Neorealist Analysis of Security Dilemma in Cyberspace; A Quantitative Study

28 August 2023, Version 7
This content is an early or alternative research output and has not been peer-reviewed at the time of posting.

Abstract

Two crucial factors have urged IR scholars to account for state behavior in cyberspace: the increasing volume of cyber attacks and the rising scale of damage induced by these attacks. This has led to a series of initiatives appealing to the grand theories of IR to scrutinize state behavior in depth, particularly regarding the securitization and militarization of cyberspace. Following a similar pattern, this work intends to contribute to IR academia by presenting an analysis of state behavior in cyberspace by relying on quantitative methods. Two regression analyses, one using a linear algorithm and the other using a negative binomial algorithm, were conducted. The analyses indicate that as states build more cyber security capacity, they tend to engage in more disruptive actions against other states in cyberspace. Both regression models were subsequently trained using artificial neural networks (ANNs) for robustness check, which enhanced the results computed by the traditional models.

Keywords

realism
neorealism
security dilemma
cyberpolitics
cyber security

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
Figures
Description
Figures
Actions
Title
Table1
Description
Regression Table
Actions
Title
Dataset
Description
Dataset used in the study
Actions
Title
R script
Description
R code used in the study
Actions
Title
Python script
Description
Python code used in the study
Actions

Supplementary weblinks

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.