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Global CyberPolitics

Foundations – ECIR

The investigations leading to the MIT Global CyberPolitics are rooted in a five year research collaboration of MIT and Harvard University focused on Explorations in Cyber International Relations (ECIR). This collaboration is supported by the Minerva Initiative, a US Department of Defense.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates launched Minerva in 2008 as a university-based, social science research Program. The goal is improving the Department’s basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the United States.

The ECIR Joint Research Team includes, but not limited to the following disciplines: Political Science, Economics, Business and Management, Engineering, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Law and Government. See Science.

Exploration Challenges

The basic assumptions at the core of ECIR are:

  • Interdependence of technology and policy;
  • Conjunction of uncertainty and regularity; and
  • Persistence of transformation and change in international relations.

The overall initiative, shaped by five defined challenges, and supported by an overall approach of cohesion and integration.

The first challenge is to construct the framework to explore the connections of cyberspace and international relations. The results include not only an identification of key linkages but also the construction of an overarching joint CyberIR system. All aspects of the research program are derived from, and connected to, a shared framework.

The second challenge is about understanding the nature of cyber power, cybersecurity and cyber conflict, broadly defined. Among the questions examined are: Who controls cyberspace? Where are the drivers of potential cyber-based conflicts and contentions in international relations? What is the distribution of power and influence, and the political issues that result.

The third is about cyber governance, focusing on how behavior is disciplined, what are existing regulatory and institutional frameworks, where are the various mechanisms to facilitate decisions under various conditions and constraints.

The fourth challenge explores alternative futures for cyberspace and global system, with special attention to the future of global order.

The fifth and final challenge spans three crosscutting issues:

  • Systems of Interaction: Foundations for 21st International Relations theory
  • Elements a New Model: Key features of a new model of International Relations
  • Levels and Layers: Connecting Cyberspace and International Relations

The five pieces highlight important insights and evidence into the overall initiatives of the MIT Global CyberPolitics.

Methodology

A modular research design (organized into core themes and cross cutting issues) supported a multi-method strategy that enables the “individual” connect to an overarching “whole.” ECIR is anchored in empirical analysis and buttressed by modelling, simulations, and construction of new tools.

By necessity, ECIR draws upon a diverse set of methods, theories, and tools—from social sciences, international studies, policy and risk analysis, communication studies, economics, management, computer science, and law—to explore the utility of existing methods and to develop new techniques. These include:

  • Domain Representation – Integrating empirically cyberspace and International Relations.
  • Data Development and Empirical Analysis – Focusing on the properties of actors and actions, as well as impacts.
  • Dynamic Modeling, Simulation, and Policy Analysis – Providing tools for analysis and policy.
  • Collaborative Activities – Involving MIT and Harvard faculty, research fellows and affiliates.
  • New Cyber System and Cyber Policy Content – Courseware, case studies, scripting, and delivery.

Highlights of the ECIR Research Agenda and select Shareable Resources provide added insight into the conceptual and operational logics as shown in the final report.

Final Report & ECIR Website

The Final Report of the ECIR Project summarizes the major research results, the production of knowledge materials, the development of shared resources, the education of students, researchers, and policy analysts, as well as a range of related outputs.

The Report, framed in summary form, provides direct reference to the lead researcher(s). By necessity it captures the most significant, but not all of, results of ECIR to date. The Addendum to the Report presents list of publications completed during the program [5]. Finally, all source documents noted in Final Report are available on MIT DSpace.

The Figure below represents selects activities initiated during the ECIR period that then expanded beyond the exploratory joint program.

ECIR Support for Twenty-First Century Deterrence.
HIGHLIGHTS OF ECIR
Source: Choucri, N. (2015). Explorations in cyber international relations (Final Program Report ver. 1.2). MIT Political Science Department.

In sum, the ECIR investigations demonstrate the value of multidisciplinary collaboration, with all the dilemmas and challenges.

ECIR provides solid ground for addressing the Global Imperatives, noted earlier in the Forward, and addressed in the following section

References: