Budapest, Hungary

Cyber Diplomacy

when 14 August 2019 - 19 August 2019
language English
duration 1 week

Cyber Diplomacy: Is Technology a new type of power in politics?
We would like to launch a section under the title of “Cyber diplomacy” at the 2019 Central European Conference. The premise of the section would be Ben Buchanan’s theory called the “Cybersecurity dilemma”, which looks at Technology as a new type of weapon at a country’s disposal for both intelligence and counter-intelligence purposes. With new types of technologies emerging, certain superpowers now have the ability to interfere in other countries’ domestic affairs (take the examples of the Russian hackers and trolls meddling in the 2016 US Presidential Elections or the hacking of the NHS computer networks in Britain, also by Russians). This forces superpowers to adopt new strategies. During our week-long course we would like to go through the cases of all countries relevant to the “Cybersecurity dilemma” theory, countries like Russia, China, the USA or UK. Furthermore, we would like study other relevant non-state actors, such as Facebook whose platform is regularly used for cyber-warfare.

Throughout the course we would like to try to answer the following questions – with asking and answering many more questions along the way: How can countries resolve the issue of creating a supranational legal system to efficiently address cybersecurity issues while at the same time respecting each nation’s sovereignty? What kind of controversies can be found in the comparison of the cyber-diplomatic strategies of the USA and Russia? What could be the drawbacks of the so called “naming and shaming” of certain countries?

The four-day-long course would take a block seminar format, where invited professors and experts would give talks and facilitate discussions in order to advance the participants’ knowledge on this topic. We would like to ask the participants to get somewhat familiar with their country’s (or regions) cybersecurity measures in place in preceding the summer university. Region and country specific knowledge will serve as a good basis (along with the assigned literature) for discussions and debates throughout the conference. The final stage of the course will consist of a simulation where students will have the chance to apply their acquired theoretical knowledge in scenarios mimicking real life events of cyber alerts and emergency responces.

Course leader

Section organizers:


Lukács Hayes
Central European University;

Anna Laczkovich
Corvinus University of Budapest

Adrienn Bátor
Eötvös Loránd University

Target group

We are looking forward to the application of students of social sciences (both BA and MA-level).
How could you participate? For our requirements, visit our website.
http://cec.rajk.eu/cyber-diplomacy/

Course aim

During the four day long intensive professional part of the conference you will study:

Day 1 (Theoretical essentials)
1st and 2nd slot: Theoretical framework based on Buchanan’s work: “Cybersecurity dilemma and securitization”.
3rd and 4th slot: Differences between digital diplomacy and cyber-diplomacy.

Day 2 (Cyber-diplomacy in the context of law and actors)

5th slot: National law – the role of governments, regional efforts.
6th slot: International law – the idea of a supranational system.
7th slot: The role of non-state actors, the role of Facebook as a platform.
8th slot: The Role of International Organizations – UN, NATO, EU, OSCE, ASEAN
etc.

Day 3 (Important cases and comparisons)

9th slot: Comparing the American and Russian directives.
10th slot: Other important cyber superpowers (China, UK etc.).
11th and 12th slot: Real life cases (Estonia, Stocks net, WannaCry, NotPetya, 2016
US elections etc.)

Day 4 (Practical work of cyber-diplomats and cybersecurity experts)

13th and 14th slot: Cyber-diplomacy as a profession – what life is like “on the
ground”
15th and 16th slot: Simulation.

Fee info

EUR 0: Tier 1: 220 €; Tier 2: 200€; Tier 3: 180 €
The price of the conference is differentiated according to the Erasmus scholarship country categorization.
Tier 1: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Lichtenstein, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom
Tier 2: Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey
Tier 3: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, FYR of Macedonia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia