Understanding the political, economic and societal aspects of cybersecurity: A comparative analysis in the context of the EU and Turkey

This thesis advances a comparative inquiry into the political, economic, and societal dimensions of cybersecurity by examining the phenomenon through both its theoretical underpinnings and concrete policy artefacts. The study evaluates the European Union's ENISA 2024 Cybersecurity Report and Türkiye's National Cybersecurity Strategy (2024–2028) using content analysis, lexical frequency mapping, thematic categorization, sentiment analysis, and conceptual network modelling. The findings demonstrate that the European Union adopts a technocratic and regulation-driven understanding of cybersecurity, grounded in multi-level governance, harmonised regulatory frameworks, and institution-centred capacity building. Türkiye, in contrast, pursues a more centralised and proactive strategic posture, conceptualising cybersecurity primarily through the lenses of national security, technological self-sufficiency, and developmental imperatives. The thematic intensity analysis reveals that while security and governance constitute core themes in both documents, the EU gravitates toward an economy- and regulation-oriented framework, whereas Türkiye foregrounds domestic technological capability and human capital development. The sentiment analysis shows that the EU employs a more cautious, at times alarmist register, while Türkiye adopts an assertive, motivational discourse infused with narratives of national progress and resilience. Conceptual network analysis further uncovers a multi-nodal, institutionally dense structure in the EU's approach, contrasted with a more centralised conceptual core in Türkiye, centred on the triad of security, technology, and resilience. Taken together, these findings contribute original theoretical and policy-oriented insights to the literature by elucidating how divergent governance models construct the meaning of cybersecurity and configure their strategic priorities through distinct thematic, discursive, and conceptual architectures.