Unpacking Strategic Behavior in Cyberspace: A Schema-Driven Approach

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.31235/osf.io/hfsru ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Miguel Alberto Gomez ◽

Christopher Whyte

Keyword(s):

Strategic Behavior ◽

Contemporary Literature ◽

Strategic Culture ◽

State Behavior ◽

Strategic Objectives ◽

Cultural Framework ◽

Cross National

The contemporary literature on cybersecurity and related interstate interactions often cites the need to overcome uncertainty due to an inherent deficit of information about cyber operations. While this notion continues to appear relevant in studies that advance our understanding of state behavior in cyberspace, noticeable gaps remain. These gaps particularly stem from the limited utility of cyber operations to shift the balance of strategic power between states or to signal intent and resolve effectively. In response, this article advances a cognitive-cultural framework wherein behavior reflects preferences derived from schema usage. Using cross-national wargames, the article illustrates the schematic use of strategic culture as a basis for deriving strategic objectives and the means with which these are achieved. Consequently, the article serves as the initial foray in expanding our understanding of interstate behavior in cyberspace.

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Political Culture and State Behavior: Why Germany Confounds Neorealism

International Organization ◽

10.1162/002081899551066 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 53 (4) ◽

pp. 765-803 ◽

Cited By ~ 72

Author(s):

John S. Duffield

Keyword(s):

Political Culture ◽

Security Policy ◽

Explanatory Power ◽

Strategic Culture ◽

State Behavior ◽

The Past ◽

Cultural Concepts ◽

Cultural Variables ◽

The Many ◽

German Security Policy

During the past decade, a growing number of scholars have turned to cultural approaches to account for the foreign and security policies of states. Surprisingly, however, these scholars have devoted little attention to the concept that boasts the most venerable tradition in the field of political science, that of political culture, as a possible source of state behavior. This neglect is unjustified. Like other cultural variables, political culture promises to explain phenomena that are enigmatic from the perspective of leading noncultural theories, such as neorealism. Yet it applies to a broader range of cases than do the many alternative cultural concepts, such as strategic culture and organizational culture, that have been employed. I begin by describing an important puzzle in the international relations literature that suggests the need to consider culture as a variable: the failure of neorealism to predict German security policy after unification. I then assess the various cultural approaches used in recent years to explain state behavior. After noting the similarities in these approaches, I discuss the important differences that mark them and identify the reasons for the greater utility of political culture. Finally, I illustrate the explanatory power of the political culture approach by applying it to the case of German security policy since 1990.

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Tracing Strategic Preferences in Cyberspace: The Role of Regional and Domestic Strategic Culture

10.31235/osf.io/ypvza ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Miguel Alberto Gomez

Keyword(s):

Strategic Culture ◽

State Behavior ◽

Material Resources ◽

Strategic Factors ◽

Selection Of

Our understanding of strategic preferences in cyberspace rests on the material and strategic factors that shape state behavior. This, however, is derived from the actions of established cyber powers. Given the material resources required to effectively operate in this environment and repeated interactions that form the boundaries of accepted behavior, the literature does not adequately explain the emergence of strategic preferences among novice actors. The article posits that these are not exclusively the function of either the material or strategic factors. Instead, strategic culture features prominently in the selection of strategic preferences that shape state behavior in cyberspace.

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A Shaky “Wedge”: An Analysis of India’s Strategic Behavior under the US “Indo-Pacific” Strategy

East Asian Affairs ◽

10.1142/s273755792150011x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lian Bo

Keyword(s):

Soviet Union ◽

Strategic Alliances ◽

Strategic Behavior ◽

Asia Pacific ◽

Strategic Objectives ◽

Autonomous Action ◽

Strategic Objective ◽

The Soviet Union ◽

Strategic Environments ◽

The Us

America’s Indo-Pacific strategy is essentially a combination of its Asia-Pacific and Indian strategies: through the consolidation of its strategic alliances, it can deepen its relations with Asia-Pacific allies, and through its “wedging strategy” it can pull India into its orbit to become a strategic “fulcrum” bridging the region. India was both a key member and leader of the non-aligned movement, while also previously forming a “quasi-alliance” with the Soviet Union. At present, it has responded to the US Indo-Pacific strategy with cautious initiative. From the vantage point of a state targeted vis-à-vis a wedging strategy, India’s strategic behavior is shaped by the strategic environment, its primary strategic objectives, and the relations between allies within the context of a unique strategic environment. This paper identifies two types of strategic environments: the general strategic environment and the specialized strategic environment; it further identifies primary strategic objectives as economic development, sovereign integrity and independence, national security and great state status (especially with respect to that of regional or global major powers); meanwhile, the alliance relationship is defined according to the extent to which there are divisions across state interests and the capacity of states to act autonomously vis-à-vis the alliance. Through an analysis of India’s diplomatic experiences, this paper argues that against the backdrop of America’s “Indo-Pacific” strategy and a lose general strategic environment, the primary strategic objective of achieving major state status and a “large divide over interests and a major space for autonomous action” shape India’s cautious initiative with respect to its alliance relationships.

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