Harinda Vidanage took an interest in cyberpolitics as a teenager. He grew up in Sri Lanka during a civil conflict where he witnessed what may have been the birth of “cyber wars.”

“My work deals with cyber politics, and the inherent linkage it has with our social and political lives, thanks to the transformation of internet technologies,” says Vidanage, a Fulbright Scholar in Residence for the Government department. “I always liked humanities, arts and political sciences, so I’m compelled to look at cyber politics from a people’s perspective.”

Cyberspace is unlike any other political space, according to Vidanage. “It’s a staging ground and sanctuary,” he says. “You can hide easily and conceal yourself, but at the same time reach out very efficiently.”

The former director of Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies in Sri Lanka, Vidanage says the first organization to use the term “cyber terrorist” was the Sri Lankan group who attacked the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington and the Pentagon in 1998. “If someone can influence me from another country and transform me into a terrorist, I am a threat to myself and the country where I am,” he says.

At St. Lawrence, he teaches Indian Ocean Politics and Globalization. He says his research focuses on the ability of new generations of thinkers to theorize about human rights, freedom and mainstream politics. “More and more individuals can take an active part in politics thanks to an internet revolution which has expanded the political space.”

He says his interest in technology came from watching the rapid expansion of “cyber cafés” in Sri Lanka. “I was fascinated,” Vidanage says. “Two out of three businesses in the capital were cyber cafés. That and ‘Battlestar Galactica’ sparked my interest.”

--Pete Harrison ’12