Cyberspace for Policymakers

MIA and MPA Politics Core II. This course offers an introduction to foundational policy topics related to cyberspace, with a focus on how and why cyberspace matters for policymaking more broadly, especially in an international relations context. Over the past several decades, cyberspace has emerged as a critical, crosscutting policy arena, offering challenges and opportunities for practitioners beyond those solely focused on policymaking for cyberspace itself. Therefore, it is important for students preparing for a diverse set of policy careers to develop a basic understanding of core cyber policy issues and how they relate to longstanding policy concerns. In this course, we will examine the implications of cyberspace across a wide range of policy topics, largely through the lens of international politics, covering areas such as the role of cyberspace in diplomacy and global governance, cyber conflict and strategy, the implications of cyberspace for human security, state and local policymaking for cyberspace, and the role of the private sector in cyber policy. In exploring these topics, the course will also illuminate how cyber policy issues relate to a number of SIPA’s global policy challenges—not only technology and innovation. This course also aims to bridge academic and practical understandings of cyberspace. For each topic, we will study the relevant academic literature and debates, while also leveraging real-world case studies to unpack and understand how these issues materialized in policymaking contexts.