Realism and Cyber Conflict: Security in the Digital Age

This paper, written by Anthony Craig and Brandon Valeriano, aims to explore how realism and cyber security fit together. Starting with a brief explanation of the history of realism and neorealism, the authors claim that many consider realism to be a useful framework to help understand cyberspace. Their paper begins by drawing parallels between the anarchist nature of realism and that of cyberspace, considering anarchy to be a decent way to describe the nature of interactions in cyberspace. They then attempt to explain the cyber arms race with realism, citing that the security dilemma that leads to uncontrolled arms racing is at its worst when it is cheaper to build offensive weapons rather than defensive ones, a common sentiment in cyberspace. The argument for this dynamic lies in the fact that status quo states are forced to build up their cybersecurity capabilities or risk being attacked by smaller states and actors. However, later in the paper the authors emphasize that these claims shouldn’t be overstated and give several examples of how difficult and resource intensive it is to develop offensive cyber capabilities that have a lasting impact, citing Stuxnet and the estimated $300 million it took to develop. Finally, they conclude with their recommendation that, although realism seems to be the natural approach to take when describing cyberspace, the development of new theories based on more substantive evidence should still be encouraged and pursued.