ABSTRACT
By aiming to evaluate the strengths and limits of international relations (IR) theory in order to gain an understanding of security in the digital age, we take on an exceedingly difficult task. Not only has this issue hardly ever been addressed before, leaving us with barely any literature to base our analysis on – we also enter a realm of vast extent, indistinct boundaries, and a sloppy conceptual arsenal. There are more basic questions than answers: What is digital-age security and how might it be defined in a meaningful way? Is there really anything new about digital-age security that clearly sets it apart from more traditional security matters? Which specific aspects of digital-age security do we want to explain and why? And, maybe the most challenging question in the context of this project: Is a theory of digital-age security needed at all?
