Cyber Statecraft in an Era of Systemic Competition

英国希望发展并确立其作为负责任、民主的网络强国的身份。该项目将为其提供概念工具和经验知识，从而在未来十年为英国国际网络治国战略的效力和影响做出贡献。全球网络安全和治理正处于关键时刻。制定网络空间规则、规范和价值观的努力反映了国际权力动态的变化，并表达和维持了关于网络安全是为了什么以及为了谁而存在的相互竞争的政治愿景。像英国这样的自由民主国家坚持现有的多方利益相关者网络治理方法，并坚持开放和互操作性。这一点受到了中国、俄罗斯及其战略合作伙伴的挑战，这些国家推行“网络主权”模式，将国家领土强加于网络空间，以加强政权安全，并在国内压制政治言论和动员。在这两个相互竞争的两极之间，存在着不同的国家和地区视角，处于所谓的全球网络安全和治理的“中间地带”。网络安全的国际层面的中心地位反映在英国政府的国家战略中。《综合评估》和随后发布的《国家网络战略》勾勒出了英国要成为一个负责任、民主的网络强国的雄心。国家网络战略的第四支柱--全球领导力--阐明了英国基于自由民主价值观在国际网络安全方面施加影响的目标。这些高级别战略文件指出，争夺网络空间的未来与英国更广泛的外交政策挑战和机遇相吻合。这是一个大胆的抱负。为了实现这一目标，英国需要制定明确的目标，拥抱“网络治国”，这通常被理解为在网络空间和通过网络空间确保国家利益的战略手段，利用国家权力的所有杠杆，并在“全社会”的努力中动员私营部门和公民社会。然而，关于如何有效地进行网络治国的问题和挑战依然存在。该项目将解决关于网络权力的性质和特征、网络治国的多样化实践、实施网络治国的行为者的类型(可能包括公司等非国家行为者)以及网络治国实践的案例研究等概念和经验知识方面的重大差距。它将为网络治国和网络力量的核心概念提供理论基础，并为政策制定者和实践者提供实用建议。该项目解决了英国安全和网络安全政策的核心问题，特别是在最近的政府高层战略中阐明的国际方面和雄心壮志。这也符合EPSRC的数字安全和弹性主题在参与英国的网络安全挑战和建设国家这一领域的能力和能力方面的愿望。该项目将建立一个全国重要的工作机构，直接为政府和多方利益相关者关于英国网络治国的国际方面的对话和决策提供信息。该项目团队将与不同的合作伙伴合作，为学术界、英国政府和更广泛的社会提供有影响力的研究，为政策和未来关于在系统性竞争时代网络治国的最佳实践和竞争方法的研究提供信息。该项目包括三个工作包(WP)，每个工作包(WP)与英国安全战略的关键主题密切相关，并支持英国政府和RISCS的雄心。这些将通过一项贯穿各领域的接触计划得到进一步加强。网络治国方略的理论、实践与评价。WP2。中间立场的网络竞争和治国方略。WP3。私营部门在网络治国中的作用。

The UK wants to develop and assert its identity as a responsible, democratic cyber power. This project will provide it with the conceptual tools and empirical knowledge to do so, contributing to the efficacy and impact of UK international cyber statecraft over the next decade.Global cyber security and governance are at a critical juncture. Efforts to develop the rules, norms and values of cyberspace reflect shifting international power dynamics and express and sustain competing political visions of what and who cyber security is for. Liberal democracies like the UK uphold the existing multistakeholder approach to cyber governance and its adherence to openness and interoperability. This is challenged by China, Russia and their strategic partners, which pursue models of 'cyber sovereignty' that impose national territorialities on cyberspace to bolster regime security and the domestic suppression of political expression and mobilisation. Between these competing poles lie diverse national and regional perspectives in the so-called 'middle ground' of global cyber security and governance.The centrality of the international dimension of cyber security is reflected in the UK Government's national strategies. The Integrated Review and subsequent National Cyber Strategy outline the UK's ambition to be a 'responsible, democratic cyber power'. Pillar 4 of the National Cyber Strategy, 'Global leadership', articulates the UK's aim to exert influence in international cyber security based on liberal democratic values. These high-level strategic documents note that contesting the future of cyberspace dovetails with the UK's broader foreign policy challenges and opportunities. This is a bold ambition. To achieve it, the UK needs to set clear objectives and embrace 'cyber statecraft', understood generically as strategic approaches for securing the national interest in and through cyberspace, using all levers of national power and marshalling the private sector and civil society in a 'whole-of-society' effort. However, questions and challenges persist about how to conduct cyber statecraft in an impactful fashion.The project will address significant gaps in conceptual and empirical knowledge about the nature and character of cyber power, the diverse practices of cyber statecraft, the types of actors that conduct cyber statecraft (including, perhaps, non-state actors like firms), and case studies of cyber statecraft in action. It will provide theoretical foundations for the core concepts of cyber statecraft and cyber power and practical recommendations to policymakers and practitioners. The project addresses core concerns of UK security and cyber security policy, particularly in the international aspects and ambitions articulated in recent high-level government strategies. It also aligns with the aspirations of EPSRC's Digital Security and Resilience Theme in engaging with the UK's cyber security challenges and building national capacity and capability in this area. The project will establish a nationally important body of work that feeds directly into government and multistakeholder conversations and decision-making about the international aspects of UK cyber statecraft. Working with a diverse range of partners, the project team will deliver impactful research to academia, UK Government and wider society, informing policy and future research on best practices and competing approaches to cyber statecraft in an era of systemic competition.The project comprises three Work Packages (WP), each of which relates closely to key themes of UK security strategy and supports the ambitions of UK Government and RISCS. These will be further enhanced by a cross-cutting Engagement Plan.WP1. Theory, practice and evaluation of cyber statecraft. WP2. Middle-ground cyber competition and statecraft. WP3. Role of the private sector in cyber statecraft.