ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by examining the concepts of ‘stability’ and ‘strategic stability’ as understood with regard to international security. Stability is much sought after in international affairs. When assessing or describing stability, scholars focus on several elements of the international system. Stability concerns an entity’s capacity to resist unavoidable threats and accommodate to inevitable changes. The demise of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact did not change the understanding of strategic stability in international politics. In 1998, Russia explicitly notified the United Nations of the potential use of information technologies and weapons ‘for purposes incompatible with the objectives of ensuring international security and stability’. The 2014 report of the US Department of State’s International Security Advisory Board on cyber stability recognized the importance of enhancing the ‘continuity of relations between nations in the face of attack or exploitation through cyber means’.
