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.

Building on research in social psychology, we propose a model of survey response in which individuals’ policy preferences are characterized by two parameters: their attitude on an issue, and their attitude strength. Strong attitudes are behaviorally relevant and stable over time while weak attitudes are easily manipulated with only limited behavioral consequences. We assume that the psychological cost to individuals of not reporting their attitude depends positively on the issue strength.

Sylvie Bermann is French Ambassador to Moscow, who has previously served in London and Beijing. She is the author of China in Deep Waters (2017), a penetrating analysis of China’s current political situation. Yan Lan is Chairman and CEO of Greater China and Lazard Asia (HK) Ltd. She is the author of The Yan Family (2018), winner of a major prize in France, a sweeping account of her family’s rise through the turbulent history of twentieth-century China at the highest levels – and what it means today.