Cybersecurity in the U.S.-Philippine alliance: mission seep

Abstract

Abstract This study examines the integration of cybersecurity within the U.S.-Philippine alliance. The growth of new forms of international conflict, like cybersecurity, occur below the threshold of a traditional armed attack and pose a direct challenge to security alliances designed to rebuff conventional military threats. Using a process-tracing approach, this article investigates the evolution of cybersecurity within the U.S.-Philippine relationship and how it has met this new challenge. It finds that despite mutual concern over cybersecurity, divergent approaches to the digital domain as a policy area has stymied alliance development. This finding highlights how issues like elite political discord, different threat perceptions, and divergent institutional preferences can hinder cyber cooperation between partners and stymie alliance development.