The centre’s research project on security order aims to ascertain impacts of recent technological innovations on the social realm in connections to security governance and management.
More specifically, the project intends to analyse how the usage of the technologies, or contestation over such usages, impact on the production of security, mainly in the form of establishment of regimes of control. To do so, we argue it is also important to scrutinize the often overlooked processes in which the social and political relations shape the very design of the new technologies as the technologies subsequently influences the social realm. As such, the project challenges the social/natural/technical science divides, calling for a greater need for inter-scientific study of the influence that the technology has on human-driven, normative governmentalities. The presence of normative dilemmas, political contestation and the (potential) establishment of regime of control justify specific cases which can be taken into account and which may range from killer robots to artificial bacteria, different types of surveillance or outer space systems.
This book examines and disaggregates, theoretically and empirically, operations of power in six international security regimes.
Detailby Anzhelika Solovyeva & Nik Hynek - This chapter comprehensively defines autonomous weapon systems (AWS), discusses their military utility and strategic importance, as well as draws attention to related normative and legal considerations.
DetailBy Nik Hynek & Anzhelika Solovyeva - The purpose of this article is to provide a multi-perspective examination of one of the most important contemporary security issues: weaponized, and especially lethal, artificial intelligence.
DetailOuter space is a congested strategic domain. The issue of space debris mitigation is one of the key issues of safe space traffic. However, active debris removal (ADR) systems may raise concerns about their dual-use capabilities. In this article, the authors have analyzed the ADR systems focusing on their potential as space weapons. The article concludes that ADR systems can be utilized for harmful purposes, although with limited impact. This limited potential of ADR systems to become antisatellite weapons allow for the development of such systems keeping in place basic confidence and trust building measures. The authors believe the further commercialization of space sector could enhance the space debris mitigation efforts.
DetailThis chapter draws a parallel between past defense pacts and a possible future planetary defense treaty regulating NEO deflection. Drafting a planetary defense treaty is compared to creating a defense pact. The data concerning the defense pacts offer insights in regard to the following questions: firstly, when it is the right time to establish legal framework for international cooperation; secondly, how to ensure that all the participating nations will contribute the same efforts and resources to the common defense project; thirdly, how the decision making should be regulated; and fourthly, how to safeguard that the outcomes of the project, e.g. in the form of advanced military technology, shall not be misused for the benefit of leading nation(s) and for the detriment of others. The chapter quantitatively investigates selected defense pacts concluded among nations between 1815 and 2003 and qualitatively examines five current defense pacts. It first evaluates the correlation between threat proximity and pact conclusion. The chapter then inquires what the actual wording of five current pacts is, i.e. whether it intends to prescribe same contributions of participants (freeriding prevention), whether it prohibits misusing the cooperation (abuse prevention) and how it regulates common capabilities development and decision-making.
DetailSocial norms can be understood as the grammar of social interaction. Like grammar in speech, they specify what is acceptable in a given context. But what are the specific rules that direct human compliance with the norm? This paper presents a quantitative model of self- and the other-perspective interaction based on a ‘quantum model of decision-making,’ which can explain some of the ‘fallacies’ of the classical model of strategic choice.
DetailThe debate on and around “killer robots” has been firmly established at the crossroads of ethical, legal, political, strategic, and scientific discourses. Flourishing at the two opposite poles, with a few contributors caught in the middle, the polemic still falls short of a detailed, balanced, and systematic analysis. It is for these reasons that we focus on the nitty-gritties, multiple pros and cons, and implications of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) for the prospects of the international order.
DetailThis article seeks to develop alternative ways to conceptually grasp international prohibition/regulatory regimes. It attempts to go beyond existing, and piecemeal, analysis of regimes within the intellectual field of IR based on conventional grand/mid-range theorization. It is argued that traditional theorization of regimes fashioned as IR theory has hindered, rather than helped, to understand regimes in their complexities, vagaries, and in terms of various forces simultaneously involved.
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