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Summary of "Science, Technology, Security: Towards Critical Collaboration" This article by Sam Weiss Evans, Matthias Leese, and Dagmar Rychnovská examines the interplay between science, technology, and security, emphasizing the importance of critical socio-technical collaboration. It merges perspec...

Summary of "Science, Technology, Security: Towards Critical Collaboration" This article by Sam Weiss Evans, Matthias Leese, and Dagmar Rychnovská examines the interplay between science, technology, and security, emphasizing the importance of critical socio-technical collaboration. It merges perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Critical Security Studies (CSS) to propose constructive ways to engage with security communities while addressing inherent challenges. Key Concepts and Terms 1. Science and Technology Studies (STS): ○ Focuses on how scientific and technical systems are co-produced with social orders. ○ Emphasizes reflexivity and engagement with stakeholders to ensure responsible innovation. 2. Critical Security Studies (CSS): ○ Examines the political and social construction of security. ○ Critiques securitization and highlights how security practices create and reproduce power relations. 3. Socio-technical Collaboration: ○Refers to interdisciplinary partnerships between researchers, scientists, and communities of practice. ○ Goals include fostering reflexivity, democratic participation, and ethical considerations in technology and security. 4. Technoscientific Security Assemblages: ○Frameworks through which security concerns are addressed using science and technology, often embedded with political narratives. 5. Desecuritization: ○ A process where issues are removed from the realm of urgent security threats and dealt with through standard democratic deliberation. Case Studies (Vignettes) The authors illustrate critical collaboration through three vignettes, each highlighting unique challenges and strategies in security engagements. 1. Information Warfare (External Commentary):  Context: Post-2014 Czech Republic’s response to Russian disinformation following the annexation of Crimea. Information chaos was perceived as hybrid warfare. Challenge: Maintaining critical distance while avoiding the appearance of being co-opted by political agendas. Strategies: Ensuring transparency about research goals and acknowledging the limits of engagement to avoid legitimizing dominant narratives. Outcome: The engagement opened discussions on the politicization of disinformation and framed the issue as a broader societal problem rather than a binary "us vs. them" conflict【7:0†source】. 2. Predictive Policing (Ethnographic Research): Context: Predictive policing in Germany and Switzerland, where algorithms forecast crime hotspots based on data analysis. Challenge: Concerns of co-option, discrimination, and reinforcing problematic power dynamics in crime prediction systems. Strategies: Building trust and engaging with police departments to open a dialogue on societal repercussions. The research reframed predictive policing as a socio-technical issue requiring ethical oversight【7:9†source】. Outcome: Researchers successfully positioned social sciences as a critical voice in shaping responsible implementation of predictive policing tools. 3. iGEM Competition (Formal Involvement): Context: The International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition—a platform to explore synthetic biology governance and biosecurity. Challenge: Navigating proximity to stakeholders while maintaining a critical stance to avoid reinforcing dominant discourses. Strategies: Working as internal advisors to promote reflexive practices and safety oversight while retaining critical engagement through the academic community【 7:3†source】. Outcome: iGEM evolved into a testbed for responsible biosafety and biosecurity governance, demonstrating how collaboration can influence institutional change. Challenges in Collaboration The authors outline several challenges associated with critical collaboration: 1. Proximity vs. Critical Distance: ○ Being too close risks co-option; being too distant hinders engagement. 2. Reinforcing Dominant Narratives: ○ Collaborations might unintentionally legitimize problematic security practices or political agendas. 3. Access to Security Spaces: ○ Security institutions are often closed, secretive, and resistant to external critique【7:5†source】. Conclusions The article argues for cautious but proactive collaboration between social scientists and security communities: Critical collaboration can open spaces for dialogue and reflexivity, helping to address power imbalances and ethical concerns in technoscientific security practices. Success is seen as a process rather than measurable outcomes, focusing on creating shared responsibility, critical awareness, and alternative problem framings【 7:6†source】. The authors urge STS and CSS scholars to engage with security spaces to democratize debates and ensure societal values inform science and technology governance. This article highlights that while security contexts are complex and politically charged, critical socio-technical collaborations remain essential to fostering responsible and inclusive security governance. Detailed Summary of “Security and Security Studies” by Keith Krause and Michael C. Williams Overview The article explores the conceptual evolution and historical transformation of security and security studies, highlighting its ambiguity and contested nature. It reflects on how security has been shaped over time, the role of violence in modern politics, and the diverse approaches within security studies. It critically examines key phases, debates, and ruptures that have defined the discipline. Key Terms and Concepts 1. Security: ○ A complex and ambiguous term. ○ It historically evolved from ensuring freedom from fear to encompassing broader societal issues like food, health, and environmental security. 