In fact, the world is changing and distances are shortened and the cyberspace as an attractive place with extraordinary facilities and its rapid changes leads to passive affirmative and negative decisions.
Unfortunately, the conformity of cyberspace and its exciting services with present and future national interest and foreign marketing, which is now possible with less effort and more profit, is done without any holistic approach.
The general orientation at the back stage of the fanciful cyberspace, reminds us the story of “The Wizard of Oz” where, a deceitful emerald city which was in fact a usual place, but where green tinted spectacles were worn in order to see a perfect beautiful place.
The blight of cyberspace, with its global coverage, is spreading the illusion of perfectness and being overtop worldwide. The cyberspace with all of its good characteristics, which leads to accelerating the life quality of people, is like a dirty dishware, which turns any medicine into a poison. The necessity of finding the appropriate governance with the expediency of a country is wise and rational, as in Europe, many countries yearn for the Internet of Trust for innovative governance.
In fact, the governance means the action or manner of governing a state or an organization and the government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, often a state. The term governance implies a collection of processes which leads to certain politics and processes with power, authority, and influence. The governance is for control and guidance and is connected with rule creation and recreation, social norms and structured measures.
On the other side, the governance demands to be adjusted in the way of a certain goal. For example, the corporate governance balances the interests of a company's many stakeholders and the board of directors in order to reach the ultimate profit and sustainable value for shareholders.
In general, the governance an be process-based, which focuses on effectiveness of the process, holistic-based, which focuses on system and phenomenon, predictable that means a true perception of governance reaction in different situations, responsiveness in the way clarifies the reason for decision and responsibility in measures, problem-based which means being concrete in definite time and place and finally orientation-based which means guiding and controlling for raising and sublimity.
In cyber governance, the governance is for the concept of cyberspace, which is different from cyber governance, although it turns into this concept in the near future. The meaning of cyber is very simple, however, it has several undetected aspects. In recent years, the virtual and real aspects of cyberspace being discussed worldwide. However, by the cyberspace, we means a novel world, which shapes a different kind of life people never lived before. This novel world is against the world people lived since descent of Adam (AS).
The agriculture revolution, the industrial revolution, and some technological transitions changed the world through centuries. For example physical rules led to inventing cars, electric powerhouse, oil extraction, invention of huge ships and airplanes. However now in the emerging cyber world, one can create products according to imagination rules. This is the deep transition of this emerging world, which is beyond cyberspace or virtual world. The emerging cyberspace is devouring today world and is forming a new world based on technology, acceleration and convergence. In that world, all personal and social behaviors is much bigger that the world we live in, since all the concepts and phenomena have different aspects.
In cyberspace, which we are on the way to reach, each natural phenomena is associated with cyber quality. Cyber car, cyber factory, cyber city, cyber petrochemistry and even cyber tree, which are in line with cyberspace. These emerging phenomena have activism in the world we used to as well as cyber quality.
Concepts like virtual reality with the help of cyber-physical systems and Internet of Everything (IoE) - are working on making a physical effect on cyber things. Cyber professor assistant for boosting educational effectiveness, cyber assistant for negotiations in order to shed light on different complicated aspects of negotiation, cyber strategist assistant for military commander are some examples for cyber fulfilment in physical aspects.
It seems that we have approached the imaginary world, which is vast and propagated worldwide, a world in which the presence and absence of mind is not effective in its being, a global tangible consistent imagination is forming.
Though this cyberspace is biased. The change of identities and cultures are traceable under the influence of the cyberspace. The cyberspace is not limited to the technological field but it encompassed the social human space and is a social and cogitative field. The cognitive struggle and change of religious and national identity cannot be denied with the emergence of cyberspace. These changes are hidden under technological attractions, being up-to-date, digital marketing and social media.
In cyberspace, one can recognized two orientations: first the strategic dominance for the U.S. and the corporations and the second globalization of western lifestyle. The full-scale dominance is one of the principles of power in cyberspace. With the help of flow of personal, social and national information data in different services and networks, and the owners of cyber technologies and governments collect and analyze the information through big data analytics techniques, which leads to modern colonization.
