The UK government’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy presented ‘responsible, democratic cyber power’ as the organising concept for the UK’s current and future cyber activities. While the concept is certainly not new, doubts persist about what it means in practice. This includes how the concept can be effectively operationalised to project values and national interests, counter malicious cyber activity, and stimulate better engagement with international partners. Part of our research explores countries that occupy the middle of the spectrum between multistakeholder and state-controlled cyber, technology and internet governance models. These countries have been poorly understood in the general discourse.
RUSI’s research has also tested the concept of responsible cyber power against a set of UK-specific objectives, as well as international perspectives of the UK.
