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The Global Politics of Science and Technology - Vol. 2 pp 205–219Cite as

International Relations, Cybersecurity, and Content Analysis: A Constructivist Approach

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Part of the book series: Global Power Shift ((GLOBAL))

Abstract

The development and global diffusion of access to the Internet has—as is the case with most new and game-changing technologies—been accompanied with fears and threat perceptions. This chapter argues, on the one hand, that Constructivist IR theory is particularly suited for addressing and interpreting the threat discourses and identity issues which come in focus in cybersecurity. The ease with which cyber-culprits can hide their identity and location, operating through networks of hijacked computers across the world, makes fear-mongering threat and identity discourses a key issue in cybersecurity. On the other hand, this chapter presents content analysis—a set of quantitative methods focusing on key word searches—as a pertinent or even ubiquitous method for both the study and practice of cybersecurity. Through simple and globally accessible interfaces, the entire Web can be scrutinized using content analysis. Equipped with Constructivist theory and content analysis methods, the IR scholar stands prepared to uncover and better understand the massive discursive world of the Internet.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Such actors could be colloquially defined as the “super-individuals”.

  2. 2.

    For a wide discussion of “cyberspace” see Benedikt (1991) and Gibson (1984) for the original definition (“an infinite artificial world where humans navigate in information-based space”).

  3. 3.

    For example, a quick analysis of policy-makers’ public speeches on crime and security worldwide would reveal how relatively few times that term appears. A skeptical view of this fact can be found, for instance, in Florencio and Herley (2012). Thus, different hypotheses could be tested to explain which view is most correct.

  4. 4.

    The original “Culturnomics” was limited only to the analysis of books in digital archives (Leetaru 2011b).

  5. 5.

    More specifically, Leetaru (2011b) explores the “news tone and geographic location”.

  6. 6.

    According to this “law”, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every 2 years and more processors mean more computing power. The period was further “reduced” to 18 months.

  7. 7.

    For example the SCADA (system control and data acquisition) controllers that allow operators to remotely check the status and functioning of various production or distribution processes.

  8. 8.

    There are even good open source applications for content analysis such as KH Coder. More can be easily obtained from http://www.sourceforge.net; a Web site dedicated exclusively to Open Source software Including applications for forensic analysis of firewalls and the like.

  9. 9.

    See the Web site of Hamlet II for example, available at http://apb.newmdsx.com/hamlet2.html.

  10. 10.

    The Web site (http://www.kalevleetaru.com) of Kalev H. Leetaru, a recognized expert in computerized content analysis, offers several examples of that type of application.

  11. 11.

    A shorter definition could be “turning text into numbers”. For more technical details see the “text mining” section in the Statsoft Web site at http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Johan Eriksson

  2. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Giampiero Giacomello

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  1. Johan Eriksson
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  2. Giampiero Giacomello
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Correspondence to Johan Eriksson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bonn Center for Global Studies, Bonn, Germany

    Maximilian Mayer

  2. GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, Germany

    Mariana Carpes

  3. Institute of Political Science and Sociology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE), Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany, Bochum, Bonn, Germany

    Ruth Knoblich

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Eriksson, J., Giacomello, G. (2014). International Relations, Cybersecurity, and Content Analysis: A Constructivist Approach. In: Mayer, M., Carpes, M., Knoblich, R. (eds) The Global Politics of Science and Technology - Vol. 2. Global Power Shift. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55010-2_12

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