CfP: "STS and international security: Towards convergence?" | STS-CH Zurich 2025
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Matthias Leese
Apr 14, 2025, 1:32:18 PMApr 14
to ISA-International Political Sociology section
Dear colleagues,
We would like to invite you to submit a proposal to our panel
on "STS and international security: Towards convergence?"
(https://express.converia.de/frontend/index.php?folder_id=10435&page_id=#panel-124549)
at the upcoming STS-CH 2025 Conference,
scheduled for September 10–12, 2025, in Zurich.
Paper proposals are due May 9, 2025. Abstracts should not
exceed 300 words and submissions must be made via Converia.
Please find the panel's abstract below. For more information,
visit the STS-CH 2025 Conference Website
Feel free to disseminate this CfP.
We look forward to your submissions!
Best regards,
Jens Hälterlein & Matthias Leese
---
International Relations (IR) scholars have, in order to
grapple with the pre-eminent role of science and technology in
international security affairs such as warfare,
counterterrorism, or non-proliferation, increasingly turned to
STS. Vice versa, while there are notable exceptions of STS
scholars engaging the military or questions of secrecy (see
Vogel et al. 2017), the discipline has, given the breadth of its
work, been relatively reluctant to study matters of
international security. Contemporary developments such as the
use of AI-enabled weaponry, the tightening of bonds between the
civil and the military sector, and the (re)militarization of
politics and society would, however, so we contend, warrant much
broader and systematic attention of and engagement by STS.
Such engagement can be beneficial to deal with new conflicts, growing tensions, and uncertain futures in multiple ways. First, it can expand our understandings of complex, interconnected systems at scale (such as national AI innovation strategies, nuclear arsenals, cyber security infrastructures, and disaster preparedness efforts) and their entanglements with (science) diplomacy, policy-making, and geopolitical strategy. Second, it presents a challenging environment of ethical questions that arise from aspects such as dual-use, surveillance, and state secrecy that tend to interfere with norms of scientific autonomy and public accountability. And third, by engaging in international security matters, STS scholars can inform policy and offer critical perspectives that challenge overly technocratic or militarized approaches to security.
This panel calls for contributions that engage the convergence between STS and international security through empirically informed, reflexive, and theoretically ambitious work.
Such engagement can be beneficial to deal with new conflicts, growing tensions, and uncertain futures in multiple ways. First, it can expand our understandings of complex, interconnected systems at scale (such as national AI innovation strategies, nuclear arsenals, cyber security infrastructures, and disaster preparedness efforts) and their entanglements with (science) diplomacy, policy-making, and geopolitical strategy. Second, it presents a challenging environment of ethical questions that arise from aspects such as dual-use, surveillance, and state secrecy that tend to interfere with norms of scientific autonomy and public accountability. And third, by engaging in international security matters, STS scholars can inform policy and offer critical perspectives that challenge overly technocratic or militarized approaches to security.
This panel calls for contributions that engage the convergence between STS and international security through empirically informed, reflexive, and theoretically ambitious work.
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