New frameworks for Norwegian security and defence policy (TEOTEK)

Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and digital infrastructure are becoming increasingly important in a world characterized by rapid technological development.

This is also the case for the defense sector. The link between new technology and the security and defense policy is not novel one, but there exist numerous perspectives on the nature and consequences of this interlinking. The scholarly literature on technology’s impact is to some extent ahistorical and deterministic.

To arrive at a better understanding of how security and defence policy, practice and technology are connected, we must adopt a more comprehensive perspective on the role of technology in shaping global security policy.

This project aims to provide such a perspective by using a number of theoretical approaches to craft an understanding of the technological development and the resulting implications and consequences for Norwegian security and defence policy. Furthermore, the project will build on empirical analyses of how the prevailing thinking has manifested itself, theoretically and in practice, both in Norway and abroad.

To shed light on such processes, we will analyse both historical and contemporary examples of the development of technology and defence policy.

Among the questions that will be addressed are: What has technological progress meant for the sustainment of the international order, and how will emerging technologies impact said order in the future? How will new technologies impact strategic defence planning and force composition? Will it lead to a change in how politicians and other decision-makers view and conceptualize the use of force? How will future warfare based on autonomous systems affect theoretical foundations and military strategic considerations? To what degree does technology alter civil-military relations, and how can this in turn affect the distinction between war, crisis, conflict, and peace?