tech

Thanks to the successful adoption of the UN Open Ended Working Group (OEWG)’s final report in March and the conclusion of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE)’s final report at the end of May, scholars, experts, and diplomats are rightfully rejoicing. Multilateralism is alive and kicking, especially around sensitive issues such as cyber ones.

Cyberspace has turned into the “fifth dimension of conflictuality” and, as such, has been sanctioned both by countries’ national cyber security strategies and by international organizations alike. In particular, NATO recognizes cyberspace as a domain for military operations wherein it is possible to trigger collective defense mechanisms in the event of hostile actions.

The prevailing analogy for the cyber domain, specifically conflict therein, is that of the Wild West.  Over the last decade, the world has witnessed the dizzying expansion of cyber conflict. Malicious actors’ recognition that weaponizing cyberspace provides asymmetric benefits over traditional, kinetic domains has only been assisted by the ballooning of digital products and services that introduce additional cyber vulnerabilities.

The unprecedented number of cyber-attacks that have rocked some of the world’s biggest companies and government agencies over the last few years makes cyber diplomacy one of the most urgent issues of the century.

However, catching up to disruptive technologies while curbing military escalation in cyberspace presents both opportunities and obstacles.

In recent years, the digital world has emerged as a new domain of human activity, bringing with it unprecedented opportunities and global connectivity. As the world continues to progress through this period of digital transformations — including closing a digital divide where nearly half of the world’s population has yet to connect to the Internet — societies everywhere are realizing the benefits of increased connectivity via information and communication technologies (ICTs).

The 2015 launch of China’s Digital Silk Road — and subsequent concerns around the cybersecurity risks associated with Chinese vendors’ network gear — have prompted US and European policymakers to turn their eyes to China’s footprint in Africa’s digital infrastructure.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected countries globally regardless of regime type.  Nonetheless, for an extended period throughout this pandemic, non-democratic regimes seemed to have performed better than  democracies.

Over the course of the past decade, Russia and China have been increasingly aligning on a number of issues that encompass foreign and domestic politics. With the COVID-19 pandemic, such alignment has increased in the digital space.

Il 27 aprile i dati pubblicati dalla Bank of Korea hanno confermato che la Corea del Sud ha effettivamente mitigato le ricadute economiche della pandemia. Adeguando le restrizioni all’andamento dei contagi, il governo di Moon Jae-in ha evitato le chiusure generalizzate che per mesi hanno paralizzato la maggior parte delle economie avanzate e il Pil nel 2020 si è contratto di un punto percentuale; soltanto la Cina ha fatto meglio.

Two years after their outbreak, the 2019 Hong Kong protests call for enquiry into a new season for social movements behaviour. In addition to being one of the largest and longest sustained episodes of protests challenging authoritarian rule in the 21st century, the movement may set an interesting precedent for anti-authoritarian movements elsewhere, as it appealed to the potential of digitally enabled communication to nurture a sense of community based on collective, horizontal, and participatory decision-making.  

Seventeen elements in the periodic table – the so-called “rare earths” – play a major role in the calculations and strategies of various nations. In many ways, rare earths are the vitamins of industrial society in the 21st century: they are vital to key products from hi-tech items (smartphones and monitors) to energy conversion systems (wind turbines, photovoltaic panels and electrical machinery) and even military equipment (lasers and radar). The difficulties involved in replacing them with alternative materials make rare earths uniquely strategic resources.