Research Interests

Digital Technologies, cities and police/protest

Digital Geopolitics and Conflict outside the West

Post 9/11 Security: intellectual responses and controversies

Environmental security

Acceleration, society and security

Profile

My research focuses on the changing character of war and international politics in the 21^st century, focusing on the terrains of conflict (from the impact of climate change that I explored in my book Security and Climate Change: International Relations and the Limits of Realism to the emergence of ‘virtual realities’), technologies of conflicts (from robotics to cyberwar) through to changing techniques of conflicts (debates over the emergence of ‘ambiguous war’ and the ‘gray zone’): I am currently completing a book project titled WAR 2049: On the Future of Conflict that explores debates over the future of war.

More broadly, I am interested in how intellectuals from outside the discipline of International Relations can contribute to our understanding of global politics and the changing character of security and war: I have a particular interest in the work of Paul Virilio, the subject of my book Security, Technology and Global Politics: Thinking with Virilio.

My current research projects focus on these areas.

Into the Gray: The Future of the Gray Zone This project is interested in the debate about ambiguous war/hybrid war/the gray zone, examining how conflict might be changing in the 21^st century, exploring the new terrains of conflict (emerging from ecological change through to virtual reality and cyberspace), the emergence of new types of ‘micro- targeting’ in times of peace and war across a range of organizations, new types of sabotage and new types of deception/information war.

Cyberpunk International Politics: Science Fiction and Global Politics I interested both in how Science Fiction books and films are contributing to debates about the future of global politics, war and technology – but I am also interested in how science fiction is increasing used as a ‘tool’ by a variety of military actors attempting to generate new thinking about uncertain futures. In particular, I am interested in the emergence of ‘cyberpunk’ and it might reveal about the changing nature of war and the global economy. I have published research on science fiction in the journals Millennium, Security Dialogue and my book on Paul Virilio.

Jean Baudrillard and Global Politics in the 21^st Century This project is examining how the controversial French intellectual might help us understand a world confronting new challenges in terms of war, artificial intelligence/cyberwar, architecture/technology/cities, information war and geopolitical uncertainty.

I am an editor in the Routledge book series, Conflict, Security and Technology: http://www.routledge.com/books/series/CST/

PhD Supervision Interests

Critical security studiesEuropean social theory Digital geo-politics