Contesting Western and Non-Western Approaches to Global Cyber Governance beyond Westlessness

ABSTRACT

The power shift from West to East has engendered an increasingly confrontational and competitive multipolar system in cyberspace governance. The West has to confront the real possibility of its decline in the face of the rising influence of the non-Western world, as shown in the intensive discussions over ‘Westlessness’ at the 2020 Munich Security Conference. In order to address scholarly concerns around cyberspace governance in a digitalised world, this Special Core examines competing ideas and norms of cyberspace governance from comparative perspectives, shedding light on the promising research field of global cyberspace governance and the debate on ‘Westlessness’ in the study of international politics.

KEYWORDS:

• cyberspace governance
• cyber norms
• multi-stakeholderism
• multilateralism
• Westlessness

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions, and the editorial team of The International Spectator for their patient and warm support.

Notes

1 This Special Core is the result of a call for thematic Special Cores on the notion of Westlessness open to early-career scholars under 35 years of age that was issued by The International Spectator in November 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xuechen Chen

Xuechen Chen is an Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations at New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the London Asia-Pacific Centre for Social Science, King's College London, both in London, United Kingdom.

Yifan Yang

Yifan Yang is an Associate Professor in International Politics at East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. Email: [email protected]