2. Security Studies: ○ A discipline focused on understanding security threats, the use of force, and mechanisms to address insecurity.  ○ Historically tied to war, violence, and the state, but has expanded to include individuals, groups, and global systems. 3. Securitization Theory: ○ Developed by Barry Buzan and the Copenhagen School. ○ Defines security as a speech act: labeling something as an existential threat to justify extraordinary measures. ○ Promotes the idea of desecuritization, where issues are returned to normal political processes. 4. Broadening and Deepening Security: ○ Broadening: Expanding security concerns to include non-military issues like the environment, health, and economics. ○ Deepening: Moving beyond state-centric security to include individuals, sub-state groups, and global entities. 5. State and Security: ○ The modern state's monopoly on violence positioned it as the central actor in security. ○ However, challenges like fragile states, transnational threats, and global risks erode this traditional role. Historical Evolution of Security Studies 1. Antecedents to Modern Security Roots in Hobbesian Thought: Thomas Hobbes argued that security is the foundation of civil order. Strategic Studies: Early focus on military strategy, war, and state power. Thinkers like Mackinder and Mahan linked geopolitics to the rise of nation-states and wars. 2. Consolidation During the Cold War Mainstream Security Studies emerged during the Cold War. The focus was on external military threats and national security. Key topics: nuclear deterrence, arms control, alliance systems, and the security dilemma. 3. Post-Cold War Dissent Critique of Traditional Security: ○ State-centric approaches ignore human, environmental, and economic security. ○ The state itself often becomes a source of insecurity (e.g., repression of citizens).  Barry Buzan’s Argument: Security cannot be limited to military issues; it must include diverse sectors like society, economy, and the environment. 4. Securitization Theory and Rupture Challenges the notion that security threats are objective. Claims that security is constructed through discourse: ○ A speaker identifies an issue as a threat. ○ The audience accepts the framing, legitimizing exceptional measures. Risks of securitization: ○ Framing issues (e.g., migration) as security threats can justify repressive policies. Emphasis on desecuritization: Moving issues out of emergency frameworks to enable political negotiation. 5. Changing Nature of War and Violence Modern warfare: ○ Asymmetric conflicts, non-state actors, and wars in the Global South. ○ Focus on terrorism, transnational crime, and hybrid warfare. Decline of great power wars has shifted focus to new challenges, e.g., global health crises or climate change. Key Debates and Challenges 1. The Role of the State: ○ The state remains central in traditional security studies, but its role is eroding in a globalized world. ○ Security challenges like pandemics and cyber threats transcend national borders. 2. Broadening the Agenda: ○ Critics argue that broadening security risks making the concept meaningless. ○ Proponents emphasize the emancipatory potential of addressing poverty, health, and structural violence as security issues. 3. Balancing Security and Politics: ○ Security policies can suppress democratic debate by invoking emergency powers. ○ Securitization theory calls for cautious and reflexive security practices. 4. Violence and Insecurity: ○ Despite broader conceptions, war and organized violence remain central to security practices and theory. Conclusions Security is historically contingent: Its meaning and practices evolve based on political, social, and technological changes. Ruptures and Continuity: Modern security challenges demand rethinking traditional state-centric models while acknowledging their historical significance. Future Directions: ○ Integrating new threats (e.g., climate change, pandemics) while retaining analytical clarity. ○ Bridging divides between mainstream security studies, critical perspectives, and practical responses to global insecurities. The article underscores that security studies must balance conceptual innovation and practical relevance while recognizing its historical and political roots【12†source】. Detailed Summary of "The Future of Security Studies" by Alexandra Gheciu and William C. Wohlforth Overview The article "The Future of Security Studies" situates the contemporary state of international security and security studies within a rapidly changing geopolitical and academic landscape. Gheciu and Wohlforth explore how security has evolved since the Cold War and analyze emerging trends, debates, and approaches that will define the discipline's future. Key Concepts and Terms 1. International Security: ○ Focuses on understanding threats to states, societies, and individuals. ○ Shaped by traditional military concerns but expanded to include new dimensions such as cyber threats, climate change, and non-state actors. 2. Security Studies: ○ A sub-discipline of International Relations (IR) concerned with security threats and strategies to address them. ○ Includes traditional approaches (state-centric, military-focused) and critical approaches (broader security agendas, human security, and societal dynamics). 