| Summary/Abstract |
In “Cyber Operations, Accommodative Signaling, and the De-Escalation of International Crises,” Erica D. Lonergan and Shawn W. Lonergan develop a theory of accommodative signaling that focuses on states seeking to de-escalate a crisis while simultaneously satisfying a nationalistic constituency. They test their claims against five case studies, arguing that all support their theory. But for various reasons, none do. In the cases where they claim cyber operations are used for accommodative signaling, there is compelling evidence that the operations are coercive tactics employed as part of a coercive strategy. In the case where they claim a cyber operation was a coercive signal, the covert operations scholarship used to build their theory would conclude that the operation was an accommodative signal or was not primarily intended to send a signal.
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