The thesis aims to delineate and categorise different forms of political hacktivism by researching motivations behind cyber-attacks. It will then investigate whether a specific policy approach should accommodate political hacktivism at the national level. The primary methods used in this study will be qualitative.  Interviews and questionnaires with key stakeholders will be the main data source with anonymous online surveys acting as a secondary data source for harder to reach participants. A virtual ethnography of the hacktivists behaviours on forums will also be undertaken in order to research the motivations behind hacktivism.