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SoSe 21: The Global Politics of Artificial Intelligence

Hendrik Schopmans

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The goal of the proposed course is to deepen the students' knowledge of International Relations (IR) theories by zooming in on a novel arena of international politics: artificial intelligence (AI). The course will be structured into three parts: First, students will acquire a basic understanding of key concepts, debates, and historical milestones in AI. Second, the course will survey how different IR perspectives have theorized the relationship between technological change and international politics more broadly. This overview is aimed to be as comprehensive as possible and cover insights from realism, neoliberal institutionalism and regime theory, social constructivism, and critical theories. Third, students will gain familiarity with a number of current issue areas related to AI, such as the international "AI arms race", autonomous weapon systems, surveillance systems used in authoritarian states, and the emerging global AI governance architecture. Here, students will be asked to apply their theoretical knowledge acquired in the second part of the course to understand developments in these domains. close