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Guardian of the Galaxy? Assessing the European Union’s International Actorness in Cyberspace. College of Europe EU Diplomacy Paper 1/2021.

Pâris, Constant (2021) Guardian of the Galaxy? Assessing the European Union’s International Actorness in Cyberspace. College of Europe EU Diplomacy Paper 1/2021. [Working Paper]

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    Abstract

    This paper aims at demystifying the international actorness of the European Union (EU) in cyberspace by assessing the extent to which the EU possesses sufficient capabilities to become a global cyber-power. For this purpose, the analysis relies on a kinetic approach based on the evaluation of four intertwined criteria: it first assesses the domestic features of the EU’s cyber-actorness (resilience and coherence) to be able to further determine the characteristics of the EU’s international cyber-actorness (attractiveness and responsiveness). The presence of both domestic criteria constitutes a fertile ground to assess the EU’s actorness externally. The paper argues that the EU has evolved from an inward-looking cyber-actor to a globally-oriented one. Internally, the EU has proved to be resilient, leading to the emergence of a ‘collective cyber-securitisation’ at the pace of cyber-attacks. Moreover, the EU has spontaneously leant towards a decentralised ‘asymmetric governance’ to overcome internal pitfalls such as national resistance linked to sovereignty issues. On the international stage, torn between a proactive and a reactive approach, the role of the EU as a cyber-actor is still blurred. Through a dense network of partnerships and international ‘magnetism’, the EU is shaping a ‘collective immunity’ in cyberspace by projecting its vision, norms, and values abroad. However, the EU’s international actorness remains imbued with a ‘paradoxical sleep’: the brain acts, but the body is asleep. The main conclusion is that the EU has become a budding global cyber-player that remains paralysed by its own inherent paradoxes and internal stalemates. Devoid of means to fulfil its global ambitions, the EU’s ‘cyber-power’ remains limited to the regional scope. The EU is not yet a ‘Guardian of the Galaxy’ in cyberspace, but it does have the potential to become a globally influential and effective cyber-power if it manages to overcome its sui generis schizophrenic nature provoked by the tensions between its national and supranational levels.

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    Item Type: Working Paper
    Subjects for non-EU documents: EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > Third Pillar/JHA/PJCC/AFSJ > cybersecurity
    EU policies and themes > External relations > common foreign & security policy 1993--European Global Strategy
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Series: Series > College of Europe (Brugge) > EU Diplomacy Paper
    Depositing User: Daniel Pennell
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 19 May 2021 09:47
    Number of Pages: 38
    Last Modified: 08 Jun 2021 11:24
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/103404

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