Robert Chesney, James Baker Chair and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas School of Law, and Director of the Strauss Center, recently co-authored the introductory essay for the special Cyber Competition issue of the Texas National Security Review, a publication which is co-sponsored by the Strauss Center. In it, he and his co-author Max Smeets explain that they view this special edition as a “intervention” into the current dialogue surrounding cyber studies—and intervention which they assert is warranted for two main reasons. First, the field lacks significant “rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis”, despite the daily barrage of writing on the topic. Second, they advocate for a “realignment” of the borders of the field of cyber conflict and competition, given the potential benefits which would result from cross-discipline insight. They note the timeliness of this intervention, given the shifts in strategic thinking related to cyber security in and beyond the U.S. Chesney and Smeets then highlight three structural elements of the issue: the advancing of theoretical interpretations and the presentation of new empirics; the policy dimensions of the cyberspace debate; and a dialogue among the various authors of the edition, most notably illustrated by the policy roundtable. Read the full essay here.