Download or read book The Politics of Cybersecurity in the Middle East written by James Shires and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cybersecurity is a complex and contested issue in international politics. By focusing on the 'great powers'--the US, the EU, Russia and China--studies in the field often fail to capture the specific politics of cybersecurity in the Middle East, especially in Egypt and the GCC states. For these countries, cybersecurity policies and practices are entangled with those of long-standing allies in the US and Europe, and are built on reciprocal flows of data, capital, technology and expertise. At the same time, these states have authoritarian systems of governance more reminiscent of Russia or China, including approaches to digital technologies centred on sovereignty and surveillance. This book is a pioneering examination of the politics of cybersecurity in the Middle East. Drawing on new interviews and original fieldwork, James Shires shows how the label of cybersecurity is repurposed by states, companies and other organisations to encompass a variety of concepts, including state conflict, targeted spyware, domestic information controls, and foreign interference through leaks and disinformation. These shifting meanings shape key technological systems as well as the social relations underpinning digital development. But however the term is interpreted, it is clear that cybersecurity is an integral aspect of the region's contemporary politics.

Download or read book Cyberwars in the Middle East written by Ahmed Al-Rawi and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2021-07-16 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cyberwars in the Middle East argues that hacking is a form of online political disruption whose influence flows vertically in two directions (top-bottom or bottom-up) or horizontally. These hacking activities are performed along three political dimensions: international, regional, and local. Author Ahmed Al-Rawi argues that political hacking is an aggressive and militant form of public communication employed by tech-savvy individuals, regardless of their affiliations, in order to influence politics and policies. Kenneth Waltz’s structural realism theory is linked to this argument as it provides a relevant framework to explain why nation-states employ cyber tools against each other. On the one hand, nation-states as well as their affiliated hacking groups like cyber warriors employ hacking as offensive and defensive tools in connection to the cyber activity or inactivity of other nation-states, such as the role of Russian Trolls disseminating disinformation on social media during the US 2016 presidential election. This is regarded as a horizontal flow of political disruption. Sometimes, nation-states, like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, use hacking and surveillance tactics as a vertical flow (top-bottom) form of online political disruption by targeting their own citizens due to their oppositional or activists’ political views. On the other hand, regular hackers who are often politically independent practice a form of bottom-top political disruption to address issues related to the internal politics of their respective nation-states such as the case of a number of Iraqi, Saudi, and Algerian hackers. In some cases, other hackers target ordinary citizens to express opposition to their political or ideological views which is regarded as a horizontal form of online political disruption. This book is the first of its kind to shine a light on many ways that governments and hackers are perpetrating cyber attacks in the Middle East and beyond, and to show the ripple effect of these attacks.

Download or read book Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East written by Marc Owen Jones and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You are being lied to by people who don't even exist. Digital deception is the new face of information warfare. Social media has been weaponised by states and commercial entities alike, as bots and trolls proliferate and users are left to navigate an infodemic of fake news and disinformation. In the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East, where authoritarian regimes continue to innovate and adapt in the face of changing technology, online deception has reached new levels of audacity. From pro-Saudi entities that manipulate the tweets of the US president, to the activities of fake journalists and Western PR companies that whitewash human rights abuses, Marc Owen Jones' meticulous investigative research uncovers the full gamut of tactics used by Gulf regimes and their allies to deceive domestic and international audiences. In an age of global deception, this book charts the lengths bad actors will go to when seeking to impose their ideology and views on citizens around the world.

Download or read book Redefining security in the Middle East written by Tami Jacoby and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-30 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. For over five decades, the Cold War security agenda was distinguished by the principal strategic balance, that of a structure of bipolarity, between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR). This book seeks to draw from current developments in critical security studies in order to establish a new framework of inquiry for security in the Middle East. It addresses the need to redefine security in the Middle East. The focus is squarely on the Arab-Israeli context in general, and the Palestinian-Israeli context in particular. The character of Arab-Israeli relations are measured by the Israeli foreign policy debate from the 1950s to the 1990s. A dialogue between Islam and Islamism as a means to broaden the terrain on which conflict resolution and post-bipolar security in the Middle East is to be understood is presented. The Middle East peace process (MEPP) was an additional factor in problematizing the military-strategic concept of security in the Middle East. The shift in analysis from national security to human security reflects the transformations of the post-Cold War era by combining military with non-military concerns such as environmental damage, social unrest, economic mismanagement, cultural conflict, gender inequity and radical fundamentalism. By way of contrast to realist international relations (IR) theory, developing-world theorists have proposed a different set of variables to explain the unique challenges facing developing states. Finally, the book examines the significance of ecopolitics in security agendas in the Middle East.

