Positioned as an interdisciplinary initiative in Computational Social Science, the MIT Global CyberPolitics Program draws together, and extends, seven research hubs shaped by priorities that we call Imperatives. In this context, the term Imperative signifies salience, importance, and a call for attention and action.
Depicted in the Figure below, each Imperative is considered “part” of the “whole” of scientific inquiry as are the interconnections.
Global Imperatives: Mapping Research Priorities
A brief note on each imperative follows: We begin at the center of the Figure, with Logic & Theory, and we work our way clockwise to AI Policy & Global Accord. These imperatives differ in nature in terms of scale, and scope, data and method, and but they are all liked by a shared orientation.
Logic & Theory
The First Imperative is fundamental: it is about the logic that guides our understanding of the “real” and the “virtual” and their interconnections. It also about a theory of change. The theory is informed by emergent structures and processes, as well as by the underlying regularities of norms and expectations, all central to the management of complexity.
The challenge is to provide a formal view of the “whole” and the “parts,” and to help contextualize actors and entities, interests, and activities, and the sources of change and potential impacts.
Cybersecurity
The Second Imperative is to situate, and anticipate, threats to cybersecurity and emergent dynamics of conflict surrounding cyber-based interactions, as well as new vulnerabilities transmitted via cyber venues. Such vulnerabilities are manifest in different forms and venues, some known and some not known.
Given the absence of a co-occurrence framework of “virtual” and “real” system, the layers of the Internet and the levels of analysis in international relations – and their intersection – constitute critical coordinates to situate who does what, how, where and why, and with what impacts.
Policy Analytics
The Third Global Imperative is driven by the intricate ecosystem of cybersecurity policies for cyber-physical systems. Supported by the NSA Science of Security and Privacy Program (SoS) research into this Imperative addresses the barriers to transparency inherent in the linear sequential text form—word after word, and so forth, that prevent full understanding the operational policy thrust, and impede effective risk assessment.
The challenge is to develop computation-based analytics for cybersecurity policy of cyber-physical system. The process is to transform text-based directives into metrics and measures. The purpose is to (a) generate precise operational models of policy (b) identify the expressed intent of purpose and process, and (c) facilitate the alignment of specific policy directives to the intended target system properties.
Cyber Law
The Fourth Global Imperative is about influence and control over regulatory processes of the virtual arena. Such processes are contentious; they have the goal of shaping the character of cyberspace itself. The purpose is to generate metrics and models of cyber law to a capture the key features thereof.
Many countries are already developing cyber policies and cyber security strategies. The Imperative is to create sufficient order out of the diverse and somewhat unstructured texts to help generate a database on cyber law that is robust in both scale and scope.
Sustainability
The Fifth Imperative spans several initiatives designed to facilitate the transitions toward sustainable development. These include mapping sustainability as a knowledge domain, developing a global knowledge system and extending the knowledge value chain, with noted attention to climate change and environmental consequences of human activities.
All of this is articulated computationally in the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD) an ontology-anchored, distributed, interactive knowledge system.
Cyber International Relations
The Sixth Imperative is to create a joint representation or model cyberspace and international venues. The goal is to reduce the disconnects, and help create the fundamental principles for aligning contemporary international relations theory, policy, and practice with the emergent complexities of the twenty-first century.
A central product is CyberIR@MIT a dynamic, interactive knowledge and networking system focused on the evolving, diverse, and complex interconnections of cyberspace and the global or world system. It is supported by a set of functionalities for research, policy, and practice.
AI Policy & Global Accord
The final Global Imperative highlights the search for order and accountability in AI efforts to establish machine-human-brain-functionality. Current trends are highly exploratory, and whose implications are yet to be articulated to any great extent. This Imperative began in collaboration with the Boston Global Forum, Club of Madrid, Artificial Intelligence World Society, and the Michael Dukakis Institute.
What follows is a brief statement on Form & Function for this Compendium.