Rethinking Cyber Warfare Through the Eyes of Its Reviewers: A Comparative Assessment.

Rethinking Cyber Warfare: The International Relations of Digital Disruption

Author: R. David Edelman

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2024

Length: 416 pages

ISBN: 9780197509685 (hardcover)

Publication: February 21, 2024 (Oxford Academic); May 7, 2024 (hardcover release)

Oxford University Press book information

Introduction

As cyberattacks become an increasingly prominent feature of international relations, governments, legal scholars, security professionals, and researchers confront a fundamental question: Can the international community develop effective restraints on the use of cyber capabilities before a major attack causes catastrophic disruption to civilian infrastructure, governmental institutions, or national security?

This question lies at the heart of R. David Edelman’s Rethinking Cyber Warfare: The International Relations of Digital Disruption, published by Oxford University Press in 2024. Drawing upon experience in government and international technology policy, Edelman examines the relationship between cyber operations, deterrence, international law, and the development of norms that might discourage states from undertaking particularly destructive cyberattacks.

The book has attracted attention from reviewers working in national security, international relations, cybersecurity policy, and law. Their assessments offer valuable perspectives on both the strengths and limitations of Edelman’s analysis. While several reviewers recognize the importance of his interdisciplinary approach, some raise questions about the effectiveness of proposed restraints, the treatment of nonstate actors, and the consequences of cyber conflict for vulnerable civilian populations.

The following overview examines five identifiable professional assessments published between 2024 and 2026, highlighting their principal observations, areas of agreement and disagreement, and implications for legal researchers, librarians, policymakers, and others concerned with cybercrime and international security.

The central argument of the book

Edelman’s analysis begins with an apparent paradox. Although states possess increasingly sophisticated offensive cyber capabilities, the international system has not experienced the kind of sustained, catastrophic interstate cyberwarfare that some early commentators anticipated.

The author asks why this restraint has persisted and whether it can be strengthened. He examines three principal mechanisms: deterrence, international law, and the emergence of international norms or taboos against especially destructive cyber operations. Rather than assuming that traditional military deterrence automatically applies to cyberspace, Edelman considers how states interpret cyber threats, calculate potential consequences, and respond to evolving expectations about permissible conduct.

The book’s organization reflects this approach, with sections addressing cyberattacks and restraint, deterrence, the international law governing the use of force, and humanitarian protections. Edelman ultimately considers whether the international community could develop a stronger normative prohibition against certain forms of cyberattack.

Reviews and critical assessments

1. Glenn S. Gerstell — The Cipher Brief (July 18, 2024)

Review: What Drives — and Deters — Cyber Warfare?

Glenn S. Gerstell, former General Counsel of the National Security Agency, offers a strongly favorable assessment of Edelman’s work, describing it as a substantial contribution to understanding the international forces that might constrain cyber conflict. Gerstell emphasizes Edelman’s argument that conventional deterrence theory does not translate readily into cyberspace. Attribution difficulties, uncertainty about retaliation, and the comparatively low costs of some offensive cyber operations make it difficult for governments to calculate the consequences of their actions.

Particularly noteworthy is Gerstell’s discussion of Edelman’s proposal that humanitarian considerations might ultimately provide a more promising foundation for restraint than traditional deterrence or existing international legal arrangements. A growing international understanding that certain civilian facilities and essential services should remain protected from cyberattacks could become an important stabilizing influence.

Gerstell also identifies a practical limitation: the book is intellectually demanding and primarily suited to academics, advanced students, and serious policymakers rather than readers seeking an introductory treatment of cybersecurity. His overall judgment is decidedly positive. The Cipher Brief awards the book its highest rating, four out of four trench coats.

2. Emily Otto — Binding Hook (December 3, 2024)

Review: David Edelman Examines Deterrence, Law, and Norms to Restrain Cyber Conflict

Emily Otto approaches the book through the intersection of cybersecurity strategy, international relations, and legal theory. She recognizes the value of Edelman’s systematic examination of deterrence, international law, and humanitarian restrictions as possible means of regulating cyber conflict.

Otto particularly appreciates the author’s willingness to reconsider established theories of international security rather than assuming that traditional concepts can simply be transferred to digital warfare. Nevertheless, she identifies several questions deserving additional consideration.

One concerns whether cyber operations should be understood principally as instruments of coercion or whether their ability to exploit vulnerabilities, steal information, and gradually undermine an adversary’s economic or military position warrants greater emphasis. Another involves the relationship between international norms and political power: Can prohibitions against destructive cyberattacks become effective without the backing of powerful states capable of reinforcing them?

