Mapping the ‘Great Powers’ Cyber Matrix

Great Powers have been an essential feature of the international system, and a wide range of scholars have provided various grounds for identifying one. However, no matter how exhaustive their lists are, they can all be brought down to six components that Kenneth Waltz, the proponent of neorealism, has demarcated. These criteria include population, territory, resources, military capabilities, political stability & competence, and economic prowess. Cyber capabilities were not estimated as an essential category back in the day when these calculations were made because it was still in a nascent stage. Nevertheless, the fact that it included military and economic capacity along with regime stability signals the fact that if 'cyber’ was as prevalent back then as it is today, it would have been the seventh component without any qualms.