War, Economy, Innovation Public Workshop, DBP-CBS

Historically, war has been a powerful force driving technological and social innovation.  This remains true today.  But this well-known thesis is ignored in a great deal of current research on innovation and the organization of the global economy.  Peacetime capitalism has been seen as largely divorced from war and defense industries, driven instead by investment, innovation and accumulation in civilian industries and goods, with new technologies and applications flowing from the civilian to the military sectors.

A central premise of this workshop is that the world has been engaged in world war since the 1950s, one that has rationalized high levels of military spending and, in the case of America, state-led industrial policy (an approach now being encouraged across the EU). From this perspective, the notional shift from “Fordism” to “post-Fordism” as a revival of global capitalism is less a consequence of corporate and interstate competitiveness and accumulation opportunities but, rather, driven by security-based fears, threats and compulsions.  Thus, for example, the so-called electronic/communications revolution was birthed in the defense sector and remains tightly coupled to war.  This “revolution” has also facilitated changes in relationships between the state and the private sector, including corporations and civil society, which has taken on a growing role in terms of governance and government.  The architecture and operation of the global economy has also become closely-linked to the funding of war, especially via capital generated through speculative bubbles and cycled through various mechanisms of finance and lending.

This workshop is intended to foster discussion among researchers in different research areas and disciplines around the on-going role of war in driving technological and social innovation and technics.  There will be a roundtable discussion, with three presentations and comments by two discussants.  This will be followed by a larger conversation open to all participants and the audience.

14-14:15: Introductory remarks (Ronnie Lipschutz)

14:15-15:00: Presentation of thinkpieces by Anna Leander, Ronnie Lipschutz & Kaspar Villadsen

15-15:30: Comments by discussant(s) (TBA)

15:30-16:30: Open discussion among panel members & with audience

16:30-17:00: Summing up