Strategic Cybersecurity Governance and Risk-Based Policy Integration: Toward a Coherent Global Framework for IT Protection and Compliance
Keywords:
Cybersecurity governance, risk-based policy, strategic regulationAbstract
Cybersecurity governance has emerged as one of the most complex and contested domains of contemporary public policy, shaped by rapid technological change, geopolitical asymmetries, evolving threat landscapes, and deep inequalities in institutional capacity across states and organizations. Unlike traditional regulatory fields, cybersecurity operates within a socio-technical environment characterized by transnational interdependence, diffuse accountability, and constant uncertainty. As digital infrastructures become foundational to economic growth, public administration, healthcare, finance, and democratic processes, the absence of coherent and risk-sensitive governance frameworks has amplified systemic vulnerabilities rather than containing them. Existing approaches to cybersecurity governance frequently oscillate between overly prescriptive compliance regimes and fragmented voluntary standards, neither of which adequately address the dynamic and adaptive nature of cyber risks. This article develops an extensive, theoretically grounded analysis of strategic cybersecurity governance through a risk-based policy lens, drawing centrally on recent scholarship that emphasizes governance alignment, adaptive regulation, and strategic integration across institutional levels (Mohammed Nayeem, 2025). Building on this foundation, the study situates risk-based cybersecurity governance within broader debates on global cyber regulation, transnational policy coordination, data governance, and enforcement capacity gaps. Using an interpretive and integrative methodological approach, the article synthesizes insights from governance theory, international political economy, legal scholarship, and bibliometric research traditions to trace how cybersecurity governance has evolved and why existing models remain insufficient. The findings highlight that risk-based policy frameworks, when embedded within strategic governance architectures, offer a viable pathway for reconciling compliance obligations with organizational resilience and innovation. However, the effectiveness of such frameworks depends on institutional learning, global cooperation, and the contextualization of risk assessment practices across diverse socio-economic environments. The article contributes to the literature by articulating a comprehensive conceptual model of strategic cybersecurity governance that bridges policy design, regulatory enforcement, and organizational behavior, while also identifying structural limitations and future research directions essential for advancing global cybersecurity governance.
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