Internet of Things, cybersecurity and governing wicked problems

Learning From Climate Change Governance

Bibliographic Data

ID5144403
AuthorsMatt Carr (0000-0001-6666-0595, University College London, corresponding author), Madeline Carr (University College London), Feja Lesniewska (0000-0002-9196-0597, University College London)
Year2020
Volume34
Issue3
Pages391-412
Publication date2020-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-1178 • E-ISSN: 1741-2862
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0047117820948247
OpenAlexW3087353677
LanguageEN
Citations received8

The implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT) is central to what the World Economic Forum has coined the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'; a technological revolution built upon cyber-physical systems that will blur the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres. Novel interconnections will emerge as a result, challenging traditional relations and modes of governance. However, a central feature of the IoT is that the implications of cyber (in)security are no longer abstract. The IoT also returns us to the world of kinetic effects in international relations; more familiar territory for IR. The resulting cooperation and coordination challenges are transboundary in nature, occur at multiple levels across sectors, between institutions, and will impact all actors, both public and private, in complex, often highly politicised ways. In this article we argue that advances in global climate governance appear to be offering an early model of a consensual rules-based approach within the existing international order that provides space for advancing agility, flexibility, and polycentrism to meet the demands of 'wicked problems' like the cybersecurity of the IoT. Perhaps one of the most important lessons to be drawn across from climate governance is the role of robust mechanisms for knowledge exchange - specifically between the technical and policy communities

Business · Computer security · Corporate governance · Cyber-physical system · Economics · Flexibility (engineering) · Internet governance · Internet of Things · Management · Order (exchange) · Political science · Public relations · Resilience (materials science) · Sociology · Blockchain Technology Applications and Security · Computer Science

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