Download or read book Cybersecurity Capabilities in Developing Nations and Its Impact on Global Security written by Dawson, Maurice and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2022-02-04 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing nations have seen many technological advances in the last decade. Although beneficial and progressive, they can lead to unsafe mobile devices, system networks, and internet of things (IoT) devices, causing security vulnerabilities that can have ripple effects throughout society. While researchers attempt to find solutions, improper implementation and negative uses of technology continue to create new security threats to users. Cybersecurity Capabilities in Developing Nations and Its Impact on Global Security brings together research-based chapters and case studies on systems security techniques and current methods to identify and overcome technological vulnerabilities, emphasizing security issues in developing nations. Focusing on topics such as data privacy and security issues, this book is an essential reference source for researchers, university academics, computing professionals, and upper-level students in developing countries interested in the techniques, laws, and training initiatives currently being implemented and adapted for secure computing.

Download or read book Public Sector Reform in the Middle East and North Africa written by Robert P. Beschel and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critical examinations of efforts to make governments more efficient and responsive Political upheavals and civil wars in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have obscured efforts by many countries in the region to reform their public sectors. Unwieldy, unresponsive—and often corrupt—governments across the region have faced new pressure, not least from their publics, to improve the quality of public services and open up their decisionmaking processes. Some of these reform efforts were under way and at least partly successful before the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2010. Reform efforts have continued in some countries despite the many upheavals since then. This book offers a comprehensive assessment of a wide range of reform efforts in nine countries. In six cases the reforms targeted core systems of government: Jordan's restructuring of cabinet operations, the Palestinian Authority's revision of public financial management, Morocco's voluntary retirement program, human resource management reforms in Lebanon, an e-governance initiative in Dubai, and attempts to improve transparency in Tunisia. Five other reform efforts tackled line departments of government, among them Egypt's attempt to improve tax collection and Saudi Arabia's work to improve service delivery and bill collection. Some of these reform efforts were more successful than others. This book examines both the good and the bad, looking not only at what each reform accomplished but at how it was implemented. The result is a series of useful lessons on how public sector reforms can be adopted in MENA.

Download or read book The Perfect Weapon written by David E. Sanger and published by Crown. This book was released on 2018-06-19 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOW AN HBO® DOCUMENTARY FROM AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR JOHN MAGGIO • “An important—and deeply sobering—new book about cyberwarfare” (Nicholas Kristof, New York Times), now updated with a new chapter. The Perfect Weapon is the startling inside story of how the rise of cyberweapons transformed geopolitics like nothing since the invention of the atomic bomb. Cheap to acquire, easy to deny, and usable for a variety of malicious purposes, cyber is now the weapon of choice for democracies, dictators, and terrorists. Two presidents—Bush and Obama—drew first blood with Operation Olympic Games, which used malicious code to blow up Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, and yet America proved remarkably unprepared when its own weapons were stolen from its arsenal and, during President Trump’s first year, turned back on the United States and its allies. And if Obama would begin his presidency by helping to launch the new era of cyberwar, he would end it struggling unsuccessfully to defend the 2016 U.S. election from interference by Russia, with Vladimir Putin drawing on the same playbook he used to destabilize Ukraine. Moving from the White House Situation Room to the dens of Chinese government hackers to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley, New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger reveals a world coming face-to-face with the perils of technological revolution, where everyone is a target. “Timely and bracing . . . With the deep knowledge and bright clarity that have long characterized his work, Sanger recounts the cunning and dangerous development of cyberspace into the global battlefield of the twenty-first century.”—Washington Post

Download or read book Building Regional Security in the Middle East written by Emily B. Landau and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-11-23 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discussions on regional security were initiated in the Middle East in 1992, as part of the Middle East peace process. The collapse of the Oslo process and other regional developments in the latter half of the 1990s have diminished hopes that the initial gains made in this direction might further develop, as violence has again become the primary mode of effecting political changes in the region. On the backdrop of this somewhat dismal current reality in the Middle East the rationale for this volume is that research into regional security structures should nevertheless be pursued. When looking at the long term process of creating regional security, setbacks are not unlikely. The articles that make up this collection focus on the problems that have been encountered, and possible directions for getting regional efforts back on track. A special issue of the Journal of Strategic Studies

Download or read book Beyond Sunni and Shia written by Frederic M. Wehrey and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection seeks to advance our understanding of intra-Islamic identity conflict during a period of upheaval in the Middle East. Instead of treating distinctions between and within Sunni and Shia Islam as primordial and immutable, it examines how political economy, geopolitics, domestic governance, social media, non- and sub-state groups, and clerical elites have affected the transformation and diffusion of sectarian identities. Particular attention is paid to how conflicts over distribution of political and economic power have taken on a sectarian quality, and how a variety of actors have instrumentalized sectarianism. The volume, covering Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, Iran, and Egypt, includes contributors from a broad array of disciplines including political science, history, sociology, and Islamic studies. Beyond Sunni and Shia draws on extensive fieldwork and primary sources to offer insights that are empirically rich and theoretically grounded, but also accessible for policy audiences and the informed public.

