Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience

This thesis, titled Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience, authored by Aida Jaber, examines how political centralization influences the development and effectiveness of national cybersecurity governance and frameworks. Thro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jaber, Aida (author)
Format: masterThesis
Published: 2025
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10725/16983
https://doi.org/10.26756/th.2023.779
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/thesis.php
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1864513473627553792
author Jaber, Aida
author_facet Jaber, Aida
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Jaber, Aida
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025-06-17T07:27:03Z
2025-06-17T07:27:03Z
2025
2025-05-14
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10725/16983
https://doi.org/10.26756/th.2023.779
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/thesis.php
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv en
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Lebanese American University
dc.rights.*.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Thesis
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis
description This thesis, titled Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience, authored by Aida Jaber, examines how political centralization influences the development and effectiveness of national cybersecurity governance and frameworks. Through a comparative case study analysis of China, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, and the Czech Republic, the study uses a Most Different Systems Design (MDSD) to assess how varying governance models shape cybersecurity capacities. It draws on realism and neorealism, the government size efficiency hypothesis, and state capacity theory to evaluate performance indicators derived from both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings reveal that while centralized systems facilitate streamlined decision-making and enable coordinated national policies, these advantages do not guarantee effective implementation or adaptive crisis response. This is often due to limited transparency, rigid structures, and a lack of institutional flexibility. Conversely, decentralized systems may face coordination challenges and political fragmentation, yet they tend to achieve better overall cybersecurity performance. This is attributed to broader inclusion, external governance alignment, and context-sensitive implementation. Ultimately, the study concludes that cybersecurity effectiveness is not solely determined by centralization, but by the interaction between internal institution structure, external influence, and normative policy goals.
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
format masterThesis
id LAURepo_fccc100bdd59bf1cd0240c62a2c048b6
language_invalid_str_mv en
network_acronym_str LAURepo
network_name_str Lebanese American University repository
oai_identifier_str oai:laur.lau.edu.lb:10725/16983
publishDate 2025
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Lebanese American University
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository_id_str
spelling Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense ResilienceJaber, AidaThis thesis, titled Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience, authored by Aida Jaber, examines how political centralization influences the development and effectiveness of national cybersecurity governance and frameworks. Through a comparative case study analysis of China, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, and the Czech Republic, the study uses a Most Different Systems Design (MDSD) to assess how varying governance models shape cybersecurity capacities. It draws on realism and neorealism, the government size efficiency hypothesis, and state capacity theory to evaluate performance indicators derived from both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings reveal that while centralized systems facilitate streamlined decision-making and enable coordinated national policies, these advantages do not guarantee effective implementation or adaptive crisis response. This is often due to limited transparency, rigid structures, and a lack of institutional flexibility. Conversely, decentralized systems may face coordination challenges and political fragmentation, yet they tend to achieve better overall cybersecurity performance. This is attributed to broader inclusion, external governance alignment, and context-sensitive implementation. Ultimately, the study concludes that cybersecurity effectiveness is not solely determined by centralization, but by the interaction between internal institution structure, external influence, and normative policy goals.Lebanese American University2025-06-17T07:27:03Z2025-06-17T07:27:03Z20252025-05-14Thesisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesishttp://hdl.handle.net/10725/16983https://doi.org/10.26756/th.2023.779http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/thesis.phpeninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:laur.lau.edu.lb:10725/169832025-06-17T07:27:03Z
spellingShingle Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience
Jaber, Aida
status_str publishedVersion
title Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience
title_full Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience
title_fullStr Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience
title_full_unstemmed Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience
title_short Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience
title_sort Cybersecurity and the State: Comparing Centralized and Decentralized Political Systems in Cyber Defense Resilience
url http://hdl.handle.net/10725/16983
https://doi.org/10.26756/th.2023.779
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/thesis.php