A panel discussion on the subject of a new special issue of the Journal of International Affairs, guest-edited by Margaret MacMillan, Anand Menon and Patrick Quinton-Brown.

A drinks reception will follow.

Chair: Jane Gingrich, Magdalen College

Cybersecurity is a complex and contested issue in international politics. The existence of radically different conceptions of cybersecurity is recognized by many scholars in International Relations, but rarely explored outside the cyber ‘great powers’: the US, the EU, Russia, and China. This talk investigates cybersecurity in Egypt and the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a region between two poles of internet governance that has close military and security ties to the US and Europe and authoritarian features more reminiscent of Russia or China.

Dr Evans is Director of Cyber at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He was previously Britain’s Deputy High Commissioner to India and led the United Nations Security Council Al Qaida/Taliban Monitoring Team. Dr Evans has served in senior management positions in the UK and US governments. He is the author of ‘The United States and South Asia’.

A drinks reception will follow.

Abstract:

The United States and its European allies have entered into a new era of strategic competition with Russia. Some features of this changed and changing security environment – multipolar geopolitical rivalry and more integrated and subtle approaches to conflict are already apparent. Nuclear weapons and missile defences are taking on new strategic roles. Other features, such as cyber and space weapons, will emerge with time.