Anonymous. WikiLeaks. The Syrian Electronic Army. Edward Snowden. Bitcoin. The Arab Spring. In every aspect of international affairs, digitally enabled actors are changing the way the world works and disrupting the institutions that once held a monopoly on power. In "Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age," Taylor Owen asks: How does the rise of hackers, digital humanitarians, cyber activism, automated violence and citizen journalists change the way we understand and act in the world? Are digital diplomacy and cyberwar the future of statecraft, or a sign of the crisis of the state? What new institutions will be needed to moderate emerging power structures and ensure accountability and the rule of law?
Taylor Owen is Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia and a Senior Fellow at the Columbia Journalism School. He was previously the Research Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University where he designed and led a program studying the impact of digital technology on the practice of journalism. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of OpenCanada.org, an international affairs website, the Director of the International Relations and Digital Technology Projects, an international research project exploring the intersection of information technology and international affairs, and is the Research Director of the Munk Debates. He has previously held positions at Yale University, the London School of Economics and the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo. His PhD is from the University of Oxford, where he was a Trudeau Scholar.
