Cyberspace and International Relations: The Co-Evolution Dilemma

(Hardback)

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A foundational analysis of the co-evolution of the internet and international relations, examining resultant challenges for individuals, organizations, firms, and states.In our increasingly digital world, data flows define the international landscape as much as the flow of materials and people. How is cyberspace shaping international relations, and how are international relations shaping cyberspace In this book, Nazli Choucri and David D. Clark offer a foundational analysis of the co-evolution of cyberspace (with the internet as its core) and international relations, examining resultant challenges for individuals, organizations, and states.The authors examine the pervasiveness of power and politics in the digital realm, finding that the internet is evolving much faster than the tools for regulating it. This creates a "co-evolution dilemma"-a new reality in which digital interactions have enabled weaker actors to influence or threaten stronger actors, including the traditional state powers. Choucri and Clark develop a new method for addressing control in the internet age, "control point analysis," and apply it to a variety of situations, including major actors in the international and digital realms- the United States, China, and Google. In doing so they lay the groundwork for a new international relations theory that reflects the reality in which we live-one in which the international and digital realms are inextricably linked and evolving together.

Author Bio

Nazli Choucri is Professor of Political Science at MIT, Director of the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD), and the author of Cyberpolitics in International Relations (MIT Press). David D. Clark is a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab and a leader in the design of the Internet since the 1970s.