Otto also questions whether the book’s academic language may limit its accessibility to practitioners. Despite these reservations, she regards the study as an important contribution and recommends it to those seeking a deeper understanding of international cybersecurity governance.

3. Melissa K. Griffith — Survival (July 25, 2025)

Review: Cyber Security and Emerging Technologies

Melissa K. Griffith’s review appears in Survival, the international security journal associated with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Her article examines Edelman’s book alongside two other works addressing emerging technology and international affairs. Griffith places particular emphasis on the gap between the increasingly widespread use of cyber capabilities and the continuing absence of a full-scale interstate cyberwar. She recognizes Edelman’s interdisciplinary methodology and his attempt to identify practical constraints on destructive state behavior.

Her assessment also highlights the limitations of existing international approaches. Even after years of diplomatic negotiations, theoretical development, and growing awareness of cyber threats, the international community remains inadequately prepared to restrain major state directed cyberattacks. Griffith regards the book as a rigorous scholarly contribution, although its complexity may restrict its audience. Her discussion of humanitarian norms acknowledges the potential importance of developing shared expectations concerning the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure, while recognizing that translating such expectations into effective international practice remains difficult.

Review: Rethinking Cyber Warfare: The International Relations of Digital Disruption

Khaled A. Beydoun offers perhaps the most pointed critical perspective among the reviews examined. Although he recognizes Edelman’s work as an important scholarly contribution, he questions the limitations imposed by its emphasis on relations between nation-states, particularly from the standpoint of American and Western geopolitical interests.

Beydoun argues that this perspective risks overlooking important dimensions of cyber conflict, including the experiences of vulnerable populations, the activities of nonstate actors, and the consequences of cyber operations undertaken by governments against individuals and communities.

His critique also raises questions about the distinction between international security objectives and humanitarian consequences. An approach emphasizing the interests of states may not fully account for the suffering experienced by civilians whose hospitals, communications systems, utilities, or other essential services are disrupted.

This review is particularly relevant to criminal justice researchers because it broadens the discussion beyond interstate conflict to include nonstate cyber actors, surveillance, unequal distributions of power, and the protection of individual rights.

Beydoun ultimately describes the book as an excellent and thoughtful examination of interstate cyber threats, but recommends that it be read alongside scholarship examining the experiences of affected populations and perspectives outside the American geopolitical framework.

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology — précis (Spring/Summer 2024)

Publication: MIT Center for International Studies: Book Review

The MIT Center for International Studies includes Edelman’s book in its Spring/Summer 2024 publication précis. The notice emphasizes the interdisciplinary character of the book and its consideration of the forces that might restrain major cyberattacks against digitally interconnected societies.

Although the MIT presentation is useful for understanding the book’s central questions and institutional scholarly context, it is more accurately characterized as a descriptive publication notice than an independent critical review. It should therefore be distinguished from the four substantive assessments discussed above.

Comparing the reviewers’ principal observations

The professional assessments reveal substantial agreement about the importance of Edelman’s subject, accompanied by differences in emphasis concerning his conclusions and methodology.

These assessments suggest that Edelman’s greatest contribution may not be the presentation of a definitive solution to cyberwarfare, but rather his reframing of the questions that scholars and policymakers should be asking. His work encourages readers to consider whether international stability might depend as much upon shared understandings of unacceptable conduct as upon technological defenses or threats of retaliation.

Implications for criminal law, cybersecurity, and international governance

Although Rethinking Cyber Warfare focuses primarily on international security rather than conventional computer crime, the reviewers’ observations raise several issues of direct relevance to criminal law and criminal justice administration.

The distinction between cybercrime and cyberwarfare is not always straightforward. A ransomware attack against a hospital, for example, may originate with an independent criminal organization, a group receiving state support, or an actor pursuing both financial and political objectives. Determining the responsible party can have significant implications for criminal investigation, international cooperation, sanctions, and the application of international law.

Likewise, the legal treatment of destructive cyber operations depends partly upon their circumstances and consequences. An intrusion that constitutes a domestic computer crime does not necessarily amount to an unlawful use of force under international law. Conversely, a sufficiently serious state-directed cyber operation may raise questions under the United Nations Charter and, in the context of armed conflict, international humanitarian law.

These distinctions become particularly important when assessing cyber operations affecting hospitals, electrical grids, financial institutions, transportation networks, or governmental information systems.

