Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies

IAPS funding award for Francis Domingo

The Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies has awarded funding to Politics and International Relations doctoral candidate Francis Domingo to support his attendance at a conference in Hong Kong.

Francis explains his research:

Cyber Capabilities as Favoured Instruments in the Pacific Century 

As states seek to strengthen their national security and exercise political influence, cyber capabilities are rapidly becoming an instrument of state power. States have started integrating computer network operations in their military forces to defend against cyber intrusions and to align with capabilities of major allies. The increase in cyber skirmishes is more pronounced in Asia, where the highest number of interstate cyber incidents has been observed in the past fifteen years. Despite of this, there has been no conflict escalation due to of cyber incidents, which suggests that the use of computer network operations encourages less physical harm or damage. In this context, this paper aims to explore the prospect of cyber capabilities being a preferred foreign policy instrument by states in the region. It contends that cyber capabilities are favourable foreign policy instruments in the Region because of three strategic advantages: the nonphysicality of cyber incidents; the stealthiness of cyber intrusions; and the functionality of computer network operations. 

 

 

Posted on Thursday 22nd June 2017

Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies

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