Divergences and Convergences in Normalization and Codification of Soft Cyber Law: A Case Study of the Proposed Resolution by the Russian Federation (1998-2021)

Subject Areas : Legal Studies of Cyberspace

nasrollah soltani ¹ (Assistant Professor)
Mohammad Ali Kafaei Far ² (گروه حقوق، دانشکده علوم انسانی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی قم)
Mohammad Reza Hoseiny ³ (گروه حقوق و دیپلماسی، دانشگاه عالی دفاع ملی، تهران)

Received: 2023-04-04 Accepted : 2023-08-01 Published : 2023-11-19

Keywords: resolution, Consensus, Russian Federation, First Committee, General Assembly, Norm-Making, Co-Sponsor,

Abstract :

The development of international cyber law has always been accompanied by difficulties. Although security and fighting crimes arising from this space require collective efforts of governments, and the indivisibility of security in this space is one of its most important features but,  little progress has been made to regularize the cyberspace. The center of gravity and the focal point of international activities to systematize activities in the cyber field is the United Nations. In the meantime, the resolution proposed by the Russian Federation to the First Committee of the General Assembly has been one of the most important efforts to regularize this space in the last two decades which, indeed, is subject of the present article. In this resolution, the role of science and technology in the context of international security and the dual military and civilian use of cyber space are stipulated. The normative approach of this resolution and the legal performance of the main actors towards this resolution is the opinion of the article. This article is considered to be exploratory-developmental in terms of its central goal, which aims at producing and developing knowledge by examining the subject and analyzing the content of all resolutions and monitoring the process of these documents. The approach followed by this research is inductive. In terms of methodology, this research follows the documentary and evidence-based research methodology based on the documents of the United Nations. The findings of this research confirm that the dominance of the company-centric approach instead of the governance-centric approach to the cyberspace on the one hand and the minimalist outlook of the big cyber powers to the role of the United Nations to regularize the cyber space as well as the lack of effective role of the UN are among the main reasons for the functional weakness of the United Nations to regularize the cyberspace.