Electoral cybersecurity as a concept and its international political dimension

10.54398/1818510X_2022_4_81

Annotation

Digitalization transforms electoral processes. In this connection, the problem of electoral cybersecurity as a new problem area at the intersection of IT and politics becomes relevant. The relevant question arises: What is "electoral cybersecurity" and what is its domestic and international political significance? The study uses information from the press, official documents, and academic publications on cybersecurity. The comparative method is used as the main method. The domestic political aspect of electoral cybersecurity is related to the emergence and intensification of socio-political divisions in society and the destabilization of the state's political system as a result of elections. This happens all over the world. Examples include France, Great Britain, Belarus, Ukraine, Venezuela and South Africa. The article conceptualizes the concept of electoral cybersecurity and analyzes the electoral cases of the United States, Germany and Russia. Electoral cybersecurity is understood as a state's ability to protect itself from the negative impact and ensure sustainable functioning of information and communication infrastructure involved in the pre-election campaign, voting process and summarizing its results, in order to ensure the legitimacy of the newly formed elected authorities and sustainability of the political system. From the point of view of the national interests of Russia, the problem of electoral cybersecurity is an incentive for the creation and distribution of an effective secure electronic voting system of domestic development. It is necessary to focus not so much on the fruitless discussion with the West about election violations or their absence, as on the promotion of Russian developments in the sphere of electoral cybersecurity in the post-Soviet space and through BRICS.

Keywords

• electoral cybersecurity
• information security
• USA
• Germany
• Russia
• elections
• legitimacy
• divided societies
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Contribution of the authors

Arteev S. P. – general concept, cases of the USA and Russia, conclusion; Kardava N. V. – the case of Germany, conclusion

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