Methodology
Data Compilation Process
The Global Cyber Law Project dataset was created through an iteratively developed methodology that deliberately involves students to allow for education and mentorship in light of both lead institutions’ educational mission.
Issue coverage. Version 1, released September 15, 2026, covers a finite set of international law issues: the application of international law in cyberspace, the duty of non-intervention, the operation and effects of state sovereignty in cyberspace, the prohibition on the use of force and the right to self-defense. Future versions will explore additional areas, such as the application of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Researchers examined issues sequentially, focusing on a finite set of legal questions and corresponding indicators at a time, to promote consistency in coding and reduce the likelihood of analytical errors or inconsistencies across issue areas.
Indicator framework design. Faculty overseeing the project at both institutions developed a standardized set of indicator questions that could be answered with a binary (yes/no) response. The indicator framework is designed to capture whether a national statement clearly adopted a particular legal position.
To account for ambiguity or silence within the statement language, each indicator is coded using one of four possible responses:
- Yes: The statement clearly supports or adopts the position.
- No: The statement clearly rejects or contradicts the position.
- Ambiguous: The statement addresses the issue but does not express a sufficiently clear position for a definitive coding decision.
- Silent: The statement does not address the indicator question.
Student researchers use the indicator framework to compile an initial analysis and coding decisions into a comprehensive document, organized by country or bloc, with verbatim excerpts from national statements addressing that issue.
An internal student peer-review process provides the first layer of quality control, identifying omissions, inconsistencies, or interpretive errors before faculty review.
Faculty at iLIT and TLS internally review and validate student coding against the indicator framework before releasing the dataset for external peer review. Any identified errors were corrected before the materials proceeded to external review.
The lead institutions organize an independent expert peer-review process to provide an additional level of data validation. Expert reviewers assess whether the coding decisions accurately reflect the language of the national statements and whether the supporting citations justify the assigned codes. Each expert evaluates approximately five countries for a limited number of issue areas.
Prior to the release of Version 1, expert peer review was conducted in April and August 2026 for the following issue areas: Sovereignty, Non-Intervention, Use of Force, and Self-Defense.
We are deeply grateful to the 20 scholars, legal practitioners, and researchers who generously shared their expert insights and provided thoughtful feedback to the review process. Their engagement has refined and further developed the database, and we sincerely appreciate their contributions to this project.
Data Visualization
This site includes original data visualization tools created by iLIT and TLS researchers. Visualizations are designed to serve as exemplars and analytical tools for practitioners, scholars, policymakers, and researchers. The dataset is available for download under a CC-BY-4.0 license. We provide additional information here for researchers interested in creating visualizations using the Global Cyber Law Statements dataset.
Because the data consisted primarily of question-and-answer information, iLIT researchers developed a quantitative translation to represent the coding responses in binary code. Where appropriate, responses were converted into binary analytical categories, allowing a policy position to be represented as a value such as 0/1 or No/Yes.
Once the coding structure was established, we first created the following:
- A choropleth map to display State participation and frequency of National Statement publishing across different years.
- A heatmap to demonstrate the changing frequency of discussion of particular topics over time.
The visualizations were further refined through consultation of technical resources, including data-analysis libraries such as Pandas and NumPy, and through consultation with a Data Scientist. These consultations informed the creation of a dockerized Django app that would allow us to integrate visually appealing charts, such as the following:
- A sankey diagram displaying states and their responses across the issue questions.
- A sankey diagram displaying states and their responses to each of the Use of Force questions, layered with their democracy score range.
- A scatter plot of overall Use of Force questions.
- A scatter plot of Use of Force questions, filtered by state.
- A sankey diagram displaying states and their response to Question 8 of Use of Force, layered with NATO membership.
- An EU Comparison table comparing EU member states' responses to EU's responses.
- An EU/Non-EU Comparison table comparing EU member states' responses to non-EU states' responses.
Dataset Compilation and Updates
The dataset contains 69 national statements and codes them according to a set of indicators tailored to each international law issue selected. Each indicator-based coding set — Sovereignty, Non-Intervention, Use of Force, and Self-Defense — undergoes student and staff peer review, faculty quality review, and expert peer review from a panel of scholars, academics, and practitioners. The first version of the dataset was published on September 15, 2026.
Continuing Efforts
The dataset is jointly maintained by iLIT and TLS and updated to capture revisions to existing national statements, newly published positions, and corrections based on peer review and in-house quality checks.
Versions and References
| Version 1 | September 15, 2026 |
Suggested Citation
Temple University’s Institute for Law, Innovation & Technology and Tech, Law & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law (2026, September 26). Global Cyber Law Project. https://globalcyberlawproject.org
Temple University’s Institute for Law, Innovation & Technology and Tech, Law & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law, Global Cyber Law Project (Sept. 15, 2026), https://globalcyberlawproject.org.
Temple University’s Institute for Law, Innovation & Technology and Tech, Law & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law. Global Cyber Law Project. September 15, 2026. https://globalcyberlawproject.org.
Temple University’s Institute for Law, Innovation & Technology and Tech, Law & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law. “Global Cyber Law Project.” September 15, 2026, https://globalcyberlawproject.org.