Event Information

This University of Warwick event was hosted by the Research in Global Governance Network (RiGG-Net), in collaboration with the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM) and it is co-sponsored by the Doctoral College.

Event Time: July 31st, 2020, 10am – 4pm

In the decades since the turn of the 21^st century, evolving relationships between technology, governance, and globalization have given way to a proliferation of connected issues, discourses, and institutions. In more recent years, a number of technical innovations, both existing and envisaged, as well a number of major shifts in international relations, have further multiplied and catalysed concerns as to the governance of domains affected by radical technological change. New forms of communication have connected individuals and societies in unprecedented ways, yet including in ways which have produced drastic challenges for democratic procedures and for political and scientific legitimacy. Developments on the near horizon, such as in automated driving systems and next-generation wireless infrastructures, similarly attract a complex mixture of celebration and controversy as governments, investors, scientists and technicians, and publics each negotiate their visions of the coming technological future. Alongside fervour over the production of the new, enduring issues at the intersection of technology and nature, such as climate change and infectious diseases, are increasingly pressing matters for public and private institutions alike.

While these issues often have local or national epicentres, we believe that they can only be properly understood in terms of their global diffuse, implications, whether in the case of competitive strategies between nations, emerging forms of trans-national sovereignty from private-sector firms, new forms of international community, or the global proliferation of risk. Furthermore, we believe these matters present specific challenges for governance, both in its understanding and undertaking, as politics in the contemporary is increasingly confronted by technological realities which unite the parochial with the planetary.

The Technology and Global Governance Virtual Forum invites participants from across disciplines for an open forum on issues and challenges connecting technology, governance, and global politics. The Forum will be held online to allow participation from across the globe and in order to ensure the safety of its participants during the COVID-19 crisis.

Organisers

Chang Zhang (PAIS)

James McNally (CIM)

Gah-Kai Leung (PAIS)