André Barrinha is a Reader (Associate Professor) in International Relations at the University of Bath. His main research interests include cyber-diplomacy, cybersecurity, international order, technology and security, European security, European foreign policy and International Relations Theory and Security. Dr. Barrinha is currently working on cyber-statecraft in international relations. He was awarded, in 2019, a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship to study the emergence of cyber diplomacy. His work has been published in journals such as Contemporary Security Policy, International Affairs, European Security, Mediterranean Politics, Third World Quarterly, Journal of Common Market Studies and Journal of European Integration. He is also one of the co-authors of International Relations Now and Then (Routledge, 2nd ed.). He is the former (2023-2025) chair of the ISA’s Science, Technology and Art in International Relations section.

‍

Personal page

Arindrajit Basu is a PHD Candidate at Leiden University's Faculty of Global Governance and Affairs and a Non-Resident Fellow at New America. He is also a Digitalization and Human Rights Consultant with the United Nations Development Program. He was formerly Research Lead with the Centre for Internet & Society where he led research agendas on India's approach to data governance and foreign policy. He is a lawyer by training, holding a LLM from the University of Cambridge and a BA, LLB (Hons) from NUJS, Kolkata.

Often treated as the realm of great powers, cyber diplomacy has, in recent years, seen the active participation of developing countries in discussions about responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. After over a decade of meetings within the restricted UN Group of Government Experts (GGE), the UN General Assembly voted in 2018 to the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) that was open to all UN members, differentiating it from the closed GGEs that were its predecessors.

Whereas there had been a handful of developing countries consistently involved in previous GGEs, the vast majority was only exposed and able to contribute to the debate around responsible state behaviour in cyberspace with the onset of the OEWG. The contributions of the developing world, sometimes cast together as the amorphous ‘Global South’ need to be closely examined in light of the international order becoming increasingly multiplex (Acharya 2017,2021) wherein authority is more dispersed and order is characterised by fluid ideological and economic alliances, rather than the hegemonic efforts of a single power. Building on Vincent Pouliot work on international pecking orders - ‘informal hierarchies of standing that pervade multilateral organizations’ (2016, p.2) -, this paper explores whether the more inclusive and public OEWG and the increased engagement from the Global South helped re-arrange cyberspace’s diplomatic hierarchies. We are specifically interested in exploring three aspects of these hierarchies: first, whether the OEWG served as a forum for developing world diplomats to ascend existing pecking orders set presently by leading powers in the Global “West” (Ikenberry,2024); second, whether this led to changes in the normative focus of these processes to cater more to developmental interests and economic needs; and finally, whether new hierarchies were created between emerging powers and the rest of the developing world.

Methodologically, the paper uses text-based analysis to evaluate the public statements made by all G77 countries and triangulates this data with  interviews and statements from diplomats and experts, along with official reports from the UN, public commentary and secondary literature. The paper’s findings will shed light both on how we understand the role of developing countries in cyber diplomacy and also whether and how changes in forum composition and types of multilateral settings can affect hierarchies and order in international cyber policy.