International Relations Meets Technology Theory

Abstract

As outlined in the Introduction, a central premise of this study is that existing approaches to understanding the relationship between technology and power in international relations (IR) are struggling to deal with the complexities introduced by the information age. While the discipline of IR has a range of theories about power, it does not have an equivalent framework for understanding technology and this is proving to be a limitation for developing a deeper understanding of the relationship between power and new technology. As this chapter reveals, assumptions are made in IR literature about technology without an adequate critical analysis of how scholars and practitioners arrive at those assumptions. Furthermore, existing theories for understanding power in IR were developed within the context of industrial technology and do not take into account the distinctive features of information and communications technology (ICT) which can render the nature and expression of power more complex. This book demonstrates that by engaging with social theories of technology, IR can be better equipped to pursue answers to questions which have thus far proven difficult to grapple with including how we understand the relationship between new technology like the Internet and state power.