Traditional approaches to conflict are oriented towards establishing (or re-establishing) consensus, either in the form of a resolution of the conflict or in the form of an ‘agree-to-disagree’ standstill between the stakeholders. In this paper, we criticize these traditional approaches, each for specific reasons, and we propose and develop the agonistic approach to conflict. Based on Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic democratic theory, the agonistic approach to conflict is more welcoming of dissensus, replacing discussion stoppers with discussion starters and replacing standstills with contestation. We illustrate such replacements and develop this approach, we analyse technological conflicts in a concrete R&D setting: the global hydrogen economy. From this context, we focus on the conflict between the proponents of blue hydrogen (drawn from fossil fuels) and those of green hydrogen (created through electrolysis). We conclude by highlighting the advantage of the agonistic approach but also drawing attention to its own specific risk, namely, antagonism.

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An Agonistic Approach to Technological Conflict

A relation of mutual infl uence exists between the way confl icts are waged and the societies waging them. As Clausewitz remarked, more than an art or a science, confl icts are a social activity. And much like other social activities, confl icts mirror the values of societies while relying on their technological and scientifi c developments. In turn, the principles endorsed to regulate confl icts play a crucial role in shaping societies. A relation of mutual infl uence exists between the way confl icts are waged and the societies waging them. As Clausewitz remarked, more than an art or a science, confl icts are a social activity. And much like other social activities, confl icts mirror the values of societies while relying on their technological and scientifi c developments. In turn, the principles endorsed to regulate confl icts play a crucial role in shaping societies. Think about the design, deployment, and regulation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) . During World War II, WMDs were made possible by scientifi c breakthroughs in nuclear physics, which was a central area of research in the years leading to the War. Yet, their deployment proved to be destructive and violent beyond what the post-war world was willing to accept. The Cold War that followed and the nuclear treaties that ended it defi ned the modes in which nuclear technologies and WMDs can be used, drawing a line between confl icts and atrocities. In doing so, treaties and regulations for the use of WMD s contributed to shape contemporary societies as societies rejecting the belligerent rhetoric of the early twentieth century and to striving for peace and stability. The same mutual relation exists between information societies and cyber confl icts, making the regulation of the latter a crucial aspect, which will contribute to defi ne current and future societies. In the short term, regulations are needed to avoid a digital wild west, as remarked by Harold Hongju Koh, the former Legal Advisor U.S. Department of State. For this reason, over the past few years, efforts have been devoted to analysing and interpreting the existing corpus of laws to guide states in engaging in international cyber confl icts.

Ethics and Policies for Cyber Operations

Throughout the evolution of human civilization, many things have remained constant. Art, reasoning, religion, the development of languages, and the creation of communities are all things that unify human existence. To support orderly societies, humans create governance regimes, often organized in a hierarchy, with the national government being the “law of the land” and smaller, local governing bodies addressing the needs of smaller divisions within the same “nation state,” or State. Unfortunately, sometimes these States get into conflicts with each other – sometimes over resources, or the actions of one State’s citizens, or ideologies, or the simple desire for power. Thus, just as there have long been laws governing the relations of citizens within a State, for nearly as long, human civilization has also relied on various rules and protocols for governing relations between States. The body of rules and principles that governs relations between States has developed more formally over the last few hundred years and is called international law.This entry focuses on international law in the modern age, especially as it has been affected by modern communication technologies that increase the danger of cyberwar. First, we provide some general background information about agreements between States under international law, such as treaties. While there are many ways that international law can develop, treaties may be especially effective at addressing how international law should evolve to address new technologies. Next, we turn to the main focus of this entry: applying international law to the modern communication environment, especially given the threat of cyber warfare. The threats are real, the technology is rapidly developing, but formal legal positions are still being debated.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2397284_code291422.pdf?abstractid=2396078&mirid=4

Law of Cyber Warfare

Does the advent of cyber-war require us to abandon the traditional ethical framework for thinking about the morality of warfare - just war theory - and develop principles specific to the unique nature of cyber-attacks? Or can just war theory still provide an appropriate basis for thinking through the ethical issues raised by cyber-weapons? This article explores these questions via the issue of whether a cyber-attack can constitute a casus belli. The first half of the paper critically engages with recent attempts to provide a new theory of just information warfare (JIW) that is supposedly better suited to the unique character of cyber war insofar as it is grounded the broader meta-ethical framework of information ethics (IE). Yet the paper argues that not only is JIW fundamentally unsuitable as a way of thinking about cyber-war, but (in the second half) that it is possible to develop a different account of how we can understand a cyber-attack as constituting a casus belli in a way that is in keeping with traditional just war theory. In short, there is no need to reinvent just war theory for the digital age.

/pdf/just-cyber-war-casus-belli-information-ethics-and-the-human-4qema43uuy.pdf

Just cyber war?: Casus belli, information ethics, and the human perspective

Regulations constitute the “corpus” of rules defining the protocols emerging from the interactions between people, organizations, environment in all their aspects and implications. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are modifying these rules and call for the improvement and the update of interaction codes in order to manage and organize the emergence of a new reality that was unknown until now. There will be always a delay between the manifestation of a new interaction, encouraged and powered by communication and information technologies, and the setting of appropriate regulations. As a consequence, a situation of constant mismatching between “living technology” and “regulations development” seems a problem of difficult solution. A possibility to face this situation may come out from a choice of civilization.

Information, Communication Technologies and Regulations

This special issue gathers together a selection of papers presented by international experts during a workshop entitled ‘Ethics of Cyber-Conflicts’, which was devoted to fostering interdisciplinary debate on the ethical and legal problems and the regulatory gap concerning cyber conflicts. The workshop was held in 2013 at the Centro Alti Studi Difesa in Rome under the auspices of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (NATO CCD COE). This NATO-accredited international military organisation that has always placed a high value on an interdisciplinary approach to cyber defence, uniting as it does perspectives from technical, policy, legal, and strategic domains. The Centre’s mission is to enhance capability, cooperation, and information-sharing between NATO, its member states, and partner countries in the area of cyber defence by virtue of research, education, and consultation. The workshop was one of the projects supported by the Centre to achieve this mission. Readers may already be familiar with the term ‘cyber conflict’, which is understood as any use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that may have disruptive or destructive consequences. Cyber conflicts are an umbrella phenomenon encompassing several instances ranging from cyber warfare and hacktivism to cyber crime and cyber terrorism. As contemporary societies grow dependent from ICTs, any form of conflict that uses these technologies, both as a means and as a target, poses serious threats to their stability, security, and welfare. As recently reported by the Financial Times, Bthe ultimate impact [of cyber-conflicts] could be as much as $3 trillion in lost productivity and growth^. Furthermore, should cyber conflicts propagate without an adequate response then contemporary societies may risk a cyber backlash in the shape of a deceleration to the digitization process imposed by governments and international institutions in order to prevent this Philos. Technol. (2015) 28:333–338 DOI 10.1007/s13347-015-0197-8

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs13347-015-0197-8.pdf

Ludovica Glorioso

Papers

Cyber Conflicts: Addressing the Regulatory Gap