Anti-war and the cyber triangle : strategic implications of cyber operations and cyber security for the state

[From the introduction:]The main driver for this choice of research was the growing influence of Internet-related issues in contemporary politics in various fields. 2009 saw an intensification of this link between information and communication technologies and international relations, particularly in the field of intelligence and military, with the revelation of notorious cyber operations such as AURORA, Ghostnet and Night Dragon (see chapter II). While those events started to attract the broader attention of academics, it was not until the discovery of the Stuxnet malware in 2010 (see chapter IV) that the issue gained momentum in other fields as well. A computer malware targeting a nuclear enrichment facility in a foreign country amidst a latent conflict certainly raised a lot of questions that demanded answers. Its sophisticated design and potential implications for international relations as well as strategic studies was one of the main inspirations for this research.While the emergence of literature on espionage and sabotage in conjunction with the Internet can be traced back to the 1990's, Kello recognises that even in 2013 it remains a weakly developed area, stating that '[t]he range of conceivable cyber conflict is poorly understood by scholars and decision-makers, and it is unclear how conventional security mechanisms, such as deterrence and collective defence apply to this phenomenon' (Kello, 2013: 7). Thus, the aim of this research is to contribute to the literature in this way '[…] in addition to elucidating empirical cyber events, scholars can guide the design of policies to affect them' (Kello, 2013: 38-39). Undertaking research in a field which is state-of-the-art and therefore, highly volatile, presents a particular academic challenge. It does also however enable a researcher to make a potentially crucial contribution, a dent, in the current debate. In areas of research in a vacuum exists, it is imperative for scholars to contribute to filling up that academic lacuna. The main outcome therefore is supposed to be a contribution to the academic debate on the strategic relevance and conduct of cyber operations and the state’s response to it. The intellectual tools developed as part of this research may be of future use for policy-makers. The underlying question for the research is: What are the strategic implications of cyber operations for the state?The Economist recently saw 'intensifying cyber threats' as one of the top challenges for 2014 (The Economist, 2014). The revelations of the past years, starting with Stuxnet, Operation AURORA, APT-1, Red October and activities derived from the NSA Documents revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden indicate that this threat will not abate soon. More and more states are readying themselves for future conflicts by developing defensive as well offensive cyber operations capabilities (Lewis, 2013b: 9-55). The latest domain for conflict resolution is currently being explored and exploited too by a growing number of different stakeholders. Based on the increased number of stakeholders and the intensity and number of occurrences of said events (see section 3.5 and appendix), its contemporary relevance is high and has been increasing for several years and looks set to continue. Guiding principles in the field of strategy is an important part of this development. Though the debate on strategic implications of cyber operations started in the early 1990's, and promoted under the auspices of the RAND Corporation, '[i]ntellectually, we are in a position not unlike that faced 65 years ago as we began to develop our thinking about nuclear weapons' (Kramer, 2012: I). Nye agrees, stating that 'in comparison to the nuclear revolution in military affairs, strategic studies of the cyber domain are chronologically equivalent to 1960 but conceptually more equivalent to 1950. Analysts are still not clear about the lessons of offense, defense, deterrence, escalation, norms, arms control, or how they fit together into a national strategy' (Nye, 2011: 19). Thus, an intensive academic analysis of this field is pivotal, especially within the framework of strategic studies, in order to enable strategic adaptation and decision-making (Kello, 2013: 14). The timeliness of events, paired with the lack of a properly developed strategic framework, signify the increased contemporary relevance for research of the strategic implications of cyber operations for the state.Definitions are very important in political science, and only more so for research in the field of cyber operations. In the absence of commonly agreed upon definitions for cyber operations, and a multitude of other terms such as cyber warfare, digital warfare, information warfare, electronic warfare (see sub-sections 3.1 and 3.2 as well as section 4) which are at once related and disparate, mean that clarity in definitions is centrally important. While definitions might normally differ slightly, all elements included in the definition of cyber operations might vary. This includes the stakeholders (and their representation as entity in the cyber domain), the means to conduct cyber operations, the platform where it is conducted (for example all digital devices, Internet only, electromagnetic spectrum) and the operations through which it is conducted (for example, if cyber espionage is included or not).Therefore, the coherent and comprehensive definition is of vital importance for the understanding of the research and more so for its outcomes. The terminology of this research applies for the state in the cyber domain, cyber operations and cyber strategy. Thus, the three key definitions which are developed in this research can be found below.The state and its representation in the cyber domain is defined in chapter I: The state’s representation of the cyber domain is the Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII). The CNII is composed of a particular part of the information infrastructure which is vital to the function of the state according to the state-teachings of Jellinek: territory, people and legitimate use of violence.The definition of cyber operations as developed in chapter II: A cyber operation is the targeted use and hack of digital code by any individual, group, organization or state using digital networks, systems and connected devices, which is directed against CNII in order to steal, alter, destroy information or disrupt and deny functionality with the ultimate aim to weaken and/ or harm a targeted political unit.Subsequently, the definition of a cyber strategy in chapter IV: The development and employment of cyber operations, potentially integrated and coordinated with other operational domains and forms of information operations, to achieve or support the achievement of political objectives

Environmental city-regionalism in China: War against air pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

The state remains central in contemporary environmental politics and policies, although environmental governance increasingly involves neoliberal and non-state mechanisms. Environmental management in China holds features of an ‘environmental state’ and has been undergoing continuous restructuring, manifested by a recent city-regionalism turn. Informed by the theories of eco-state restructuring (ESR) and eco-scalar fix, this paper investigates air pollution management in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region by tracing the practices of environmental and territorial governance over the past decades. Through the analysis of parameters of the eco-state, this paper conceptualises the air pollution governance in China into three phases, namely pollutants emission control (the 1990s2005), campaign-style regional governance (2006-2012) and city regionalism in air quality governance (2013 onwards). We find that the central state plays proactive but different roles in each phase, characterised by state strategic selectivity, adjustments of state apparatus, deployment of a set of policy instruments, and enhanced state capacities for monitoring, control, and legitimation. In this context, the city-regional level has become the key scale at which environmental regulations are targeted and the economic and environmental realms are being (re)formed. This state-led eco-scalar fix process to cope with urgent environmental issues explains the underlying rationality of building up the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region as a new national strategic project

The development of basketball in Taiwan: from the perspectives of theories of governance and strategic relations

This thesis has sought to investigate the nature of the governance system relating to basketball in Taiwanese society with emphasis on the development of basketball against the backdrop of societal development in Taiwan and in the broader political-cultural environment. Two complementary theoretical approaches are adopted in this study: those of governance theory at the meso level of analysis; and a strategic-relational approach at the macro level to explain the ways in which governance decisions are taken in strategically selective contexts which facilitate and constrain certain actions and thus outcomes. The empirical analysis draws on a qualitative case-study approach, which was based on documentary materials and semi-structured interviews. Three major cases, namely, the collapse of the Chinese Basketball Alliance, the emergence of the Super Basketball League and the sporting links with China, were selected on the basis of their significance in the operational governance of basketball. The first is a specific event, the second focuses on a particular process, and the third on the impact of context. The perceptions of the stakeholders in the specific groups were reviewed in order to compose insights into their account of the principal interests and forces in the governance system. Interview transcripts and government reports were subject to coding employing Nvivo 9 qualitative data analysis software, and coding and analysis were undertaken employing an ethnographic content analysis approach. While governance theory provides an explanatory framework at the meso-level of analysis, the thesis argues for embedding this within a wider strategic relational meta-theoretical account. This emphasises the dialectic relationship between strategic, reflexive actors and the strategic selectivity of the context of decision-making which privileges certain strategies and tactics, and explains the structural coherence (and/or patterns of incoherence) which have emerged in the evolving nature of the governance of basketball in Taiwan. By focusing on these three inter-related studies, we provided linked spatio-temporal forms of explanation of how the collapse of the CBA provided the strategic context and strategic resources for the emergence of the SBL and the Sina Basketball Club s migration to China. Subsequently the case of the SBL and Sina provided the strategic context and strategic resources for Taiwanese players migration to China as individual sportsmen. The thesis has thus produced explanations of how the outcomes of one case provide the strategically inscribed selectivity of the next which with recursively selected strategies and tactics on the part of stakeholders produces the structured coherence/pattern (and / or incoherence) of the Taiwanese (male) prospective-professional basketball system

Learning Opportunities 2010/2011

The graduation requirements of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy are in concert with those maintained by the State of Illinois with additional requirements as established by the IMSA Board of Trustees. Each semester students must take a minimum of 2.5 credits and a maximum of 3.5 credits. One-semester classes generally receive .5 credits and two semester classes (e.g., World Languages) generally receive 1.0 credit. Most students will take between 5 and 7 academic classes per semester. Fine Arts, Wellness, and Independent Study courses do not count towards the 2.5 credit minimum. However, if a student wishes to take 3.5 credits of academic classes, he/she may choose to enroll in a Fine Arts or Independent Study course on a Pass/Fail basis (see below)

The impact of Beijing Olympic Sponsorship Program on annual report social disclosure by local sponsors

The objective of this study is to utilise both legitimacy theory and reputation risk management theory to examine the impact of the Beijing Olympic Sponsorship Program on annual report social disclosures by local sponsors. Specially, this study attempts to test whether local sponsors increase annual report social disclosure in responses to their sponsorship participation and whether the increases can be explained by other companies operating in the same industry group. This study also compares and contrasts legitimacy theory with reputation risk management theory, and discusses the applicable power of legitimacy theory and reputation risk management theory in positive events/issues. The annual report disclosures are reviewed for both sponsors and non-sponsors in order to make before and after comparisons. Comparisons are also made between sponsors and non-sponsors in terms of their social disclosure and event-related disclosure. The results indicate that first, sponsors disclosed more social and event-related information in their annual reports after they participated in the sponsorship program, while this was not the case for non-sponsors; second, sponsors disclosed more event-related disclosure than non-sponsors but not for the overall social disclosure. This study also found that the event-related disclosure was significantly correlated with levels of sponsorship while the total amount of social disclosure was correlated with firm size. These results suggest that the annual report could be used as a self-presentational device for managers to protect and enhance corporate reputation. Reputation risk management theory does have the power in explaining certain amounts of social disclosure particularly in these positive issues, but only limited with these firms which gained reputation from the issue. These results do not challenge the dominance of legitimacy theory in corporate social disclosure area, but argues that reputation risk management theory could provide several useful insights and be used as a supplement of legitimacy theory

Writing to Think

The purpose of this volume is to honor the work and thought of Robert C. Rubel, Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.). Since his retirement from the Navy, Robert (a.k.a. “Barney”) Rubel has held senior positions in the Center for Naval Warfare Studies (CNWS), in the Naval War College, in Newport, Rhode Island—first as deputy dean, then as chairman of the War Gaming Department, and finally (since 2006) as dean. During this period, not only has he presided effectively over a complex (and in many ways anomalous) institution, but he has found the time to create a substantial body of published writings about naval warfare and war, or strategy generally. In the process, he has quietly established himself as one of the Navy’s most innovative and wide-ranging thinkers.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/usnwc-newport-papers/1040/thumbnail.jp