Amid growing geopolitical competition and the growing importance of emerging technologies to national security, both Australia and the UK have used cyber strategy to assert and pursue their interests in cyberspace. These strategies have included aspects such as building the cyber resilience of industry, enhancing technical skills, conducting offensive cyber operations and, most crucially, developing new domestic and international cyber policies that are crucial for the projection of power through the ‘whole of society’ or ‘whole of nation’. The ‘whole of society’ approach to state policy and strategy promises not only to educate and re-skill populations that are increasingly the victims of cybercrime, but also to support the state more broadly in its strategic interests concerning cyber power. With this in mind, this paper will explore the tensions generated by the frame of the ‘whole of society’ in Australia and the UK. Through mapping how various relevant cyber policy communities conceptualise the ‘whole of society’ and perceive their contribution to cyber power, potential blind spots in the ‘whole of society’ frame for cyber power are identified. To successfully create a “whole of society” approach to policy-making in this area, it is important to first understand who and what groups contribute to national cyber power and how different elements of society see their contribution. Once this understanding has been developed, then a more comprehensive and coherent cyber policy framework can be utilised to pursue a state’s cyber power. The project conducted workshops and interviews with key representatives from various relevant communities within each country, including government, industry and education. The aim of these research activities was to determine participants’ perspectives of the contribution of different elements of society to the nation’s cyber power and on the concept of “whole of government” as well as to conceptualise what a more effective policy environment might look like. This paper will present the findings from this project, which was designed to examine these challenges and contribute to future cyber policy-making debates in Australia and the UK.
