President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Visiting Professor of Democracy in the Digital Age in Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, will be giving a series of lectures on “Security, Democracy and the Digital World” in spring semester 2021.
The series will take place in the framework of the Politics and Governance in the Digital Age MA programme. Please note that all hours in this announcement are given in Tartu time zone, GMT+2:00. The series is curated by Robert Krimmer, Professor of E-governance, Programme Director for Democracy and Governance, robert.krimmer [ät] ut.ee.
All lectures are online via Zoom and open to everyone. More information
17 March 2021 at 10:00
Threats to democracy in the digital era
- In parallel with technological development, the emergence of “hacking” and “insider threats”. What is hacking and what does it mean? Types of “hacking”. Moonlight Mile and hacking, and the transformation of espionage. The emergence of Logic bombs and Sub-rosa sabotage in cyber war, SCADA attacks, Stuxnet computer worm, and Ransomware.
- Offensive DDOS attack in Estonia in 2007; The first nation-state attack and “the continuation of policy by other means”. Hybrid digital/kinetic attacks. “Public-Private Partnerships” or State and criminal actor co-operation.
14 April 2021 at 10:00
Changing nature of truth, politics, security, and war in the Digital era
- The rise of fake news, targeted advertising, and weaponization of social media for political ends. A brief history of disinformation and its instrumentalization in the Digital era. From Ukraine to the UK, the US and French elections: the hybridization of digital methods.
- On the spread of disinformation and its impact on politics, conspiracy theories, and democratic processes. Solomon Asch conformity experiments. Imagined communities, Dunning-Kruger effect, and the death of expertise. Multiple truths and the Overton Window.
- International agreements and norms. National sovereignty vs sovereign corporations. COVID App, blackmailing nations.
12 May 2021 at 10:00
Future developments in politics and governance
- The changing nature of security as we move from kinetic to digital. “Continuing policy by other means” where mass, distance, and time, the classical determinants of force, no longer matter.
- Diverging paths between Chinese “algorithmic authoritarianism” and the US’ “surveillance capitalism”. Where will privacy-fixated Europe fit?
- Techno-economic competition and blackmail.
SEE THE PAST LECTURES
17 February 2021 on Societal disruption and political transformation