Conclusion - Cyberspace: conflicts and cooperation among actors
Cyberspace, born at the end of the 20th century, is a network formed by the global interconnection of computers. Both a physical network, comprising interconnected infrastructure, and an immaterial space, encompassing all digital data exchanges.
The number of internet users has grown from 1 to 5 billion since the early 2000s, representing half of the human population. In the 1990s, pioneers of the internet viewed the cyberspace as an independent, supranational territory, without borders, where States had no sovereignty to intervene, contrasting with traditional territories.
Since the mid-2000s, States perceive cyberspace as a territory to be controlled through laws for protection, leading to its militarisation, thus rendering it a conventional territory. The control of this “immaterial territory” is a political and geopolitical issue for States. States can indeed be the victims of cyber threats, therefore, they implement cyber defense policies.
How does cyberspace generate new conflicts? Are these tensions mitigated by cooperation among actors?