Harry Oppenheimer

BJPolS abstract discussing the impacts of international sanctions on digital infrastructure and cybersecurity, including theoretical and practical analysis on state and non-state network dependencies.

#OpenAccess from July 2025 -

Digital Interdependence and Power Politics - cup.org/3IGmV2e

"I theorize that international conflict generates cybersecurity externalities as state and non-state actors directly weaponize digital interdependence."

- @harryoppy.bsky.social

Thanks Avishay!

This is one of my favorite papers. IR and internet people should really read it

I learned how to be a political scientist by iterating this manuscript. Huge thanks to everyone who provided comments over the years - among those on Bluesky @jkertzer.bsky.social @avishaybsg.bsky.social @rhulvey.bsky.social @dustintingley.bsky.social @abenewman.bsky.social @schneier.com

I hope more social scientists discover internet measurement - I've found it a fascinating field. The article provides a primer on digital infrastructure and the internet's technical protocols. Hopefully it's useful for others studying digital globalization and trade.

State-owned and private-owned ISPs behave the same, emphasizing technical factors over direct political control. If this was all about state policy change we would expect SOEs to align more intensely with security policy.

During conflict state + non-state actors leverage cyberspace to disrupt adversaries. This creates significant spillovers for the firms negotiating digital interdependence. I show that military treaties and alliances - which reduce conflict expectations - increase bilateral data interconnection.

I differ from trade follows the flag studies that focus on indirect mechanisms - sanctions, boycotts, tariffs, or contract disruptions. I argue digital interdependence is directly weaponized in conflict. Cyber externalities, rather than politics alone, align data flows with international security.

Excited to report my article "Digital Interdependence and Power Politics" has been published open access in @bjpols.bsky.social. I use internet measurements to understand how international security influences global data flows www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

BJPolS abstract discussing the impacts of international sanctions on digital infrastructure and cybersecurity, including theoretical and practical analysis on state and non-state network dependencies.

NEW -

Digital Interdependence and Power Politics - cup.org/3IGmV2e

"I theorize that international conflict generates cybersecurity externalities as state and non-state actors directly weaponize digital interdependence."

- @harryoppy.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

And what did he have to do with winning the two senate seats in Georgia?

Jack Daniel’s parent company says Canada pulling booze off shelves is even worse than tariffs | CNN Business After Canada pulled American-made spirits off its shelves following President Donald Trump’s implementation of tariffs on Canadian imports, the CEO of Brown-Forman, which makes Jack Daniel’s whiskey a...

Time to update the literature on politicizing trade to look at institutions like liquor purchasing boards. Davis, Fuchs and Johnson (2019) have a great paper about SOEs - this feels like something new.

www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/b...

Is your read that we're basically following the offensive realism playbook right now?

No, the meeting did not go badly for Ukraine. It exposed in the most undeniable, unequivocal way possible the pro-Putin commitments of the president and vice president. That was information Americans and allies needed to have clear before them.

We got an email that "OUSD is no longer offering the Minerva University Research competition (NFO #HQ003425NFOEASD01)." That would suggest that existing Minerva NFOs might be safe, but hard to know at this point.

Well, my Minerva was based in part on your comments on my project from last spring…..please don’t blame yourself (haha)

Got the same Minerva email. Curious why you think it was Rubio that canceled it?

Yeah I just got that email. Had my white paper short listed.

I'm excited to report that "Digital Interdependence and Power Politics" has been conditionally accepted at BJPS. I learned how to be a political scientist by iterating versions of this paper. The next thing this paper will teach me is how to use natbib.

I'm on the committee this year - please send your nominations in by March 3!

Please nominate for awards for the Int'l Collaboration section of APSA! Best article, dissertation, book, and mentor awards!

Deadline is March 3, 2025. Submissions should be sent by email to daniela.donno@ou.edu. You can find the award criteria and info here: apsanet.org/membership/o...

We are at Wolves today, facing one of our toughest opponents; Michael Oliver.

A syllabus for the new global politics Clashing information orders and what they mean

Here's my Clashing Information Orders syllabus in case there is anything worth cannibalizing from it www.programmablemutter.com/p/a-syllabus...

Please consider applying to our TT position in cybersecurity policy (broadly defined) - 1/30 deadline. Georgia Tech SPP is interdisciplinary with lots of enthusiasm for technology+society. I'm on the search committee and happy to answer questions. careers.hprod.onehcm.usg.edu/psc/careers/...

Which top 100 course do you think you know the least about? Or which goes most under the radar?

How Geoblocking Limits Digital Access in Sanctioned States Websites, faced with the complexity of applying sanctions to digital services, voluntarily restrict risky countries from their platforms. 

@harryoppy.bsky.social, Anna Ablove, and Roya Ensafi explore the threat to digital equality posed by websites geoblocking users in response to political risks from sanctions, and provide recommendations for combatting this widespread practice.

We want to start a discussion about risk in the digital economy and the hidden costs of weaponizing online services. Media platforms (Spotify), communications channels (Zoom, Webex, Mailchimp), and basic digital utilities (winzip and unity) all block Cubans even though OFAC granted general licenses

I'm very proud of “Digital Discrimination of Users in Sanctioned States: The Case of the Cuba Embargo” with Roya Ensafi and her team. Usually w/. internet inaccessibility we think bad infrastructure or censorship. Turns out there's a third thing - platforms blocking users from certain countries.

Will a New Generation Learn to Love the Bomb? - IGCC

Will a New Generation Learn to Love the Bomb? Millennials and Gen-Zers just aren't as motivated by great power rivalry or nuclear competition as their counterparts. It's time to reframe the debate around issues they do care about - maintaining alliances and countering proliferation.