Technogeopolitics of militarization and security in cyberspace:

Based on democratic principles that encourage creation and transmission of information and knowledge using information and communication technologies, the Information Society has become the organizing paradigm for a digital age. Humans residing in digital rich regions of the world rely on cyberspace, the Information Society’s enabling environment, for their business, commerce, education, socialization. Governments and industry are migrating their critical processes into this domain. These trends will intensify as more people realize cyberspace’s utility. However, the promises of the Information Society may never transpire since there is a lack of trust and security in cyberspace. These two concepts are the foundation on which the utility of inter-networked ICTs, such as the Internet, are built. The increasing rate in the occurrence and sophistication of cybercrimes erodes users’ trust in subscribing to networked services Further the militarization of cyberspace by states as a new domain through which they conduct their operations also presents challenges to the Information Society. Both crime and conflict in cyberspace erode trust in digital networks. The development of a comprehensive international law for cyberspace is essential to govern state and non-state actor behavior in this global commonage. The formation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in the early twenty-first century marks the first time that state and non-state actors convened to develop plans of action to guide the development of in the digital world. This project examines the negotiating positions of the United States, Russia and China in the area of cybersecurity through the lens of technogeopolitics. It is shown how the political and military interests of each affect their negotiating positions in the WSIS. The methods of content analyses on material from diplomatic archives, participant-observation at international conferences and interview surveys of participants at these conferences are used to investigate the reasons why decision are made or not made in the field of international cybersecurity cooperation.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-248)by Panayotis Alexander Yannakogeorgo