[Air-L] CfP: "STS and international security: Towards convergence?" | STS-CH Zurich 2025

[Jens Hälterlein]

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 
<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 <https://sts-ch.org/sts-ch-2025/>
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.

-- 

Dr

*Jens Hälterlein (he/him/his)*

Department of Media Studies


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*Project*Meaningful Human Control. Autonomous Weapon Systems between 
Regulation and Reflexion (MeHuCo) https:// 
meaningfulhumancontrol.de/en/home/ 
<https://meaningfulhumancontrol.de/en/home/>

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<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jens-Haelterlein>

*ORCID*https:// orcid.org/0000-0002-0328-2029 
<https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0328-2029>

*New publications (selection)*

Hälterlein, Jens: Governing Autonomies. Imagining Responsible AI in the 
“Future Combat Air System” European Armament Project. In: T. Bächle / J. 
Bareis (eds.): The Realities of Autonomous Weapons. Bristol University 
Press 2025 (forthcoming).

Hälterlein, Jens: KI außer Kontrolle. In: IMI Ausdruck, 1/2025, pp. 
25-27. https://www.imi-online.de/ 
download/09_Ausdruck_1_2025_haelterlein.pdf

Hälterlein, Jens: Imagining and Governing Artificial Intelligence – the 
Ordoliberal Way: An Analysis of the National Strategy ‘AI Made in 
Germany’, In: AI & Society (2024), 
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-01940-0.

Hälterlein, Jens; Weber, Jutta: "Meaningful Human Control” and Complex 
Human-Machine Assemblages – On the Limits of Ethical AI Principles in 
the Context of Autonomous Weapons Systems, In: Ethics and Armed Forces, 
2024/1.

Hälterlein, Jens: Versicherheitlichung. In: Diskursmonitor. Glossar zur 
strategischen Kommunikation in öffentlichen Diskursen. Hg. von der 
Forschungsgruppe Diskursmonitor und Diskursintervention. Veröffentlicht 
am 15.07.2024. https://diskursmonitor.de/glossar/versicherheitlichung.

Hälterlein, Jens: Conflicting Values in Epidemiological Modelling, 
Simulation and Dashboard-Design. A Contribution to the Analysis of the 
Epistemisation of Pandemic Politics. In: M. Burkhardt, J. Kropf, C. Ochs 
& T. Seitz: Frictions. Conflicts, Controversies and Design Alternatives 
in Digital Valuation. Special Issue of Digital Culture & Society, Vol. 
9, Issue 2, 2023, pp. 161-178.

Hälterlein, Jens: Facial Recognition in Law Enforcement. In: C. Borch, 
and J. P. Pardo-Guerra (eds): The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of 
Machine Learning. Oxford University Press 2023, pp. 343-360.

Hälterlein, Jens: The use of AI in domestic security practices. In: S. 
Lindgren (ed): Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence. 
Edward Elgar Publishing 2023, pp. 763–772.