Wanted: Nobel Peace Price Winners Who Create Peace in Cyberspace

Abstract

The paper starts with the statement that for the future of mankind cybersecurity is as important as the management of climate change. Building a global cybersecurity architecture should be a priority for diplomacy in the digital age. The paper covers the three main intergovernmental cybersecurity negotiation platforms: 1. The “Open Ended Working Group” (OEWG), operating under the 1st Committee of the UN General Assembly, deals with norms for state behaviour in cyberspace. 2. The new UN “Ad Hoc Committee” (AHC) has a mandate to draft a convention against cybercrime. 3. The Group of Governmental Experts for Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (GGE LAWS) is working on an agreement for drones and killerrobots. The author argues, that due to the complexity of the issues a reasonable involvement of non-state actors is needed to find workable solutions. The paper concludes, that conceptual disagreements about the future of the digital world between cybersuperpowers should not be an obstacle to selective agreement on stability in cyberspace.