Good point, --- Bentom. Of course, this goes to the core issue, which is what does cyberspace mean for its stakeholders. One focus is on communication, and the free flow of data or restrictions on the free flow of data, or the manipulation of the integrity of data. However, does cyberspace also mean other dimensions in the world as its evolves - such as the use of digital platforms for bridging divides, both physical and digital? The case of financial services using cyber technologies to bridge divides is now well documented. During the Covid pandemic, cyberspace became the platform to bridge the physical gap between students and classrooms. Cyberspace is increasingly used to accelerate progress in new discoveries in medicine and environmental protection. This list goes on, and it illustrates that the politics of cyberspace has to encompass all these dimensions as well. In that case, the dominance of states or corporates that construct and control the cyber infrastructure transporting data becomes relevant, and probably we need to look at issues of peace and security of cyberspace from this perspective - multiple stakeholders, new powers in terms of states that have invested and used cyber technologies more than some of the "older" powers.

Source author: Asoke Mukerji asokem@diplomacy.edu