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What are the discursive ideas around emerging artificial intelligence in international relations, and what could these mean for the future? Through a combination of quantitative topic modeling and manual qualitative discourse analysis, the project analyzes 55 articles from the epistemically influential Foreign Affairs Magazine. The project identifies five distinct discursive ideas around emerging AI and IR. By applying the English School theory, the project assesses the normativity of the discursive ideas, which, following the project’s constructivist philosophy of science, could shape the future of international society. The project argues that most of the discursive ideas point towards a bifurcation or dissolution of the current nascent global governance efforts around AI. Furthermore, the project finds that the ideals of order and zero-sum power dominate the ideals around global justice.

This project aims to contrast the narratives and institutionalised understandings of solidarity as portrayed by the United Nations through phenomenological exploration of queer people's experiences with, and understandings of solidarity. It means to challenge the institutions’ conceptualisation of solidarity through uncovering the complex variations of this concept. Through that, it aims to explore the role that a phenomenological study can have in challenging institutionalised narratives and understandings. This research contributes to the discourse on solidarity by highlighting the importance of inclusive and diverse perspectives. It calls for a critical reassessment of institutional narratives to ensure they reflect the lived realities of all communities.

Background: Continued global warming threatens the existence of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was established to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change through easier access to funding and country ownership of financing decisions. However, research reveals that climate adaptation efforts often are inadequate and fail to meet the unique adaptation needs of SIDS.Aim: This study aims to challenge current climate adaptation practices in SIDS, by proposing an Actor-Oriented approach to evaluating the effectiveness of climate adaptation projects. The concept of agency is central to this approach, highlighting the importance of local stakeholders' active participation, perspectives, and decision-making power in the design and implementation of climate adaptation projects.Methods: A case study of the GCF FP007 project in the Maldives. Based on reports from the UNDP, GCF, and the Maldivian Ministry of Environment, it assessed the extent to which the FP007 project can be considered effective.Findings: Our evaluation of the FP007 project reveals significant limitations in its effectiveness from an Actor-Oriented perspective. The project did not adequately address local stakeholder priorities, relied heavily on foreign consultants, and maintained a top-down approach, limiting local agency. Additionally, the project’s organizational structure and normative evaluation methods perpetuated external superiority and failed to fully incorporate and value local perspectives.

The desire to move away from carbon emissions toward green energy has long been a central theme in German political discourse for more than five decades. In 2011, shortly after the Fukushima incident in Japan, the German parliament ratified a groundbreaking energy transition policy, dubbed the “Energiewende,” which foresaw a shake up in the domestic energy mix with the nuclear phase out by the early 2020s. With the use of qualitative methods and the application of construal level theory, this paper aims to investigate how psychological distance influences mental representation of nuclear energy. The data is collected by operating twelve separate interviews with locals in three German locations: two proximal to a nuclear power plant and one distal. Two supplementary interviews with nuclear field experts are conducted. The findings suggest that the populations with a reduced spatial distance to a nuclear site will have a more concrete and contextualized mental representation of nuclear power than populations with an enhanced spatial distance. Proximal populations, therefore, exhibited strong associations with nuclear energy and tend to reject the nuclear phase out, while distal populations have weak associations with nuclear energy and tend to accept the nuclear phase out. The paper’s conclusion aims to contribute to future analysis of public opinion toward energy mix in the field of social psychology.The desire to move away from carbon emissions toward green energy has long been a central theme in German political discourse for more than five decades. In 2011, shortly after the Fukushima incident in Japan, the German parliament ratified a groundbreaking energy transition policy, dubbed the “Energiewende,” which foresaw a shake up in the domestic energy mix with the nuclear phase out by the early 2020s. With the use of qualitative methods and the application of construal level theory, this paper aims to investigate how psychological distance influences mental representation of nuclear energy. The data is collected by operating twelve separate interviews with locals in three German locations: two proximal to a nuclear power plant and one distal. Two supplementary interviews with nuclear field experts are conducted. The findings suggest that the populations with a reduced spatial distance to a nuclear site will have a more concrete and contextualized mental representation of nuclear power than populations with an enhanced spatial distance. Proximal populations, therefore, exhibited strong associations with nuclear energy and tend to reject the nuclear phase out, while distal populations have weak associations with nuclear energy and tend to accept the nuclear phase out. The paper’s conclusion aims to contribute to future analysis of public opinion toward energy mix in the field of social psychology.

This thesis explores the multifaceted dimensions of womEnhood through the lens ofautoethnography. By weaving together diverse personal stories, we aim to underscore theprofound significance of intersectionality in shaping narratives of womenhood. We presentstories endowed with richness, vibrancy, and expression. Nestled between gender andintersectional feminist studies, the argument set forth is that womenhood can be explored butnot necessarily defined, allowing for a space of plurality and nuance.Inspired by scholarships of among others bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Ursula Le Guin, LindaLapina, Lola Olufemi, and Minna Salami, we unfold the shades of womenhood otherwise toooften forgotten. With the creation of a safe, sacred, and caring space that embraces the powerof embodied knowledge, we sought a process that fosters understanding, socialtransformation, connection, and a sense of belonging. We invite you to join and experiencethis sacred and intimate space evoked by our collective autoethnography and communalstorytelling in a thesis itself laid out as a story.

