Research Marijn Hoijtink

Abstract

The high-technology sector has become crucial in the production of the emerging digital infrastructure that underlies modern warfare. Yet, its role has often been overlooked within International Relations and security studies. Our research project investigates the growing role of the high-tech sector in warfare to understand how commercial technology companies are shaping use of force practices and with what effects for civilian harm, public accountability and democratic control. Our novel approach is to understand and theorize the power of these companies to shape new practices in warfare through the concept of the "military-commercial complex" and focus on the concrete interactions between the military and the high-tech sector. Investigating these practices and interactions in concrete settings of technology development and deployment across the innovation and operational context of NATO, our project delivers original data on how new military technologies are made and made actionable in recent theaters of war. Working together with civilian society partners, our project also delivers unique insights into the impact of these technologies for civilian harm and democratic accountability. These insights will lead to a set of recommendations on the development and deployment of new technologies in warfare that will be shared among NATO, civil society partners, industry, lawyers and parliamentarians.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hoijtink Marijn
• Fellow: Avar Fer

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza raise a set of fundamental questions related to the study of what, when and how technologies of armed violence are produced and diffused and with what implications for the global political order. While a key development in both wars is the military use of advanced tech, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), cyber capabilities, unmanned systems, and commercial satellites, existing scholarship has largely failed to anticipate and explain the emergence of new technology in war. This is due to three limitations within the existing literature on the global defense industry and arms production. The first is a strong focus on large, specialized and expensive weapons platforms and the prime contractors that produce them, while future warfare will likely favor numerous low-cost platforms over high-end ones. A second limitation in this literature is that it remains marked by methodological nationalism and a focus on military technology as instruments serving the rationality of states' violence and their strategic objectives in the conduct of war. This limits our understanding of how these technologies – and the people, visions, and practices that come with them – increasingly circulate across different geographies and corporate/military domains. Third, existing scholarship on technologies of armed violence remains largely focused on Western states and arms producers, and their vision of order, even if the production of military technology is increasingly a global (although still uneven) affair. Remedying these limitations, this project sets out to investigate the production, proliferation and use of emerging technologies of armed violence in/from non-western regions, focusing on the case of Turkey. Building on both original and publicly-available data, including military blogs, open-source (visual) material, and observations at military/tech expositions, and adopting a theoretical focus on the circulation of military technology, our project provides new insights into recent transformations in the global production of military technology and implications for political order.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hoijtink Marijn

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Platform companies such as Alphabet-Google, Meta en Amazon are central to recent transformations affecting our social relations, business transactions and governmental decisions. These same companies are also increasingly affecting how our wars are 'thought', fought and lived. However, their exact role within warfare remains poorly understood. My project introduces the novel concept of "platform wars" to theorize how platform companies propel new ways of thinking about and organizing political violence. Through my conceptualization of platform wars, I investigate how these emerging corporate-military networks produce new and shared ways of (i) thinking about, (ii) practicing, and (iii) regulating political violence. My project produces innovative conceptual knowledge, but it also delivers rich empirical knowledge on the social interactions between corporate and military actors, and how these shape new technologies and practices of warfighting. This knowledge is highly relevant from a political and ethical-legal perspective and crucial in order to intervene in the future regulation of these technologies and their use in armed conflict.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hoijtink Marijn
• Co-promoter: Sauer Tom

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Platform companies such as Alphabet-Google, Meta en Amazon are central to recent transformations affecting our social relations, business transactions and governmental decisions. These same companies are also increasingly affecting how our wars are 'thought', fought and lived. However, their exact role within warfare remains poorly understood. My project introduces the novel concept of "platform wars" to theorize how platform companies propel new ways of thinking about and organizing political violence. Through my conceptualization of platform wars, I investigate how these emerging corporate-military networks produce new and shared ways of (i) thinking about, (ii) practicing, and (iii) regulating political violence. My project produces innovative conceptual knowledge, but it also delivers rich empirical knowledge on the social interactions between corporate and military actors, and how these shape new technologies and practices of warfighting. This knowledge is highly relevant from a political and ethical-legal perspective and crucial in order to intervene in the future regulation of these technologies and their use in armed conflict.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hoijtink Marijn
• Fellow: Hoijtink Marijn

