(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-12-14)
Farhat, Karim
This research uses the Policy Regime Framework to analyze which of two policy problems, US-China rivalry or IT/OT convergence, better explain degrees of coherence and integration in the US cybersecurity regime. It explains how regime actors address and negotiate these problems across the ICT and energy sectors. A process-tracing methodology was used to track outcomes and explanatory factors, linking causal mechanisms through an analysis of the Congressional record and in-depth stakeholder interviews. The results indicate how the idea of Chinese ICTs as a Trojan horse for the Chinese Community Party’s strategy was more effective than IT/OT convergence at mobilizing interests and advancing coherent cybersecurity policy. Trade and ICT policies were successfully integrated to achieve cybersecurity goals as regime interests bargained to 'weaponize' critical trade interdependencies through the US competitive advantage in the semiconductor industry. This research lends further validity to the Policy Regime Framework in researching cross-sector-spanning policy problems in the ICT space especially given recent calls for whole-of-government approaches to address emerging strategic technologies.