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Geopolitics and Global Futures
In today’s fast-evolving globalised world, it is important to analyse both present challenges and those issues poised to become future challenges.
We aim to identify and analyse these emerging issues so that national and global actors have the necessary tools to be proactive rather than reactive, while maintaining peace, security, dignity and equality for all.
We strive to provide an analysis of the broad range of factors that will shape tomorrow’s world under 5 themes:
- emerging strategic technologies: artificial intelligence and runaway technologies, synthetic biology, human enhancement, human destiny and their implications for geopolitics, security, and civil liberties,
- outer space: space security, dual use of space objects by both the military and private sectors, space debris, exploration of celestial bodies, astrobiology and the subsequent influence of space exploration on the future of humanity,
- new international relations paradigms: neo-statecraft, meta-geopolitics, symbiotic realism, multi-sum security, and sustainable national and global governance,
- neuroscience and international relations: emotionality of states, identities, neurophilosophy, inequality, human nature, universal axiology, and human dignity,
- the five dimensions of global security: human, national, transnational, environmental and transcultural security.
Our primary aim is to analyse these areas through the lens of human dignity as central to any sustainable governance system. We strive to develop an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to these issues that draws from both science and the humanities. It is our belief that only through stimulating interdisciplinary discourse can we begin to develop strategic foresight for a rapidly changing world.
We focus mainly on research and publications. We also foster events and discussions in order to bring together relevant actors from a variety of fields, encouraging them to generate new ideas.
Index
Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan
Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan FRSA is a transdisciplinary philosopher, neuroscientist, geostrategist and futurologist.
He is an Honorary Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford University; Head of the Geopolitics and Global Futures Department at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy in Switzerland; Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London; Member of the Global Future Councils at the World Economic Forum; and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).He is also the intellectual founder of the Transdisciplinary Philosophy movement, which bridges and transcends traditional academic boundaries while addressing fundamental questions across the breadth of philosophy as it interacts with other disciplines and 21st Century concerns.
Prof. Al-Rodhan is a prize-winning scholar who has written more than 350 articles and 25 books, including most recently 21st-Century Statecraft: Reconciling Power, Justice And Meta-Geopolitical Interests, Sustainable History And Human Dignity, Emotional Amoral Egoism: A Neurophilosophy Of Human Nature And Motivations, and On Power: Neurophilosophical Foundations And Policy Implications. His research focuses on transdisciplinarity, neuro-techno-philosophy, and the future of philosophy, with a particular emphasis on the interplay between philosophy, neuroscience, strategic culture, applied history, and geopolitics, on Earth and in Outer Space. His current projects are also focused around Geopolitical Realities, Geostrategic Imperatives, Collective Civilisational Frontier Risks, Outer Space Security, Safety and Sustainability, Disruptive Technologies (Generative AI, Synthetic Biology, SuperIntelligence), National and Global Security, Political Theory and International Relations, with his transdisciplinary 'Symbiotic Realism' framework describing the seven new forces transforming the international system.
- Twitter: SustainHistory
- Personal website: www.sustainablehistory.com
- Publications: https://oxford.academia.edu/NayefAlRodhan/
- Contact: [email protected]
- Christine Garnier Simon
Administration & Coordination Manager
E-mail: [email protected]
- Ines Gassal-Bosch
Senior Research Officer
E-mail: [email protected]
- Anna Raab
Junior Assistant
E-mail: [email protected]
Technology is evolving fast. Innovations like AI, quantum computing, and synthetic biology are reshaping global security - bringing both opportunities and risks.
The Transformative Technologies Cluster focuses on AI and a suite of disruptive technologies (AI is the science of engineering intelligent machines). Banking, warfare, aviation, health care – all these sectors currently rely on AI, which means that it plays a critical role in our lives, and its relevance will only increase as AI systems continue to be integrated into a growing number of applications, including autonomous robots.
In addition to AI, our Cluster looks at other emerging technologies that could have a revolutionary impact on the future of humankind, including neuro-morphic chips, big data, 3D and 4D printing, nanotechnology, brain-computer interfaces, hypersonic technology, and physical and cognitive enhancement. Perhaps most importantly, these technologies will significantly alter the way in which nations fight wars, while forcing us to reconsider existing legal provisions on warfare and humanitarian rules.
Today’s fast-moving and interconnected world would not be possible without the sustainable use of outer space. Yet outer space is becoming increasingly congested and contested, creating numerous insecurities.
Outer space must be kept secure as a global commons for the use of all of humankind. This involves proactively dealing with issues such as space debris and the weaponisation/militarisation of space.
At the same time, this must be reconciled with the reality that the security of a state’s outer space interests is vital to its national interests. In recent years, space militarisation has escalated and caused tensions to flare between some countries. This is particularly worrisome for nations like the United States – and increasingly Russia and China – that rely heavily on space for military operations and thus have become more vulnerable. Despite these inordinately high stakes, international space law continues to neglect the regulation of potentially dangerous gaps in its framework of laws and principles.
Neuroscience has made tremendous advances in recent decades, offering unprecedented insights into human behaviour - insights that are increasingly relevant to global security.
Brain imaging tools such as functional MRI scans have revealed key facts about human behaviour, emotions, morality, and social cooperation, and the neuroanatomy of trauma, decision-making, and power, among others. Our Neurophilosophy of Global Security Cluster aims to integrate the interplay of neuroscience, philosophy, and international relations into the larger debate on inter-state relations, global security, policy analysis, and global order.
While human nature has been central to political theory, the understanding of what drives humans and states has been more speculative than scientific before the advent of neuroscience. Neurophilosophy pioneers this interdisciplinary connection and advances an understanding of human nature that is informed by neuroscience.
The GCSP Prize for Innovation in Global Security
In 2015, under the umbrella of its Creativity and Innovation Initiative, the GCSP and its Geopolitics and Global Futures Department established a prize to recognise deserving individuals or organisations with that have developed an innovative approach to addressing international security challenges.
The prize is designed to reach across all relevant disciplines and fields. It seeks to reward the most inspiring, innovative, and ground-breaking contribution of the year, whether in the form of an initiative, invention, research publication, or organisation. The prize consists of a cash award of CHF 10,000.
The GCSP Prize for Transformative Futures in Peace and Security
Under the leadership of Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Executive Director of the GCSP, the Prize for Transformative Futures in Peace and Security was initiated by Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan, Director of the Geopolitics and Global Futures Department, and Ms Anne-Caroline Pissis Martel, Director of the Global Fellowship Initiative and Creative Spark.
It seeks to reward ground-breaking concepts that offer exceptional promise in addressing peace- and security-related challenges. The inaugural edition of the prize was first awarded in 2023. The prize for the winning project is a fully funded two-month incubation programme with the GCSP’s Creative Spark in Geneva (worth CHF 15,000) and a certificate of excellence.