Beydoun’s critique adds another dimension by encouraging consideration of individuals and communities whose interests may not be adequately represented in state-centered analyses. The consequences of a cyberattack can extend beyond national security calculations to include personal safety, access to medical treatment, economic security, privacy, and civil liberties.

Taken together, the reviews suggest that effective cybersecurity governance requires attention to criminal accountability, international legal obligations, technological defenses, and humanitarian protections. None of these approaches alone can fully address the complex challenges posed by contemporary cyber operations.

 Librarians and Researchers

For law librarians, legal researchers, academic librarians, and other information professionals, Edelman’s book and the surrounding critical literature provide an opportunity to examine the growing intersection of technology, law, international relations, and public policy.

Cybersecurity research increasingly requires familiarity with sources extending beyond traditional criminal statutes and judicial decisions. Relevant materials include international treaties, United Nations reports, national cybersecurity strategies, academic research, technical assessments, and analyses of state practice. Identifying, evaluating, and connecting these materials represents an important function of contemporary legal and research libraries.

The differences among the reviewers also illustrate the importance of maintaining collections that represent competing scholarly perspectives. A library collection focused exclusively on state security and military strategy may not adequately address questions concerning civilian protection, human rights, nonstate actors, and criminal accountability.

Researchers must also distinguish between established legal principles, developing international norms, proposed policy frameworks, and scholarly predictions. Such distinctions are especially important in cybersecurity, where technological developments can outpace legislative and judicial responses.

Finally, the book’s emphasis on critical infrastructure carries implications for libraries themselves. Increasing reliance upon networked catalog systems, digital collections, cloud services, and electronic legal research platforms makes information institutions participants in the broader cybersecurity environment. Protecting access to reliable information is therefore not merely a technical concern, but also a matter of institutional continuity, public service, and access to justice.

Concluding observations

The critical reception of R. David Edelman’s Rethinking Cyber Warfare reveals a scholarly work that has generated substantial interest across the fields of international security, law, and cybersecurity policy.

Reviewers generally recognize the importance of Edelman’s central inquiry: What might persuade governments to refrain from employing cyber capabilities capable of causing widespread disruption? His examination of deterrence, international law, and humanitarian norms provides a framework for considering this question, even as reviewers disagree about the adequacy of particular assumptions and the prospects for effective international restraint.

The most important disagreements concern the relationship between state power and international norms, the role of nonstate actors, and the extent to which cybersecurity policy should prioritize the experiences and protection of civilian populations.

For criminal justice professionals, policymakers,  and researchers, the book and its reviews offer more than an examination of cyberwarfare. They invite consideration of a broader challenge: how legal institutions and international governance mechanisms can adapt to technologies whose consequences increasingly transcend national borders, traditional distinctions between war and crime, and established concepts of responsibility.

The continuing development of artificial intelligence, increasingly interconnected infrastructure, and sophisticated cyber capabilities makes these questions especially consequential. Whether future international agreements and evolving humanitarian norms can establish meaningful restraints remains uncertain, but the discussion generated by Edelman’s work offers a valuable foundation for further research.

Selected References and Additional Resources

The following sources provide direct access to the book, the professional reviews discussed above, and additional material relevant to legal and cybersecurity research.

1. Edelman, R. David. Rethinking Cyber Warfare: The International Relations of Digital Disruption. Oxford University Press, 2024. Oxford Academic book page. DOI: 10.1093/9780197509715.001.0001.

2. Gerstell, Glenn S. “What Drives — and Deters — Cyber Warfare?” The Cipher Brief, July 18, 2024. Read review.

3. Otto, Emily. “David Edelman Examines Deterrence, Law, and Norms to Restrain Cyber Conflict.” Binding Hook, December 3, 2024. Read review.

4. Griffith, Melissa K. “Cyber Security and Emerging Technologies.” Survival, vol. 67, no. 4, 2025, pp. 176–179. Journal article and review.

5. Beydoun, Khaled A. “Rethinking Cyber Warfare: The International Relations of Digital Disruption.” Jurimetrics, Spring 2026. American Bar Association, Section of Science & Technology Law. Read review.

6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for International Studies. “Book Review: Rethinking Cyber Warfare.” précis, Spring/Summer 2024. Read publication notice.

7. NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. Tallinn Manual research resources. Materials relating to the application of international law to cyber operations.

Research note: The supplied Google link is a search-results URL rather than a fixed bibliography. This overview draws on independently located sources, not an exhaustive reconstruction of every result displayed by Google. The four substantive reviews and the MIT notice are distinguished accordingly. The discussion is an original synthesis, with attribution and links to the underlying publications.