COMM Professor McDowell contributes to recent book on cyberspace and international relations

Florida State University College of Communication & Information Associate Dean Steve McDowell and co-authors Zoheb Nensey and Philip Steinberg have written a chapter in the recently published “Cyberspace and International Relations: Theory, Prospects and Challenges,” edited by Jan-Frederik Kremer and Benedikt Müller (Springer, 2014).

This compilation addresses the “cyberization” of international relations – and the growing dependence of actors in international relations on the infrastructure and instruments of the Internet, and the penetration of cyberspace into all fields of their activities.

Dr. McDowell, a John H. Phipps Professor of Communication in the School of Communication (COMM), along with Nensy, a graduate student at COMM, and Steinberg, formerly a professor in the FSU Geography Department, collaborated on the chapter titled, “Cooperative International Approaches to Network Security: Understanding and Assessing OECD and ITU Efforts to Promote Shared Cybersecurity.” It examines and assesses multilateral efforts of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

These efforts take place alongside recent moves by governments to advance more unilateral cybersecurity strategies, and to enhance offensive and defensive technical capabilities.  The OECD and ITU, by contrast, have emphasized cooperation among participants in preventing harm to the network and in enhancing a “culture of security.”  These international efforts aim to build a broad international community of participants promoting the security of physical networks, applications and uses, content and data about individuals.

For more information on “Cyberspace and International Relations: Theory, Prospects and Challenges“, click here:
springer.com/social+sciences/political+science/book/978-3-642-37480-7