ABSTRACT
Technology has always played a central role in international politics. The invention of tanks, jet engines, ballistic missiles, submarines, aircraft carriers, nuclear weapons, and other technologies changed the way states competed in peacetime, maneuvered during crises, and fought during wartime. In short, although scholars and policy makers have devoted considerable attention to the narrower implications of emerging technologies for US national security strategy, the more general systemic effects of these technologies have remained largely unexplored. Adapting US strategy for a new technological age requires that we first understand the systemic international effects of emerging technologies. The chapter discusses the central theme: the strategic effects of emerging technologies cannot be understood outside of their political and security context. The primary purpose of this book is to correct a deficiency in the academic literature on the likely effects of emerging technologies on international security.
