The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
Speaker: Andrew Ehrhardt, Ernest May Fellow in History & Policy, International Security Program
The historical scholarship focusing on the creation of the United Nations Organization tends to be skewed towards the role played by the United States. Often overlooked is the influence of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, to say nothing of other powers, from Australia and New Zealand to the Netherlands and China.
This presentation will focus on the role of the United Kingdom, in particular, and will discuss the way in which Foreign Office officials worked to deliver on plans for a post-war international organization. Among a number of themes is the way in which these individuals thought about the future of international order, and the way in which they looked to the history of the League of Nations and even the Congress of Vienna for inspiration.
Everyone is welcome to join us online via Zoom! Please register in advance for this seminar: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJckde2hpzkiHNb91pdfngqcuFufpFmJKIRa
For more information, email the International Security Program Assistant at susan_lynch@harvard.edu.