"The geopolitics of technology": International relations and the fourth industrial revolution

In: Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. International relations, Band 15, Heft 2, S. 138-157

Abstract

Contemporary international relations as well as the life of an individual as we know it would not be possible without the three Industrial revolutions. They have occurred in the course of the last three hundred years of human history and came to be part of a single continuous process of changing technological waves. Each revolution defined how people would live, work, and communicate with one another. Each industrial revolution set the dynamics for international relations and created new political conflicts. The fourth industrial revolution that we are going through today is also accompanied by geopolitical rivalry and develops exponentially, not in a linear projection. It pierces through all layers of human activity and runs the risk of changing the very nature of humans. The character of modern-day technology makes it hard to perceive it through the lens of a mere consumer since technology impacts us as citizens and deals with the three key concepts for people throughout their history: justice, freedom, and power. The author hypothesizes that the three concepts are closely interlinked with the three main megatrends of technology's influence over politics respectively, — the call for a new social contract, the problem of localization of big data and the associated pursuit of states for digital sovereignty, and the development of artificial intelligence. Therefore, the present work is an attempt to outline some key trajectories in how the new technological wave fractures the three concepts and how all of this impacts international relations.