3. Broadening and Deepening: ○ Broadening: Expanding the focus beyond military threats to include environmental, economic, and societal risks.  ○ Deepening: Moving beyond state-level analysis to consider individual, group, and transnational security concerns. 4. Great Power Politics: ○ A resurgence of rivalry among major powers (e.g., U.S., China, Russia), reminiscent of Cold War dynamics. ○ Includes hybrid warfare and economic competition. 5. Securitization: ○ A theory by the Copenhagen School, describing how issues are framed as "security threats" to justify extraordinary measures. ○ Relevant to understanding post-9/11 developments and the securitization of migration, climate, and development. 6. Non-State Actors: ○ Includes terrorist groups, international organizations (UN, NGOs), private military companies, and cyber actors. ○ Increasingly influential in shaping security dynamics globally. Key Historical Developments 1. Post-Cold War Optimism: ○ Initially, scholars like Francis Fukuyama predicted an era of peace, democracy, and global cooperation. ○ Others, such as Mearsheimer and Huntington, warned of future conflicts, great power rivalries, and civilizational clashes. 2. Broadening of Security (1990s): ○ Security expanded to include: Human Security: Protecting individuals’ well-being (e.g., poverty, disease). Environmental Security: Addressing climate change and resource scarcity. Development-Security Nexus: Linking peacebuilding to economic stability. 3. Impact of 9/11: ○ Marked a shift back toward narrow military security, focusing on terrorism and the U.S.-led "War on Terror." ○ Critics argued this militarization undermined post-Cold War progress in merging security and development goals. 4. Resurgence of Great Power Politics: ○ Events like Russia’s annexation of Crimea and China’s activities in the South China Sea highlight a return to state-centric power rivalries.  ○ Scholars debate whether traditional theories of security remain adequate to analyze these dynamics. Current Challenges in Security Studies 1. Complex Security Environment: ○The 21st century involves a mix of traditional threats (state competition, military conflict) and new risks (cybersecurity, climate change, pandemics). 2. Fragmentation of Actors: ○ Security is practiced by diverse actors: States (e.g., defense agencies, intelligence services). Non-state actors (e.g., private security firms, NGOs). Cybersecurity specialists and global networks. 3. Impact of Globalization: ○ Global interdependence has amplified the complexity of threats, making national security inseparable from global dynamics. 4. Methodological Diversity: ○ Traditional/Positivist Approaches: Focus on objective, scientific methods to study security. ○ Critical Security Studies (CSS): Analyze power, discourse, and the politics of securitization. ○ Scenario Building: Constructing possible futures based on causal trends to anticipate changes. Emerging Trends in Security Studies 1. Climate Change and Environmental Security: ○ Recognized as a non-traditional threat with far-reaching implications for global stability. ○ Climate-related issues are linked to migration, conflict over resources, and economic disruption. 2. Cybersecurity: ○Cyberattacks and information warfare challenge traditional state-centric notions of security. ○ States and private actors compete to dominate cyberspace. 3. Human and Societal Security: ○ Emphasis on individual well-being and protecting human rights.  ○Examples include the impacts of pandemics (e.g., COVID-19) and mass migrations. 4. Hybrid and Ambiguous Warfare: ○Blurs the lines between traditional military conflict and covert operations (e.g., Russia’s actions in Ukraine). 5. Decolonizing Security Studies: ○ Scholars urge the discipline to address its complicity in upholding imperial and colonial structures. ○ Advocates for inclusive approaches that reflect the Global South’s perspectives on security. Conclusions and Future Directions 1. Rethinking the Discipline: ○The future of security studies must address the tension between continuity and change. ○ Scholars need to integrate traditional methods with critical perspectives to analyze emerging challenges. 2. Importance of Multi-Actor Analysis: ○Security is no longer the sole domain of states; non-state actors play a growing role in addressing transnational threats. 3. Focus on Interdisciplinarity: ○Security studies must draw from economics, environmental science, technology studies, and sociology to remain relevant. 4. Scenarios and Uncertain Futures: ○ Building scenarios helps scholars and policymakers anticipate multiple outcomes, particularly in a complex and rapidly changing global environment. 5. Normative Goals: ○ Gheciu and Wohlforth emphasize that scholars must ask not just "what will happen" but "what should happen" to address global security challenges ethically and inclusively. This work ultimately serves as a forward-looking guide for scholars and practitioners, encouraging rigorous and inclusive thinking about the future of global security. It emphasizes that international security studies must evolve to address contemporary challenges while remaining grounded in historical and theoretical traditions. Detailed Summary of “Technology and Global Affairs” by Stefan Fritsch Overview Stefan Fritsch’s article, “Technology and Global Affairs”, argues for the central role of technology in shaping global politics, economics, security, and culture. Despite its influence, technology remains undertheorized in International Relations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE). Fritsch advocates for an interdisciplinary approach incorporating Science and Technology Studies (S&TS) to better understand the reciprocal relationship between technology and global affairs. Key Concepts and Terms 1. Technology: ○Narrow Definition: Focuses on material artifacts, tools, and techniques. ○Broad Definition: Includes norms, ethics, organizational practices, and socio-technical systems. Technology is both a tool and a system of knowledge and values. 