NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE TOOLS OF CYBER POWER: A REVIEW ON THE AREAS OF STATE HEGEMONIA

Abstract

In the post-Cold War era, in terms of international relations, 'cyber security' emerges as a significant security issue for the spheres of state sovereignty beyond the personal sphere. In addition to the harmful effects of cyber threats on the functioning of public institutions and organizations, İt also raises a problem for states, such as managing perception operations by creating a society more open to manipulative influences. In our globalizing world, as the most important actor of the system, the States' dependence on each other has increased, and at the same time, there has been a period in which the fundamental security issues are intertwined for the States. In such a situation where it is not possible for the States to define themselves outside the system, classical realist approaches are insufficient to explain the changing -and increasingly abstracted-security areas. Nation-states must develop more complex skills and prioritize cooperation to deal with these new security threats. In our study, which focuses on the national cyber security perceptions of states, the measures taken by the States in the cyber world on priority issues, such as institutional functioning and survival problems, are analyzed in terms of national security strategies. On the theme of 'new security', the main focus is the necessity for actors to develop new defense capabilities within the framework of the 'quick response and easy adaptation' in the face of increasing and diversifying cyber threats. In our study, which deals with the efforts of digital Nation-states to increase their effectiveness in cyberspace in determining the 21st-century sovereignty areas and the increase in their tendency towards cyber warfare tools, the active/passive defense methods followed by the States in the perspective of cyber security strategies have been evaluated. In this context, it is the most acceptable method for the States to prefer the 'active defense model' in order to avoid cyber attacks against vital institutions such as education and health.