The past decade has ushered the rise of a 'Cyber Westphalian,' increasingly conflictual world characterized by rising great power competition, which now has escalated into ‘Great Systems Conflict’[2] across all digitally dependent societal domains. These struggles are occurring for, through, and enabled by cyberspace, and are now well in evidence globally. Yet, after ten years of experiments in creating organizations, strategies, policies, and offensive campaigns, consolidated democracies have either neglected or missed some valuable lessons. The essays in this special issue provide a broad overview of what was missed, ignored, mistaken, or simply not learned despite indications and experience. They also offer a way forward to tackle some of the more complex issues discussed. The unlearned lessons identified here range over issues of strategic approach, national scale and capacity, institutional change, and the socio-technical-economic system’s framing of the cybered conflict challenge. The authors here—subject matter experts with considerable and well-recognized expertise—are concerned about what we collectively are failing to appreciate and act upon. They intend by these essays to inform future national strategies, policies, and institutions to ensure that these unlearned lessons do not turn into future strategic failures in a rising, deeply cybered, post-westernized, authoritarian world.
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