ignorant or unwilling to address change. IR theory must be modified to address cyberspace.
Below are some of my notes, with definitions and quotes. I recommend you check out Clark’s model of cyberspace for an IR-cyber stack.
Notes
cyberspace and cyberpolitics
Cyberpolitics: the conjunction of two processes or realities–those pertaining to human interactions (politics) and those enabled by the uses of a virtual space (cyber)
characteristics of cyberspace
- Temporality- near instantaneity
- Physicality- transcends constraints of geography and physical location
- Permeation- penetrates boundaries and jurisdictions
- Fluidity- manifests sustained shifts and reconfigurations
- Participation- reduces barriers to activism and political expression
- Attribution- obscures identities of actors and links to actions
- Accountability- bypasses mechanisms of responsibility
Clark’s layered model of cyberspace
- Physical foundations and infrastructures that enable the cyber playing field
- Logical building blocks that support the physical platform and enable services
- Information content stored, transmitted, or transformed
- Actors, entities, and users with various interests
definitions of politics
- Lasswell (1958): the authoritative allocation of values in society
- Easton (1953): who gets what, when, and how
As Harold Lasswell noted, the “study of politics is the study of influence and the influential.” The influential people “are those who get the most of what there is to get” (Lasswell 1958, 3). When politics is evoked, power is a necessary corollary (p. 9).
Influence: conditions shaped by hierarchy, forms of social stratification, both formal and informal, and uneven access to centers of decision and power.
…the articulation and aggregation of interests are fundamental to all forms of politics. To the extent that cyber venues are used for such purposes, they must be seen not only as enablers but also as important multipliers (p. 12).
international relations theory
traditional IR schools of thought
- Realism: national security, power politics, conflict, and traditional warfare. Pursuit of power and wealth dominates.
- International system is anarchic in nature and states are the primary actors
- States are unitary actors
- Individual is conflict oriented
- Decisions follow a rational calculus
- Institutionalism: (liberalism) cooperation, coordination, mechanisms to routinize the international behavior of states
- International system is potentially harmonious
- Individuals are relatively benign
- Collaboration is necessary and feasible
- International institutions have autonomous impacts on outcomes
- Constructivism: emphasizes the subjective, perceptions, cognition, beliefs, values, symbols. etc.
- International system shaped by social interactions
3 challenges for IR theory:
- Recognize and represent critical interconnections among systems of interaction
- Fundamentally address the dynamics of transformation and change
- Account for actors and entities consistent with empirical conditions
