Cybersecurity and cyber defence in the emerging democracies
Publication Date
2020-01-01 00:00
Security Theme
Cybersecurity
Keywords
Defence; military; cybercommand; governance;United States; Latin America, Cybersecurity
Description
How do we interpret current cybersecurity and cyber defenceaffairs beyond what we know from the advanced democraciesand industrialised states? This article argues that in the emergingdemocracies, the military is on its way to being the dominantforce controlling cyber centres or commands emulating thosealready established in the global North. There are three maintakeaways from such developments when using the case study ofthe western hemisphere. First, states in the region have decidedto manage their cyber affairs through inter-governmental andmilitary-to-military diplomacy with more powerful states, such asthe United States. Second, governments are eager to set upinteractive policy communities at the national level to reviewcyber risks together with those in the defence sector. Third,militarising cyberspace in fragile political and policy settings canbecome somewhat risky for democratic governing. Ultimately,marrying the protection of the digital space to highly politicisedarmed forces might turn into a challenge when trying to set up asecure and egalitarian internet
Cybersecurity and cyber defence in the emerging democracies
How do we interpret current cybersecurity and cyber defenceaffairs beyond what we know from the advanced democraciesand industrialised states? This article argues that in the emergingdemocracies, the military is on its way to being the dominantforce controlling cyber centres or commands emulating thosealready established in the global North. There are three maintakeaways from such developments when using the case study ofthe western hemisphere. First, states in the region have decidedto manage their cyber affairs through inter-governmental andmilitary-to-military diplomacy with more powerful states, such asthe United States. Second, governments are eager to set upinteractive policy communities at the national level to reviewcyber risks together with those in the defence sector. Third,militarising cyberspace in fragile political and policy settings canbecome somewhat risky for democratic governing. Ultimately,marrying the protection of the digital space to highly politicisedarmed forces might turn into a challenge when trying to set up asecure and egalitarian internet
