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Mr. Nicholas Tsagourias

Mr. Nicholas Tsagourias
Professor of International Law
University of Sheffield

Biography Biography in PDF

Peace and Security
Cybersecurity
The Legal Status of Cyberspace
under International Law
Video | Audio
(14/07/2022, 26 minutes)

The Use of Force in Cyberspace
Video | Audio
(14/07/2022, 25 minutes)
Peace and Security
Cybersecurity
The Legal Status of Cyberspace under International Law
A. Jurisprudence
B. Documents

Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, established pursuant to paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 66/24, 24 June 2013 (A/68/98).

Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, established pursuant to paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 68/243, 22 July 2015 (A/70/174).

Report of the Open-ended Working Group on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, pursuant to Assembly resolution 73/27 and decision 75/550, 18 March 2021 (A/75/816).

Official compendium of voluntary national contributions on the subject of how international law applies to the use of information and communications technologies by States submitted by participating governmental experts in the Group of Governmental Experts on Advancing Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace in the Context of International Security, established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 73/266, 13 July 2021 (A/76/136).

Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Advancing Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace in the Context of International Security, established pursuant to paragraph 3 of General Assembly resolution 73/266, 14 July 2021 (A/76/135).

C. Doctrine

J. E. Cohen, “Cyberspace as/and space”, Columbia Law Review, vol. 107, 2007, pp. 210-256.

H. Moynihan, The Application of International Law to State Cyberattacks: Sovereignty and Non-Intervention, Chatham House, London, 2019.

M. N. Schmitt (ed.), Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017, pp. 11–29.

N. Tsagourias, “The legal status of cyberspace: sovereignty redux”, in N. Tsagourias and R. Buchan (eds.), Research Handbook on International Law and Cyberspace, 2nd revised and expanded edition, Elgar, Cheltenham, 2021, pp. 9-31.

H. Yeli, “A Three-Perspective Theory of Cyber Sovereignty”, Prism: Journal of the Center for Complex Operations, vol. 17, 2017, pp. 108-115.


The Use of Force in Cyberspace
A. Legal Instruments

Charter of the United Nations, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

B. Jurisprudence

International Court of Justice, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Merits, Judgment, I.C.J Reports 1986, p. 14.

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Prosecutor v. Tadić, ICTY Trial Chamber, Opinion and Judgment of 7 May 1999, No. IT-94-1-T.

International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory OpinionI.C.J. Reports 2004, p. 136.

C. Documents

Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, established pursuant to paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 68/243, 22 July 2015 (A/70/174).

Report of the Open-ended Working Group on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, pursuant to Assembly resolution 73/27 and decision 75/550, 18 March 2021 (A/75/816).

Official compendium of voluntary national contributions on the subject of how international law applies to the use of information and communications technologies by States submitted by participating governmental experts in the Group of Governmental Experts on Advancing Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace in the Context of International Security, established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 73/266, 13 July 2021 (A/76/136).

Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Advancing Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace in the Context of International Security, established pursuant to paragraph 3 of General Assembly resolution 73/266, 14 July 2021 (A/76/135).

D. Doctrine

R. Buchan and N. Tsagourias, Regulating the Use of Force in International Law, Elgar, Cheltenham, 2021, pp. 114-131.

F. Delerue, Cyber operations and international law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2020, pp. 272-342.

J. L. Goldsmith, "Against Cyberanarchy", University of Chicago Law Review, vol. 65, 1998, pp. 1199-1250.

S. Haataja, Cyber attacks and international law on the use of force: the turn to information ethics, Routledge, London, 2019.

D. R. Johnson and D. Post, “Law and Borders – The Rise of Law in Cyberspace”, Stanford Law Review, vol. 48, 1996, p. 1367.

H. Lahmann, Unilateral remedies to cyber operations: self-defence, countermeasures, necessity, and the question of attribution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2020, pp. 47-112.

M. Roscini, Cyber Operations and the Use of Force in International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014, pp. 43-116.

M. Roscini, “Cyber operations as a use of force”, and C. Focarelli, “Self-defence in cyberspace”, in N. Tsagourias and R. Buchan (eds.), Research Handbook on International Law and Cyberspace, 2nd revised and expanded edition, Elgar, Cheltenham, 2021, pp. 317-344.

M. N. Schmitt (ed.), Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017, pp. 11–29.

N. Tsagourias and M. Farrell, “Cyber attribution: technical and legal approaches and challenges”, European Journal of International Law, vol. 31, 2020, pp. 941-967.

M. Waxman, “Cyber-Attacks and the Use of Force: back to the Future of Article 2(4)”, The Yale Journal of International Law, vol. 36, 2011, pp. 421-459.