Metaphors they strategize by: A corpus-assisted critical metaphor analysis of the US and UK cybersecurity strategies

Abstract This study employs a corpus-assisted critical metaphor analysis to compare the use of three conceptual metaphors in the US and UK national cybersecurity strategies: CYBERSECURITY STRATEGY-MAKING NATIONS ARE PEOPLE, CYBERSECURITY IS COOPERATION, and CYBERSECURITY IS COMPETITION. It explores how these metaphors are used as cognitive and discursive strategies to contribute to conceptualizing cybersecurity and reflecting national identities. The analysis reveals that the UK notably utilizes first-person plural pronouns and COMPETITION metaphors, particularly the SPORT metaphor, to position itself as a consensus-seeker and global leader in cyber technologies. In contrast, the US favors COOPERATION metaphors, portraying itself as a supportive ally collaborating with specific capable countries and assisting those with limited cyber capabilities. Both countries frame cybersecurity as a domain requiring multistakeholder governance; however, the US tends to frame it within a militarized context, while the UK is more inclined to approach it as a competitive technological field, evident in their distinct uses of WAR and SPORT metaphors. By situating the three metaphors in the linguistic and socio-political contexts where they reside, this study demonstrates that governments use metaphors to legitimize their cybersecurity policies, distinguish in-groups from out-groups, and convey their cyber governance philosophies. This study posits that not only which metaphors, but what discourse contexts they situate in and why they are used, matters when understanding cybersecurity issues in strategy documents.