The Digital Global Age: Contested Commons

Risk Group Founder, Jayshree Pandya PhD discusses “The Digital Global Age: Contested Commons” with Prof. Valerio De Luca, Director of Global Security and Foreign Affairs program, a joint program Academy Aises and American studies center of Rome. He is also the Secretary General at DIPLOMATIA, Rome and Executive President at LEADER PLATFORM, London. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the International Academy for Social and Economic Development (AISES) and Director of the Global Rules Ethics and Economics Network (G.R.E.E.N.), that involves research centers at London School of Economics, Science Po of Paris, La Sapienza University of Rome, Strathmore Business School of Nairobi.   Introduction The revolution in information technologies, processes and connected computers is altering everything– from how we communicate, make friends, to how we work, bank, shop and go to war. The emergence of this whole new world of cyberspace has given nations: its governments, industries, organizations, academia and individuals (NGIOA-I) great promise as well as great peril. As the world is undergoing a profound and lasting shift in the relative balance of power among nations: its government, industries, organizations and academia (NGIOA), the evolution in cyberspace will offer each nation as many opportunities as it does challenges. The connected computers, information and communication technology and digitalization capability of information that are revolutionizing every aspect of society, have leveled the playing field and brought each nation an unprecedented possibility of progress. What needs to be seen is whether in the leveled playing field, how will each individual nation be able to compete and lay a new foundation for lasting prosperity or decline. In cyberspace, what is common to all is access to technology and information. But what is not common is how one uses that information—for what purpose and goals. While cyberspace has given nations the same starting point in access to technology and information, there are many other variables in geospace that will determine whether a nation will be able to use the information from cyberspace, to develop, progress, and succeed in cyberspace, geospace and space (CGS). Cyberspace has brought each NGIOA to a juncture of revival and reformation or inexorable decline. Nations that are ruled by governments that destroy incentives, discourage innovation, and sap the talent of their citizens by creating a tilted playing field and robbing them of opportunities, will eventually die from within. Similarly, nations that have been built on exploitation will inevitably fail in cyberspace, taking an entire corrupt system down. So the question is, what can any individual nation do independently and collectively to improve its competitive and innovative position in the world, thereby tipping the scale of cyberspace in its favor? Cyberspace: Commons The “Commons” describe what everyone across nations: its government, industries, organizations, academia and individuals share. Cyberspace is one of the commons like geospace, space, air, water and electricity. Cyberspace is a global system of computers interconnected by telecommunication technologies consisting of scores of NGIOA resources, which is traditionally defined as “the virtual ecosystem in which communication over computer networks occurs. Cyberspace is a Global Common. The key challenge of the global commons is the design of governance structures, management structures, frameworks and systems capable of addressing the complexity of numerous NGIOA interconnectedness and interdependencies, that is subjected to often unpredictable changes, complexities, and risks, that could impact cyberspace, geospace as well as space. Cyberspace: Power Play