2. Technological Determinism: ○ Argues that technology is an autonomous force that drives societal change. ○ Key proponents include Karl Marx, who linked technological advancements to changes in social relations, and Lewis Mumford, who warned about society’s dependence on technology. 3. Social Constructivism: ○Views technology as a product of social, political, and economic forces. ○Technology’s design and use are shaped by societal choices, norms, and power structures. 4. Middle Ground: ○ A synthesized perspective combining determinism and constructivism. ○ Proposed by Thomas Hughes, who introduced the concept of technological systems that evolve over time and increasingly shape society. 5. Interaction Capacity: ○The ability of actors in a global system to interact with one another, which is driven by technological advancements in communication and transportation. 6. Technological Innovation and Diffusion: ○ Innovation: Development of new technologies, often driven by competition, government policies, and market forces.  ○ Diffusion: The transfer or spread of technology domestically and globally, facilitated by trade, emulation, or migration of ideas. Theoretical Approaches to Technology and Global Affairs 1. Realism / Neorealism: ○ View on Technology: Technology is a passive and exogenous tool that enhances state power (e.g., military weapons). ○ States compete over technological leadership as part of their struggle for relative power in an anarchic international system. ○ Weakness: Neglects the role of technology in driving systemic change or shaping global structures. 2. Liberalism: ○ View on Technology: Technology drives interdependence, globalization, and cooperation. ○ Innovations in information and communication technologies (ICT) and transportation reduce time-space constraints, fostering global economic and social interactions. ○ Weakness: While liberalism highlights technology’s transformative impact, it treats technology as an exogenous factor, ignoring its reciprocal relationship with global politics. 3. Constructivism: ○ View on Technology: Technology is embedded in societal norms, values, and identities. ○ Technological development reflects social choices, meaning its consequences depend on the norms and intentions of actors. ○ Constructivism emphasizes human agency in shaping technology but tends to underestimate material and structural constraints. 4. The Middle Ground: ○ Proposed by Thomas Hughes and developed further by Geoffrey Herrera. ○ Combines insights from determinism and constructivism: In the early stages, technology is shaped by societal choices (constructivist view). As technological systems mature, they increasingly shape society and global affairs (determinist view). Case Study Framework Fritsch emphasizes two key processes to analyze technology’s impact on global affairs:  1. Innovation: ○ Examines institutions (e.g., research organizations, governments) and policies that drive the creation of new technologies. ○ Example: State-driven innovation in military technologies or renewable energy systems. 2. Diffusion: ○ Focuses on how technology spreads across borders through emulation, trade, and knowledge transfer. ○ Example: The global adoption of ICTs or nuclear technologies. Technological Systems and Global Change Fritsch introduces technological systems as networks of artifacts, organizations, and individuals. These systems are integral to global affairs because: They drive interaction capacity, reducing time-space barriers and increasing interdependence. They influence systemic transformation in areas like: ○ Security: Innovations in military technologies, such as nuclear weapons or cyberwarfare. ○ Economics: The rise of global supply chains facilitated by communication and transportation advancements. Conclusions and Recommendations 1. Interdisciplinarity: ○ Fritsch advocates for integrating insights from Science and Technology Studies (S&TS) into IR and IPE to better theorize technology’s role. 2. Systemic Change: ○ Technology must be treated as an integral component of the global system, capable of driving systemic transformation. 3. Reciprocal Relationship: ○ Technological evolution and global politics shape each other in a dynamic, mutually dependent relationship. 4. Future Research: ○ Emphasizes the need for historical and case study approaches to retrace how technological systems evolve and influence global affairs. ○ Encourages further exploration of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and cybersecurity. Key Takeaways Technology is not a passive tool but an active force shaping global economics, security, and culture. Theories like Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism provide partial insights into the role of technology but fail to fully integrate it into systemic explanations of change. A systems approach, combining determinist and constructivist perspectives, offers a more nuanced understanding of technology’s reciprocal relationship with global affairs. Fritsch concludes that addressing technology-driven challenges—such as cyberwarfare, climate change, and global inequalities—requires both interdisciplinary research and innovative governance frameworks.