CYBERPOLITIK JOURNAL, cilt.4, sa.7, ss.2-20, 2019 (Hakemli Dergi)
Cyberwar defies the traditional concepts such as sovereignty and war, but little attention was
paid by International Relations (IR) theory to studying cyber conflict. Most studies lacked
analytical in-depth and systematicity. While some scholars have recently begun to
systematically apply IR theory of realism and constructivism to cyberspace, IR scholars
significantly ignored neo-liberal theories, especially Democratic Peace Theory (DPT). Thus, I
intend to fill this theory-gap by offering a systematic and in-depth analysis using the DPT to
explore how effectively it can explain the absence of cyberwar between democracies. I argue
that despite the observed incidences of cyber conflict or cyberwar indicating the presence of
peaceful cyber relations between democracies, this peaceful trend is unlikely to be a result of
“democratic peace”, for the dynamics of cyberwar challenge the pacifying elements of
normative and structural model of the theory. This hampers DPT`s cyber applicability. I used
primary and secondary sources and drew on a case study—Stuxnet-, demonstrative empirical
data, and theoretical and conceptual discussions in the relevant literature.