Securitizing the Virtuality of the Real: A Gramscian Analysis of the Securitization of U.S. Cyberspace Governance.

Abstract: This thesis analyzes the contemporary conformations of governance in the U.S. discourse on cyberspace through a Gramscian theory of International Relations. The thesis primarily focuses upon the question of governance through the analysis of a potentially ongoing securitization process in the realm of cyberspace governance. This process is located by a critical discourse analysis on the Cyberspace Policy Review, a U.S. governmental document that summarizes all of the near- and mid-term policy issues for security in cyberspace. As such, a qualitative research design was utilized in the study. The prevalence of securitization is further explained within the framework of hegemony. Hegemony, as a distinct conformation of governance, argued by this thesis, seems to be especially consanguineous to the phenomenon of securitization. There is a tendency that the subjects of governance is not sought for consent at face value, rather, a securitization process seem to be the very condition for them to enter into the hegemonic order.