CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Beska, Solomiia |
|---|---|
| Title | Cyber Resilience in Ukraine: Measuring Response to Cyber Threats in the Context of Hybrid Warfare |
| Summary | This dissertation examines Ukraine’s evolving cyber resilience amidst protracted Russian cyber aggression and hybrid warfare from 2014 to 2025. It explores Ukraine's transformation from a vulnerable post-Soviet state to an emerging cyber-resilient actor amidst escalating digital threats, institutional weakness, and geopolitical uncertainty. The research question is twofold: How does a state become cyber resilient in the face of protracted cyber aggression? And was Ukraine’s transformation driven by a pre-designed strategy or reactive learning through the crisis? The theoretical framework combines Peter Hall’s (1993) theory of third-order policy change and Mark Basinger’s (2002) model of national mobilization during times of crisis and upheaval. These theories define the “imperial puzzle” underlying the analysis: how state resilience emerges under external pressure through paradigm shifts and success-oriented imitation. Methodologically, the dissertation employs a longitudinal case study of Ukraine using process tracing and document analysis of official legislation, cyber strategies, incident reports, and institutional reforms. The study used MAXQDA to code and analyze primary indicators of the imperial puzzle. Empirical evidence suggests that Ukraine’s resilience emerged through cumulative adaptation to shocks, such as the BlackEnergy attacks (2015), the NotPetya malware (2017), and the Kyivstar leak (2023), as well as limited adoption of Estonia's digital governance model. The dissertation proposes a three-stage model of resilience—evolution, progress, and development 014;demonstrati ng that Ukraine’s cyber transformation was not centrally planned but rather emerged through institutional learning, strategic adaptation, and international cooperation |
| Supervisor | ERIN K. JENN |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/beska_solomiia.pdf |
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