Theory of strategic culture: An analytical framework for Russian cyber threat perception

ABSTRACT

The strategic environment is evolving rapidly with the recognition of cyberspace as a domain of warfare. The increased interest in cyber as a part of defence has heightened the need for theoretical tools suitable to assess cyber threat perceptions and responses to these threats. Drawing from previous research, we will formulate an analytical framework to study the formation of Russian thinking on cyber threats as a part of Russian strategic culture. This article identifies a sense of vulnerability, the narrative of Russia as a besieged fortress and the technological inferiority of Russia as specific factors influencing Russian cyber threat perception.

KEYWORDS:

• Theory of strategic culture
• Russia
• cyber threats
• cyberspace
• nature of the conflict

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

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¹¹¹ UP-203 (2017).

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¹²⁵ UP-646 (2016).

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¹²⁷ UP-646 (2016).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Martti J. Kari

Martti J. Kari is university teacher in Jyväskylä University, Finland. He retired as colonel from Finnish Defense Intelligence in the end of year 2017. His last post was Assistant Chief of Defense Intelligence. He has MA in Russian language (1993) and literature, and MA in cyber security (2017) in Jyväskylä University. Kari has worked as a university teacher from the beginning of year 2018 In Jyväskylä University. He is specialized in intelligence, and Russian cyber and hybrid warfare.

Katri Pynnöniemi

Dr. Katri Pynnöniemi holds Master’s and Doctor’s degrees in international relations from the University of Tampere, Finland. She is as an Assistant Professor of Russian Security Policy at the National Defense University and at the University of Helsinki. Previously she has worked as a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs. Her research deals with Russia's security policy and strategic thinking. She has published widely about the system change in Russia and on Russian foreign and security policy. Her latest publications include: “Russia’s National Security Strategy: Analysis of Conceptual Evolution”, at the Journal of Slavic Military Studies (2018) and Information-psychological warfare in Russian strategic thinking, in Kanet E. Roger (ed.) (2019) Handbook of Russian Security Policy, London & NY: Routledge.