The institutionalization of international cyber law: The United Nation's norm-setting role and security paradigms

Cyberspace has emerged as a dynamic area where traditional concepts such as sovereignty, legal authority, and the use of judicial authority are constantly questioned in the field of international relations. In the light of technological developments and in the globalizing world, classical international relations concepts such as power, security, actor, and the nature of war have undergone a significant transformation and have led to the emergence of new concepts such as cybersecurity, cyberpower, and cyberwar. These concepts have brought about new processes, different actors, and perspectives. Due to the unique nature of cyberspace, its transnational structure poses significant challenges in the application of classical international law based on territorial sovereignty in the traditional nation-state structure. In this context, the tension between technological developments and the normative order is growing and requires the re-evaluation of currently existing legal instruments and governance mechanisms and the conduct of studies specific to this field. This thesis focuses on the position of cyberspace in international relations and international law by examining the relationship between the United Nations' norm of responsible state understanding in particular. The United Nations is an important organization that reveals the consensus among states in the international community. However, it is seen that the ideological differences of powerful states create a significant obstacle to the establishment of consensus on the legal framework. In addition, the presence of new actors in the cyberspace has revealed the deficiencies of the theories adopted in analysis. In this context, determining the distribution of power in cyberspace has become increasingly difficult and has led to the questioning of the state-centered structure that dominates classical international relations.