Event

Technological innovation creates governance challenges. The maturation and global adoption of computer networking technologies have created many such problems, several of which pertain to international security.

The possibility that remotely-delivered computer code can create kinetic effects or other kinds of damage has generated concern within and among states and nonstate actors. Among other responses, concerted effort has been made to clarify relevant rules of the road. Such initiatives include the work of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly and the UN Group of Governmental Experts. Mark Raymond's paper argues that these processes are instances of a particular form of social construction – the application of existing rules to new circumstances. It demonstrates that these processes of rule application are simultaneously rule-governed and politically contested, and that outcomes have been shaped by specialized rules for making, interpreting and applying rules.