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Securitisation in critical infrastructure identification: From cyber to elections and pandemics
Romanova, Anna ; Střítecký, Vít (vedoucí práce) ; Cheskin, Ammon (oponent)
Expressive description of the importance of critical infrastructure (CI) has been a common trend in the security literature, especially in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when for the first time civilian infrastructure was purposefully targeted and the cascading effect so evident at such a scale. The first step in building efficient protection is the correct identification of critical assets: the European Union (EU) set a respective common approach in its 2008 Council Directive. However, it recognises only energy and transport infrastructures as critical and does not correspond with the 2016 Network Infrastructure Security (NIS) Directive. As compared to how much attention CI protection receives, CI sector identification is, arguably, a knowledge gap. Natural disasters, blackouts, human error, and especially resulting cascading effects are the focus of sectoral regulations, but are severely under-represented on the strategic level. The issue is that while pragmatic risk assessment may work for individual industries, on the state level the identification and designation are ultimately a political decision, which is something the existing frameworks do not account for. A study of securitisation in these domains could reveal the role of various sectoral and political interests, as well as social...
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Internet shutdowns during protests: A practice in digital authoritarianism
Joshi, Nishant ; Schlotti, Jivanta (vedoucí práce) ; Střítecký, Vít (oponent)
The tendency for democratic and authoritarian governments to enact internet shutdowns has grown to massive proportions over the past decade, owing to the capacity of social media and digital platforms to mobilize masses. The emancipatory potential possessed by information technology gets challenged by regimes seeking to preserve their legitimacy and retain power. The impacts that authoritarian measures have on digital governance in the past years have become manifold and continue to pose a threat to human rights. This research argues that internet shutdowns are inherently authoritarian practices aimed at repressing freedom of expression in protesting atmospheres. Using Practice Theory and the framework of Digital Authoritarianism, this dissertation shows the tendency for states to stifle voices of dissent and quash opposition. This dissertation will showcase how authoritarian systems tend to exploit power in order to exploit digital spaces to serve the regime and how the citizen machinery overcome the dis-connective actions imposed by repressive regimes. KEYWORDS: Kill-switch, Shutdowns, Authoritarianism, Repression, Technology, Protest
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Acquiescence or repression? French citizens and the absence of protest against arms exports to authoritarian states
Leclercq, Valentin ; Hardman, Helen (vedoucí práce) ; Střítecký, Vít (oponent)
This dissertation explores the individual and structural rationales involved in the production of citizen non-participation in protest against unethical weapons exports. Arms exports control has traditionally been viewed in the literature as a product of states and state-centred international bodies, but it is increasingly recognised that in democracies citizens have a major role to play in terms of democratic constraint. However, in the case of France, evidence shows that hardly any citizens seek to constrain the government and pressure it to change its arms export policy, despite the fact that most of its clients are human rights violators. This raises a question that this dissertation aims to answer: Why do French citizens not mobilise and protest against their country's arms exports to countries that violate human rights? A survey experiment was conducted with French citizens to probe and discover the different causal mechanisms explaining non-participation. It was found that insufficient information, active shunning of participation and emotional responses are the most prevalent causes of non-participation among French citizens. Therefore, this dissertation highlights the need for a holistic approach to the study of non-participation, and aims to provide a constructive basis for practitioners...
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EU and UK space security policies through the lens of historical institutionalism
Teale, Jennifer ; Butler, Eamonn (vedoucí práce) ; Střítecký, Vít (oponent)
The main purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between the EU and UK in terms of space defence policy developed from the viewpoint of historical institutionalism. As a research objective, it is intended to assess the nature of historical institutionalism as a concept and its applications to space defence policy. Another objective is to trace the historical development of the relationships between the EU and the UK in the space sector. Finally, this historical development is discussed through the lens of historical institutionalism. The attainment of these aims and objectives requires an optimal choice of methodology and research design. This study has been guided by the principles of interpretivism, a dominant philosophical stance in social studies. This philosophy emphasises the role of interpretations in the attainment of knowledge due to a lack of absolute truth, as according to interpretivism, the truth depends on the observer and their interpretations. In line with this philosophical stance, this research is conducted using an inductive approach, which stipulates theory development, hypothesis formulation, or new proposition statements based on observations. This contrasts with deductive testing of existing research hypotheses. The choice of an inductive approach has...