Download or read book The Arab Spring and the Geopolitics of the Middle East Emerging Security Threats and Revolutionary Change written by Amr Yossef and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study, which highlights a renewed emphasis in international affairs on regional studies, the co-authors provide an assessment of the revolutionary changes in the politics and security of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Download or read book Security In The Middle East written by Mark Bruzonsky and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-01-16 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the deep-seated problems in the Middle East and their impact on the United States and its allies. Exploring the disruptive effects of the double-edged sword of nationalism and modernization, the contributors discuss the full range of Western security interests in the region. Case studies of key countries emphasize the prospect for peaceful political, economic, and cultural change. The authors analyze the ramifications of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the threats posed by Soviet penetration. Arguing that confusion and contradiction mark U.S. policy in the Middle East, the book concludes that U.S. strategists should focus not on curing the region's internal problems but on coping with them without sacrificing long-term goals for quick fixes.

Download or read book Cyber War and Cyber Peace written by Eliza Campbell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-06-02 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Middle East is the region in which the first act of cyber warfare took place. Since then, cyber warfare has escalated and has completely altered the course of the MENA region's geopolitics. With a foreword by top national security and cyber expert, Richard A. Clarke, this is the first anthology to specifically investigate the history and state of cyber warfare in the Middle East. It gathers an array of technical practitioners, social science scholars, and legal experts to provide a panoramic overview and cross-sectional analysis covering four main areas: privacy and civil society; the types of cyber conflict; information and influence operations; and methods of countering extremism online. The book highlights the real threat of hacktivism and informational warfare between state actors and the specific issues affecting the MENA region. These include digital authoritarianism and malware attacks in the Middle East, analysis of how ISIS and the Syrian electronic army use the internet, and the impact of disinformation and cybercrime in the Gulf. The book captures the flashpoints and developments in cyber conflict in the past 10 years and offers a snapshot of the region's still-early cyber history. It also clarifies how cyber warfare may develop in the near- to medium-term future and provides ideas of how its greatest risks can be avoided.

Download or read book Regional Security in the Middle East written by Zeev Maoz and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The articles in this book discuss the problems that have hindered peace initiatives in the Middle East, and also offer practical advice on how risks of failure could be minimised and how opportunities for peace could be seized

Download or read book China in the Middle East written by Andrew Scobell and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines China’s interests in the Middle East and assesses China’s economic, political, and security activities there to determine whether China has a strategy toward the region and what such a strategy means for the United States. The study focuses on China’s relations with two of its key partners in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Download or read book Routledge Companion to Global Cyber Security Strategy written by Scott N. Romaniuk and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2023-01-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This companion provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date comparative overview of the cyber-security strategies and doctrines of the major states and actors in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. The volume offers an introduction to each nation's cyber-security strategy and policy, along with a list of resources in English that may be consulted for those wishing to go into greater depth. Each chapter is written by a leading academic or policy specialist, and contains the following sections: overview of national cyber-security strategy; concepts and definitions; exploration of cyber-security issues as they relate to international law and governance; critical examinations of cyber partners at home and abroad; legislative developments and processes; dimensions of cybercrime and cyberterrorism; implications of cyber-security policies and strategies. This book will be of much interest to students and practitioners in the fields of cyber-security, national security, strategic studies, foreign policy, and international relations.

Download or read book Introduction to Cyber Politics and Policy written by Mary Manjikian and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2019-12-20 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction to Cyber Politics and Policy is a comprehensive introductory textbook for cyber politics and security courses, and the perfect addition to any International Relations or Intelligence course. Written by Mary Manjikian, an expert in the field and an instructor who has taught the course for ten years, it assumes no prior knowledge of technical concepts, legal concepts, military concepts or international relations theory. Instead, she aims to bridge the gaps between the intricacies of technology and the theories of political science. The book emphasizes the importance of collaboration and understanding between the two fields - students from both technology and political science backgrounds need to understand the implications of technology decisions and the policy questions that arise from them in order to make a meaningful contribution to ever-changing field.

Download or read book The Arab Awakening written by Kenneth M. Pollack and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even the most seasoned Middle East observers were taken aback by the events of early 2011. Protests born of oppression and socioeconomic frustration erupted throughout the streets; public unrest provoked violent police backlash; long-established dictatorships fell. How did this all happen? What might the future look like, and what are the likely ramifications for the United States and the rest of the world? In The Arab Awakening, experts from the Brookings Institution tackle such questions to make sense of this tumultuous region that remains at the heart of U.S. national interests. The first portion of The Arab Awakening offers broad lessons by analyzing key aspects of the Mideast turmoil, such as public opinion trends within the "Arab Street"; the role of social media and technology; socioeconomic and demographic conditions; the influence of Islamists; and the impact of the new political order on the Arab-Israeli peace process. The next section looks at the countries themselves, finding commonalties and grouping them according to the political evolutions that have (or have not) occurred in each country. The section offers insight into the current situation, and possible trajectory of each group of countries, followed by individual nation studies. The Arab Awakening brings the full resources of Brookings to bear on making sense of what may turn out to be the most significant geopolitical movement of this generation. It is essential reading for anyone looking to understand these developments and their consequences.