Description
The UK’s National Cyber Strategy has as one of its main objectives to be ‘a leading responsible and democratic cyber power’ (2022, p. 11) by 2030. The concept is so central to the UK’s new approach to cyberspace that it appears 54 times across the whole document. In comparison, its 2016 Cyber Security Strategy did not refer to the concept at all. So, where does this concept come from? And is the UK an outlier in putting it at front and centre of its cyberspace strategic narrative? This paper traces the emergence of cyber power, from a relatively obscure academic concept over a decade ago to its contemporary policy relevance. It proceeds in three parts. First, it uncovers the intellectual evolution of the concept, identifying the key texts that contributed to its popularisation, and how dominant understandings of power and cyber were constructed. Second, it looks at the main (cyber-related) strategic documents of three main actors in the cyber-domain – UK, US, and China – to identify whether and how the concept is articulated as part of these actors’ cyberspace strategic narratives. Finally, the paper brings together the conceptual evolution of cyber power, and its strategic articulation across the three above-mentioned actors to assess both the relevance of the concept, as well as its contemporary strategic purpose.