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Technology, in its multiple forms, influences security and conflict. From older technologies, such as railroads and radio, to emerging ones, such as 'smart' border systems or drones, technology has profound repercussions on how wars are fought and peace is made, how conflict erupts or can be avoided, and how security is imagined and practiced. At the same time, throughout history, security and conflict have always been major drivers for technoscientific innovation, enabling and accelerating the development of technologies such as nuclear energy, the computer or GPS technology. The ongoing war in Ukraine underwrites this point. While this war is still marked by traditional heavy weaponry causing widescale destruction, it has also become a testbed or 'living lab' for the use of new technologies, including military applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or the use of repurposed 'low-cost' drones alongside military ones. In recent years, the study of technology and its entanglements with security and conflict has become increasingly prominent within International Relations (IR) and cognate disciplines, including (critical) security studies, conflict studies, peace research, surveillance studies and law. The growing focus on technology in these fields has also led to a highly productive research dialogue with Science and Technology Studies (STS), which in turn has brought much closer attention to the importance of technoscientific knowledge and practices of development, experimentation and regulation than hitherto existed within the field of International Relations. A number of scholars working in Belgian universities have been at the forefront of these debates. Their research investigates, for instance, the role of data and algorithms in border security, policing and conflict; the politics of the development and use of new technologies of warfighting, such as drones and autonomous weapons; or ways of contesting, mitigating or regulating the impact of technology on civilian harm, international stability, or democratic values. However, while there is strong expertise on technology, security and conflict present within Flanders and Belgium, the potential for collaboration on these issues across Flanders and Belgium has remained largely untapped, notably due to institutional and disciplinary boundaries and the lack of a common platform. The main objective of the Belgian Research Network on Technology, Security & Conflict therefore is to provide a platform for the collaboration and coordination of high quality and multidisciplinary research on technology, security and conflict across Flanders and Belgium. More specifically, the Belgian Research Network on Technology, Security & Conflict aims to: 1. Promote a new and collaborative research agenda on technology, security and conflict in Flanders and Belgium. Our network takes a broad perspective to technology, focusing both on highly politicized technologies (e.g. AI, 'smart' borders, drones, and nuclear weapons), and more mundane ones (standards, protocols and database interoperability). Similarly, the network takes a broad perspective to security and conflict, combining analytical vocabularies and methodologies from across a variety of disciplines, including International Relations, critical security studies, conflict studies, criminology, law and Science and Technology Studies. 2. Foster mutual learning and training, with a specific focus on methodological training and exploring new methods and methodologies to study technology in secret and (semi-)closed contexts. 3. Increase the international visibility of research on technology, security and conflict in Flanders and Belgium. 4. Contribute to public and policy debates on technology, security and conflict, their relations and their socio-political implications.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hoijtink Marijn

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Given the current tenuous state of trust between institutions and actors at different levels in the EU governance system, the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence STRATEGO aims to teach, research and disseminate knowledge on the dynamics, causes and effects of trust between the actors and institutions involved in EU multi-level governance of sustainable development, with a focus on business and entrepreneurship, climate and biodiversity, and health policies. This empirical scope of STRATEGO connects with the UN's sustainable development goals, the policy priorities of the European Commission and the priorities of the Erasmus+ programme. STRATEGO will develop interdisciplinary synergies on EU governance, trust and sustainable development by bridging teaching, research and outreach efforts across disciplines at the University of Antwerp. Throughout all activities, STRATEGO will go beyond the usual producers and consumers of EU studies. It will bring EU governance knowledge of the Social Sciences, Law and Economics faculties to students and staff of the Science and Health Sciences faculties, and it will reach out beyond the academic environment to foster a dialogue with professionals, civilsociety and the general public. In terms of teaching, STRATEGO will ensure interdisciplinarity through guest lectures, joint supervision of bachelor and master theses and innovative formats such as simulations and micro-credentials. In terms of research, STRATEGO will bring together staff from various disciplines through research seminars, PhD masterclasses and a visiting scheme for early career scholars. In terms of outreach beyond the academic context, STRATEGO will organise activities such as thematic webinars, outreach workshops and activities for specific audiences such as secondary schools.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bursens Peter
• Co-promoter: Beutels Philippe
• Co-promoter: De Bièvre Dirk
• Co-promoter: Hoijtink Marijn
• Co-promoter: Matthysen Erik
• Co-promoter: Meeusen Johan
• Co-promoter: Meier Petra
• Co-promoter: Popelier Patricia
• Co-promoter: Vanderstraeten Johanna
• Co-promoter: Van Dooren Wouter
• Co-promoter: van Zimmeren Esther
• Co-promoter: Verhoest Koen
• Co-promoter: Vicca Sara
• Co-promoter: Wynen Jan

Research team(s)

• Politics & Public Governance

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project
• Education Project

Abstract

Lethal autonomous weapons (LAWS), or "killer robots," have become the subject of much debate. On the one hand, proponents of LAWS see advantages in increasing the level of autonomy in weapons, because they believe this would make war more precise and reduce human casualties. On the other hand, opponents have argued that weapons that can select and attack targets without human involvement are immoral and incompatible with international humanitarian law. What has been overlooked in the current debate are the processes underpinning the design of LAWS. This is problematic, because, in the absence of any current international restrictions on LAWS, how LAWS operate and with what effect is largely defined by artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics engineers in the design process. I investigate how decisions about who can be killed, when, and with what effects are made by weapon engineers in the process of designing LAWS. First, I deliver empirical knowledge about the technological foundations of LAWS, and their creation over time and in leading research and development (R&D) institutions in AI and robotics today. Building on a science and technology (STS) approach, my second objective is to foreground the otherwise implicit political decisions that engineers make in the design process. Third, I extend insights from STS to the discipline of International Relations (IR) by theorizing how technoscientific knowledge about LAWS acquires broader relevance in current international political debates. My project makes a conceptual contribution at the intersection between IR and STS. In addition, my project is methodologically innovative, because it conducts fieldwork-based research in a domain that is often obscured. I build on a set of qualitative methods, including archival research, semi-structured interviews with engineers, and observations at military trade fairs, to map the design of LAWS and to study the substantive practices and judgements of weapon engineers.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hoijtink Marijn

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project