In fact, mental programming and management leads to cultural, economic and political engineering for the U.S. and the corporations who own the infrastructures of global services. On the other side, modern western lifestyle is globalized with its special economic and cultural approaches. The fulfillment of this kind of lifestyle in not only in content released by the cyberspace but also in the forms of connection and relationship. In fact, the material and form help the creator to make a service in cyberspace. In cyberspace, cyber soft and hard power are mingled with lifestyle.
Accordingly, cyber governance is a collection of procedures that reassures the cyber existence with fulfilment of a chain of values to achieve the main goals. We can take these measures for programming cyber governance in accordance with the goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran revolution:
1. The ultimate goal setting for cyber governance: the goals in cyber governance is similar to the principles and goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran revolution in the way that would be effective in the future of cyber norms. The goals and principles of Islam and the Islamic Revolution should not be normalized with the dictated cyber space in future. In fact, when program for future 50 years is planned for Iran, the officials should have emerging cyberspace in mind. Unfortunately it is not regarded in Islamic-Iranian model of progress. So the first step for planning cyber governance is tracing ideal future for cyberspace in Iran with a view, which considered technology and the goals of Islamic Republic of Iran revolution and solidity of inter-cyber structures. In this way, there is no need to coordinate cyber governance and the Islamic Revolution perspective.
2. Establishment of cyber tactful mega policies: The cyber mega policies should be set tactfully. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei define tactfulness, as an insight according to which, one can comprehend the covered spiritual interactions, beyond the realities exists in material world. The politic should be determine with true understanding of the truth and nature of the existing cyber and improve its nature into the favorite one with the help of useful elements. The cyber tactful policy is necessary for the critical encounter of cyber factors in technology, cognition and governance (including their elements) and the aims of the Islamic Revolution cyber governance. In this case, the ideal governance in a definitive value system is fulfilled. One should keep in mind that this encounter is layered. In this case, the evolutionary model leads the cyber society into the sublime goals of the Islamic governance step by step.
3. The roles and responsibilities: according to mega policies, it is necessary to consider division of labor in each politic to fulfill the main goals of cyber governance. In national division of labor and institutional mapping of the main roles, the supervisor and supporter for dominance of policies in compiling downstream documents and operation are defined. Whereas, cyber has a vast tangible and intangible dimension, it is necessary that the guiding policy and following policy as well as the relation between the activists in each policy are determined. Otherwise the technology development may lead to a cultural or identity challenge. The solution for this division of labor is a mapping road, which leads to fulfilment of policies that are the main goals of the governance.
4. Cyber tactful attitude: The policy makers, people and managers need some preliminaries for correct cyber manner which is called cyber tactful attitude, the concept is more exact than cyber literacy. The attitude is beyond the outward layers of cyber and focuses on the deep understanding of inner cyber. The cyber tactful attitude begins from self-knowledge, knowing enemy and cyber knowing to a collection of moral and behavior disciplines to form the tactful attitude in cyberspace. This kind of attitude for activists in cyberspace fulfill the politics with the help of tactful intention and attitude.
5. Control systems and continuous surveillance: cyberspace and its technologies provide a dynamic place for services and interactions. The arranging of control systems for policies and strategies is necessary for sustainable and cyber-based movements. Controlling policies both monitors theories which leads to policies and control the achievement to main goals for governance. The control and surveillance should be continuous and progressive in order to prevent the wasting of resources and investments. Also the controlling system should have power and influence in order to prevent personal views, which are against mega policies.
Cyberspace lies ahead. We are in a transitional period. This technological turning point can bring us a good life in the emerging cyberspace if we can understand its importance and act in line with Islamic governance. In this way, the cyberspace can be a great place for Islamic civilization in the modern era. Neither the cyber governance should be reduced to a useless technological government, nor be highlighted to an important system that is coordinated with mental and cultural framework. Cyber is a reality, which should be recreated and propelled with a firm and effective structures of governance to strength national interest and propel it.
Ehsan Kiankhah has a PhD in cyber strategic management.
MNA/TT