In lateral pressure theory, the master variables—population, resource and technology—constitute the basis for identifying the state profile and to calculate a state’s profile type. The concept of profile was first developed early on with respect to the real world, as defined here. But it was not entirely clear how to move from concept to measurement. Recognizing that at each point in time, a state is characterized by one set of “master variables” that define the empirical parameters of the polity and provide the basis for policy agenda as well (Choucri and North 1987, 205–208), it soon became evident that normalizing each master variable to a share of the global total for that variable provides a simple and replicable approach to understanding not only the position of an individual state, but to shifts in the global total for any variable. Accordingly, the normalization technique used is country’s global share in the measures of population, resource and technology.

Thus, we define  P_i,j, R_i,j, and T_i,j as population-, resource- and technology- master variables for country i at time j respectively as follows:

where,

p_i,j, r_i,j, and t_i,j are the measures of population, resource and technology respectively for country i in year j.

In short, normalization allows the master variables to have the same order of magnitude and are independent of their units of measure. This step ensures that the profiles of differ­ ent states are comparable and meaningful.

Appendix 1 lists the indicators used for calculating master variables in cyber and real domain. Refer to Choucri and Clark (2019) for detailed calculaton methodology.

Table below provides evidence to answer the first question. It shows states with different profiles in the real and the cyber arenas, and identifies, in each case, the profile group within which they belong. This is a long list com­pared to the states with similar profiles, real and cyber, in Appendix 2, that is, states that retain their profile type across the real and cyber arenas. Countries with missing data are listed in Appendix 3.

Given the recent construction of the cyber domain and the absence of compelling precedents, the matter of metrics will remain with us for some time to come. We now turn to metrics and measure for lateral pressure.

Reference:

• Choucri, N., & Agarwal, G. (2017). The theory of lateral pressure: Highlights of quantification and empirical analysis. In W. R. Thompson (Ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Empirical International Relations Theory. Oxford University Press.
• Choucri, N., & Clark, D. D. (2019). International Relations in the Cyber Age: The Co-Evolution Dilemma. MIT Press.
• Choucri, N., & North, R. C. (1987). Roots of war: The master variables. In R. Väyrynen, D. Senghaas, & C. Schmidt (Eds.), The Quest for peace: Transcending collective violence and war among societies, cultures, and states (pp. 204–216). International Social Science Council.