Critical Perspectives on Cybersecurity : Feminist and Postcolonial Interventions

Traditional notions of national security have generally dominated cybersecurity debates, but the response to emerging cybersecurity issues should not merely focus on the militarization of cyberspace. Weaponizing a space heavily populated by civilians has enormous implications for human rights. Yet, cybersecurity studies in international relations have largely overlooked the impact of cybersecurity policies on individuals and communities--including the consequences of surveillance, data overcollection, cybercrime, and cyberbullying.

Critical Perspectives on Cybersecurity offers a new approach to understanding cybersecurity in international relations. As a counterpoint to existing work, which focuses largely on the security of states, private actors, and infrastructure, chapter authors examine how women and communities across the Global South understand "cybersecurity," including what threats and forms of resistance are most important to them. They make the case that policies need to consider individual human rights by putting people's empowerment and wellbeing at their center. Drawing on feminist and postcolonial theory, the chapters also cover issues that challenge conventional notions of cybersecurity, including disinformation, gender-based violence online, and technology as a neocolonial force. Bringing together contributions from a globally diverse range of authors, Anwar Mhajne and Alexis Henshaw provide a human security perspective on cybersecurity that pays attention to the interplay of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and other social hierarchies, especially regarding cybersecurity in the Global South.

Anwar Mhajne is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stonehill College. She specializes in international relations and comparative politics. Her research focuses on gender, religion, cybersecurity, digital politics, disinformation, and Middle Eastern politics. Her writing has been featured in the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Religion and Politics, Culturico, The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Conversation, The Times of Israel, Haaretz, Middle East Eye, +972 Magazine, Quartz, The Defense Post, The Jerusalem Post, Carnegie Endownment for International Peace, Al Bawaba, The New Arab, and The National, among others.

Alexis Henshaw is Associate Professor of Political Science at Troy University. Her research interests include civil conflict, gender issues in international security, and Latin American politics. She is the author of Why Women Rebel: Understanding Women's Participation in Armed Rebel Groups (Routledge, 2017) and Digital Frontiers in Gender and Security (Bristol University Press, 2023), and is a co-author of Insurgent Women: Female Combatants in Civil Wars (Georgetown University Press, 2019). Her work has also appeared in International Feminist Journal of Politics, Foreign Policy Analysis, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Journal of Global Security Studies, and Politics & Gender.