Changing the code? Norm contestation and US antipreneurism in cyberspace

Abstract

Cyberspace appears to offer limitless possibilities for collaboration and economic opportunity in the twenty-first century, but cyber-attacks, breaches of privacy, and security threats also have become commonplace. In the face of these challenges, a number of governments have been locked in debates over the future of cyberspace governance, including the Russian Republic, the People’s Republic of China, and the United States. This study examines the ongoing contestation of the international normative architecture for cyberspace, with a focus on the United States’ role as a norm ‘antipreneur’, seeking to defend the status quo multi-stakeholder norm for a more open Internet from entrepreneurial efforts by Russia and China to establish multilateral governance with ‘cyber-sovereignty’. Drawing on recent advances in constructivist theory, the study explores antipreneurial strategies to contest efforts by entrepreneurs to introduce new norms, as well as implications for norm development and change. Process tracing is employed to examine cyberspace governance debates. The study concludes by discussing prospects for an International Code of Conduct for Cyberspace, as well as theoretical and political implications of antipreneurship in modern norm contestations.

China’s challenge to the global commons: compliance, contestation, and subversion in the maritime and cyber domains

“…China has acted as a norm entrepreneur, contesting the status quo norms defended by 'antipreneurs' such as the US. 67 China is not alone in its preference for a nationally partitioned cyber domain; other countries such as Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and Iran have taken similar positions. These countries' concerns about their domestic stability are compounded by their suspicions of the current US-centric Internet infrastructure.…”

Rủi ro và thách thức an ninh mạng trong lĩnh vực ngân hàng tại Việt Nam

“…Khái niệm không gian mạng được cho là mạng ảo mà trong đó hệ thống mạng thông tin liên lạc kết nối giữa máy tính và thiết bị điện tử cho phép lưu trữ, thay đổi và trao đổi dữ liệu (Lantis & Bloomberg, 2018). Các rủi ro và mối đe dọa trên mạng ban đầu được giải thích như thế nào và liệu người sử dụng dịch vụ ngân hàng trực tuyến tại Việt Nam hiện nay có hiểu biết sâu sắc về khái niệm an ninh mạng và tấn công mạng không?…”

China's Conception of Cyber Sovereignty: Rhetoric and Realization

“…Almost ten years later, it has become clear that the use of networked technologies to conduct espionage, sabotage, and subversion (Rid 2013) is a major feature of contemporary global politics . How this behavior should be governed at the global level has been a major point of international contention, and efforts to develop "cyber norms" of conduct via established international institutions, bilateral summits, and other conventional forms of diplomacy have failed to resolve many fundamental disagreements between key states such as the United States, Russia, and China Lantis and Bloomberg 2018;Henriksen 2019). How should the laws of war apply?…”