Securitizing cyberspace: Protecting political judgment

2021 ◽  
pp. 175508822110464
Author(s):  
Hedvig Ördén

The contemporary debate in democracies routinely refers to online misinformation, disinformation, and deception, as security-issues in need of urgent attention. Despite this pervasive discourse, however, policymakers often appear incapable of articulating what security means in this context. This paper argues that we must understand the unique practical and normative challenges to security actualized by such online information threats, when they arise in a democratic context. Investigating security-making in the nexus between technology and national security through the concept of “cybersovereignty,” the paper highlights a shared blind spot in the envisaged protection of national security and democracy in cyberspace. Failing to consider the implications of non-territoriality in cyberspace, the “cybersovereign” approach runs into a cul de sac. Security-making, when understood as the continuous constitution of “cybersovereign” boundaries presumes the existence of a legitimate securitizing actor; however, this actor can only be legitimate as a product of pre-existing boundaries. In response to the problems outlined, the article proposes an alternative object of protection in the form of human judgment and, specifically, “political judgment” in the Arendtian sense. The turn to political judgment offers a conceptualization of security that can account for contemporary policy practises in relation to security and the online information threat, as well as for the human communicating subject in the interactive and essentially incomplete information and communication environment.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-119
Author(s):  
Yu.Yu. IERUSALIMSKY ◽  
◽  
A.B. RUDAKOV ◽  

The article is devoted to the study of such an important aspect of the activities of the World Russian People's Council (until 1995 it was called the World Russian Council) in the 90-s of the 20-th century as a discussion of national security issues and nuclear disarmament. At that time, a number of political and public figures actively called for the nuclear disarmament of Russia. Founded in 1993, the World Russian Council called for the Russian Federation to maintain a reasonable balance between reducing the arms race and fighting for the resumption of detente in international relations, on the one hand, and maintaining a powerful nuclear component of the armed forces of the country, on the other. The resolutions of the World Russian Council and the World Russian People's Council on the problems of the new concepts formation of foreign policy and national security of Russia in the context of NATO's eastward movement are analyzed in the article. It also shows the relationship between the provisions of the WRNS on security and nuclear weapons issues with Chapter VIII of the «Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church».


The armed forces of Europe have undergone a dramatic transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces provides the first comprehensive analysis of national security and defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, and military operations, as well as the alliances and partnerships of European armed forces in response to the security challenges Europe has faced since the end of the cold war. A truly cross-European comparison of the evolution of national defence policies and armed forces remains a notable blind spot in the existing literature. This Handbook aims to fill this gap with fifty-one contributions on European defence and international security from around the world. The six parts focus on: country-based assessments of the evolution of the national defence policies of Europe’s major, medium, and lesser powers since the end of the cold war; the alliances and security partnerships developed by European states to cooperate in the provision of national security; the security challenges faced by European states and their armed forces, ranging from interstate through intra-state and transnational; the national security strategies and doctrines developed in response to these challenges; the military capabilities, and the underlying defence and technological industrial base, brought to bear to support national strategies and doctrines; and, finally, the national or multilateral military operations by European armed forces. The contributions to The Handbook collectively demonstrate the fruitfulness of giving analytical precedence back to the comparative study of national defence policies and armed forces across Europe.


Author(s):  
Craig Boutilier ◽  
Jeffrey S. Rosenschein ◽  
Herve Moulin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waheeda Rahman

Echoing Canada's historical treatment of immigrants, the post- 9/11 era has brought terrorism and national security issues to the forefront of the political agenda by dividing immigrants based on race, colour, religion and country of origin (Kruger, Mulder and Korenic, 2004). The research critically examines the major security legislation employed by the Canadian government since the events of September 11, 2001, in order to highlight the impact on marginalized communitites, in particular "Muslims" and "Arabs". The paper will examine through key informant interviews, the affect the new security agenda has had on targeted individuals and on the advocacy efforts of social movements and social activists. The paper takes the position that this new era of national security undertaken by the state has resulted in a two-tiered justice system, where certain groups are now being targeted by government and security agencies, while there is an erosion of democratic rights of all Canadians.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 7401
Author(s):  
Riccardo De Benedictis ◽  
Carlo De Medio ◽  
Augusto Palombini ◽  
Gabriella Cortellessa ◽  
Carla Limongelli ◽  
...  

Among more dramatic effects, the COVID-19 scenario also raised the need for new online information and communication services, promoting the spread of software solutions whose usefulness will last well beyond the pandemic situation. Particularly in the cultural heritage domain, it has been unveiled the relevance of new AI-based approaches, able to dynamically aggregate information and making them available for a customized fruition aimed to the individual cultural growth. Here, we integrate machine learning techniques for the automatic generation of contents for an intelligent tutoring system grounded on automated planning techniques. We present a solution for semantic, intelligent creation of personalized cultural contents, born as a lesson-making assistant, but developed as to become a multi-function “cultural crossover”, useful in the frame of a wide range of planning, dissemination, and managing activities for cultural heritage contents.


Perceptions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Morrison

While humanitarian crises have plagued the continent of Africa for years, some of the world’s most severe and dire human security issues exist within the Sahel region. This geographic and geopolitical region in the middle of Africa is located between the Sahara and Savanna. The Sahel struggles with damaging security issues as well as economic and cultural problems. This region is representative of a security complex because Sahelian states’ security is so interlinked that national security problems will never be solved apart from other Sahelian nations. While African nations such as Mali, Nigeria, and Chad are included in the Sahel region, a lesser-known and rarely discussed country is Mauritania. For a time being, Mauritania was so publically unrecognizable that autocorrect on smart phones would change “Mauritania” to “Martian” (Nashashibi 2012). Mauritania is unique because although it is situated near the violent nation Mali, it holds a mainly cooperative relationship with Western allies against Islamist insurgencies. This position highlights the country’s importance and the need for stabilization. While numerous security problems pose a significant threat to Mauritanian stability, a concerted international effort to provide food, environmental, and political resources to the country can resolve these crises.


Author(s):  
Ahmed El Gody

The utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Egypt has irrevocably changed the nature of the traditional Egyptian public sphere. The Egyptian online society can be viewed as a multiplicity of networks. These networks have developed, transformed and expanded over time, operating across all areas of life. Nonetheless, in essence they are socio-political and cultural in origin. Network communication changed the way audiences consumed news, with traditional media –especially independent and opposition– starting to utilize ICTs to access online information to develop their media content, in order to escape government control. Several media organizations also started to expand their presence online so that, as well as providing news content, they also provided readers with a ‘space' to interact amongst themselves and with media organizations. Audiences started to provide detailed descriptions of Egyptian street politics, posting multimedia material, generating public interest, and reinforcing citizen power – and, hence, democratic capacity.


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