Technology and Statehood

Research Group

Regine Paul

Technology and Statehood explores articulations of competition statehood in global tech races comparatively across time, space, and specific technologies. Three broad research intuitions guide the group’s work : (1) states co-shape technology races in institutionally and ideationally variable ways when they navigate the complex of multiple and conflicting economic, political, and societal rationalities in their tech competitiveness projects; (2) technologies are  not neutral but their inbuilt affordances and politics shape paths for state action; and (3) colonial relations of power and hierarchy in global capitalism connect specific empirical articulations of tech competition statehood – as institutionally and ideationally different as they might be – across time and space.

Of special empirical interest are the public governance of and with artificial intelligence technologies, quantum computing, digital twins, and de-extinction biotechnology in post-colonial contexts such as Brazil, India, or Kenya, but also less researched parts of Europe. The group is currently being established and starts in October 2026.