Conveners
Stepping into the Future: Military Technology, Innovation Practices, and Contemporary Challenges
- Jennifer Erickson
Description
This panel focuses on the interplay between military technology and global security – and how scholars study it. Emerging technologies are unquestionably shaping the ways in which policy makers, military, and industry do security and defence. New developments in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, additive manufacturing, hypersonics, quantum computing, and space technology are projected to have transformative – even disruptive – effects on strategic stability, military innovation, defence economics, and the conduct of warfare. Most new military technology is dual use and has commercial origins, widening the spectrum of threats and actors with access to technology thanks to cheaper alternatives to military-grade systems. This trend affects the relations among commercial interests (private companies), scientific thought leaders (epistemic communities), those who weaponize technology (militaries), and those who develop technology policy (political leaders). Research on designing key principles for global technology governance and standards for military applications of emerging technologies is in high demand, while the dynamics between old and new technologies on the battlefields is still poorly understood. At the same time, how we study military technology requires more methodological rigor. Responsible forecasting is yet to moderate exaggerated expectations about military technology’s capabilities, inclinations to technological determinism, and strategic overkills. This panel invites submissions that theoretically and conceptually advance our understanding of how military technology changes the security environment. It encourages diversity in scientific disciplines (political science, sociology, economy, history, philosophy), theories, and methods, since the panel primarily aims to facilitate dialogue between scholars interested in how politics and technology interact.
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Nicolas Krieger (Technical University of Munich)12/06/2026, 10:45Military Technology 2Paper Abstract (Closed Panels)
How do ideas about military technology become politically influential? This paper sets out to examines how competing visions of military technology emerge, gain dominance, and shape German defence planning. It focuses on public debates surrounding ‘classic’ (armour, artillery, etc.) and innovative military technologies (autonomous weapon systems, AI targeting, UAS/UGV, etc.), and analyses...
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Tristan Volpe (IFSH University of Hamburg / Naval Postgraduate School), Prof. Jane Vaynman (SAIS Johns Hopkins)12/06/2026, 10:55Military Technology 2Paper Abstract (Closed Panels)
How do states manage information when building military capabilities? Some weapons are developed openly while others are concealed within secret programs or disguised behind civilian cover. This article introduces arming strategy as a new dependent variable, arguing that two technology attributes shape the disclosure and deception choices critical to information management: fragility (ease of...
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Kristen Harkness (University of St. Andrews), Marc DeVore (University of St. Andrews)12/06/2026, 11:05Military Technology 2Paper Abstract (Closed Panels)
The Russo-Ukrainian War stands out as the first war within decades that drove states to mobilize their industrial and innovative potential. Overwhelmingly, wars since 1945 have either been short or have been fought at lower levels of intensity. As such, they were won or lost based on the equipment already in stock or that could be procured through peacetime procedures. Since 2022, Russia and...
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Tim Thies (Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg)12/06/2026, 11:15Military Technology 2Paper Abstract (Closed Panels)
While the role of armaments, and in particular forward-deployed military forces, as signals of reassurance is well-established in the scholarly literature, existing research has not explored when and why armaments may worry allies. In this paper, I consider disagreements between allies about the right armaments by the patron for the defense of a client as symptoms of defense misalignment,...
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