Formulating the building blocks for national cyberpower

Abstract

Cyber threats pose a growing risk to national security for all nations; cyberpower is consequently becoming an increasingly prominent driver in the attainment of national security for any state. This paper investigates the national cyberpower environment by analysing the elements of cyberspace as part of national security. David Jablonsky (1997) distinguishes between natural and social determinants of power in his discussion of national power. Also, Jablonsky refers to Ray Cline's formula (Cline, 1993) to determine a rough estimate of “perceived” national power by focusing primarily on a state's capacity to wage war. In this paper, the formula for Perceived Power (PP) will be adapted for use in cyberspace to create a similar formula for Perceived Cyberpower (PCP) that focuses primarily on a state's capacity for cyberwarfare. Military cyberpower is one of the critical elements of cyberpower. The paper also discusses how to operationalise military cyberpower.