ABSTRACT
The most fundamental form of technological revolution in the international system occurs when players alien to it challenge the dominance of its main unit, the state. Though potentially important for international order, lesser forms of change do not supersede the system’s organisational structure. They unfold within a given international system; they may even help to preserve the hierarchy of actors if new technology enhances the dominant players’ relative power and interests. The rapid expansion of cyberspace during the last three decades presents such a fundamental question. This chapter explores it. Actors other than states challenge their customary dominance in core areas of national security and international affairs. This trend has given rise to a situation of state absence: the state has partly receded in its traditionally preponderant role in protecting the infrastructure that underpins vital societal and economic functions as well as in ensuring the integrity of basic political institutions. Private players have begun to fill the statist void both as threat actors and as security providers, with important implications for theory and statecraft.