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Experts, politics, and crisis management: A case study of the French expert crisis in the Covid-19 pandemic
Gannac, Chloé ; Střítecký, Vít (vedoucí práce) ; Fitzgerald, James (oponent)
The primary focus of this research is the epistemic crisis of the scientific expert community. It explores how the context of Covid-19 highlights a state of epistemic crisis among experts. With a case study design based on the example of France during the first wave of the pandemic, it analyses how mechanisms such as politicization of expertise and expertization of politics can influence a shift of scientific expertise from rational science to the realm of normative politics. This research further examines the necessity of public trust for scientific legitimacy and credibility and investigates the place of scientific rigor on the perception of science's epistemic authority. This work subsequently discusses how the different mechanisms described are symptomatic of the scientific experts' epistemic crisis. Lastly, it opens up the discussion around the question of to what extent is this crisis coherent with the narrative of a broader revisionist crisis of the role of public authority figures and the western liberal democratic model. Keywords: epistemic crisis, expertise, Covid-19, expertization, politicization, France, revisionist crisis.
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Comparative local and global discursive strategies of the Suidlanders: How right-wing extremist factions use discursive strategies to construct identities
de Satge, Francis David Yves Czerniewicz ; Conway, Maura (vedoucí práce) ; Střítecký, Vít (oponent)
Francis de Satgé Charles University 50698138 Abstract Right-wing extremism, nationalism and populism are increasingly prominent in the global political landscape (Toscano, 2019: 1). This dissertation argues that these phenomena are partial products of discursively constructed identities conveyed to audiences using a variety of strategies. It critically examines how the South African Christian survivalist right-wing extremist organization, the Suidlanders, uses political communication to discursively construct identities. Using the discourse-historical approach (Wodak, 2015; Reisigl & Wodak, 2017) to analyse the 2018 and 2019 YouTube videos of the Suidlanders' spokesperson, Simon Roche, the argument is made that his discursive constructions of difference and sameness are the product of the complex socio-political history of the Afrikaner nation in South Africa as well as of contemporary transnational constructions of far-right identity. In Roche's construction of in-groups and out- groups, he conceives the Afrikaner in-group as deeply fractured by political difference, and the black South African Other as one component of a larger, transnational Other - the globalists. Departing from the history of nationalist identity in South Africa, the Suidlanders find "belonging" in a loosely defined transnational...
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Hybrid Warfare in Cyber domain: Case Study of hybrid threats in cyberspace
Tsiklauri, Giorgi ; Střítecký, Vít (vedoucí práce) ; Špelda, Petr (oponent)
Cyberspace has penetrated every facet of society's life and the nation's security. It entangled the whole world together, providing exceptional opportunities and threats. One of these threats is a new kind of warfare known as Hybrid warfare; Its nature is to deploy all unconventional means to achieve objectives given by its user. Additionally, means used in cyberspace and capabilities it offers have a complementary effect on Hybrid warfare strategies creating a positive feedback loop. Targets of this new type of warfare are usually Western democracies or nations affiliated with them. The western open approach to cyberspace proved to be readily exploitable by malicious actors. These actors are nations such as Russia or China. However, private entities or individuals have, too, proved to be capable of employing Hybrid tactics. These tactics employed are cyberattacks, data gathering and exploitation, and disinformation. There is a case period for each of them: Cyberattacks during 2007 Estonia, Data gathering and exploitation, the Chinese model and its dissemination, and disinformation throughout the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Each case will attempt to examine the effects of Cyberspace on Hybrid warfare; Which proved to be a complementary effect, cyberspace amplifying Hybrid warfare and providing it...
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