This report, published by the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark and the Royal Holloway Centre for International Security, highlights the immediate need to regulate autonomous weapon systems, or ‘killer robots’ as they are colloquially called. Written by Dr. Ingvild Bode and Dr. Tom F.A. Watts, authors of an earlier study of air defence systems published with Drone Wars UK, the “Loitering Munitions and Unpredictability” report examines whether the use of automated, autonomous, and AI technologies as part of the global development, testing, and fielding of loitering munitions since the 1980s has impacted emerging practices and social norms of human control over the use of force. It is commonly assumed that the challenges generated by the weaponization of autonomy will materialise in the near to medium term future. The report’s central argument is that whilst most existing loitering munitions are operated by a human who authorizes strikes against system-designated targets, the integration of automated and autonomous technologies into these weapons has created worrying precedents deserving of greater public scrutiny. Loitering munitions – or ‘killer drones’ as they are often popularly known – are expendable uncrewed aircraft which can integrate sensor-based analysis to hover over, detect and explode into targets. These weapons are very important technologies within the international regulatory debates on autonomous weapon systems – a set of technologies defined by Article 36 as weapons “where force is applied automatically on the basis of a sensor-based targeting system”. The earliest loitering munitions such as the Israel Aerospace Industries Harpy are widely considered as being examples of weapons capable of automatically applying force via sensor-based targeting without human intervention. A May 2021 report authored by a UN Panel of Experts on Libya suggests that Kargu-2 loitering munitions manufactured by the Turkish defence company STM may have been “programmed to attack targets without requiring data connectivity between the operator and the munition”. According to research published by Daniel Gettinger, the number of states producing these weapons more than doubled from fewer than 10 in 2017 to almost 24 by mid-2022. The sizeable role which loitering munitions have played in the ongoing fighting between Russia and the Ukraine further underscores the timeliness of this report, having raised debates on whether so called “killer robots are the future of war?” Most manufacturers of these weapons characterize loitering munitions as “human in the loop” systems. The operators of these systems are required to authorize strikes against system-designated targets. The findings of this report, however, suggest that the global trend toward increasing autonomy in targeting has already affected the quality and form of control over the use of force that humans can exercise over specific targeting decisions. Loitering munitions can use automated, autonomous, and to a limited extent, AI technologies to identify, track, and select targets. Some manufacturers also allude to the potential capacity of the systems to attack targets without human intervention. This suggests that human operators of loitering munitions may not always retain an ability to visually verify targets before attack. This report highlights three principal areas of concern: Greater uncertainties regarding how human agents exert control over specific targeting decisions. The use of loitering munitions as anti-personnel weapons and in populated areas. Potential indiscriminate and wide area effects associated with the fielding of loitering munitions. This report’s analysis is drawn from two sources of data: first, a new qualitative data catalogue which compiles the available open-source information about the technical details, development history, and use of autonomy and automation in a global sample of 24 loitering munitions; and second, an in-depth study of how such systems have been used in three recent conflicts – the Libyan Civil War (2014-2020), the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the War in Ukraine (2022-). Based on its findings, the authors urge the various stakeholder groups participating in the debates at the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Group of Governmental Experts and elsewhere to develop and adopt legally binding international rules on autonomy in weapon systems, including loitering munitions as a category therein. It is recommended that states: Affirm, retain, and strengthen the current standard of real-time, direct human assessment of, and control over, specific targeting decisions when using loitering munitions and other weapons integrating automated, autonomous, and AI technologies as a firewall for ensuring compliance with legal and ethical norms. Establish controls over the duration and geographical area within which weapons like loitering munitions that can use automated, autonomous, and AI technologies to identify, select, track, and apply force can operate. Prohibit the integration of machine learning and other forms of unpredictable AI algorithms into the targeting functions of loitering munitions because of how this may fundamentally alter the predictability, explainability, and accountability of specific targeting decisions and their outcomes. Establish controls over the types of environments in which sensor-based weapons like loitering munitions that can use automated, autonomous, and AI technologies to identify, select, track, and apply force to targets can operate. Loitering munitions functioning as AWS should not be used in populated areas. Prohibit the use of certain target profiles for sensor-based weapons which use automated, autonomous, and AI technologies in targeting functions. This should include prohibiting the design, testing, and use of autonomy in weapon systems, including loitering munitions, to “target human beings” as well as limiting the use of such weapons “to objects that are military objectives by nature” (ICRC, 2021: 2.). Be more forthcoming in releasing technical details relating to the quality of human control exercised in operating loitering munitions in specific targeting decisions. This should include the sharing, where appropriate, of details regarding the level and character of the training that human operators of loitering munitions receive. Funding: Research for the report was supported by funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (under grant agreement No. 852123, AutoNorms project) and from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Tom Watts’ revisions to this report were supported by the funding provided by his Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellowship (ECF-2022-135). We also collaborated with Article 36 in writing the report. About the authors: Dr Ingvild Bode is Associate Professor at the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark and a Senior Research Fellow at the Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent. She is the Principal Investigator of the European Research Council-funded “AutoNorms” project, examining how autonomous weapons systems may change international use of force norms. Her research focuses on understanding processes of normative change, especially through studying practices in relation to the use of force, military Artificial Intelligence, and associated governance demands. More information about Ingvild’s her research is available here. Dr Tom F.A. Watts is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Researcher based at the Department of Politics, International Relations, and Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London. His current project titled “Great Power Competition and Remote Warfare: Change or Continuity in Practice?” (ECF-2022-135) examines the relationship between the use of the strategic practices associated with the concept of remote warfare, the dynamics of change and continuity in contemporary American foreign policy, and autonomy in weapons systems. More information about Tom’s research is available here.

In my third semester as a master’s student in Global Studies + Communication Studies at Roskilde University, I did a professional internship at the United Nations Population Fund (herby UNFPA) at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark. For six months, I worked in the Partnership and Communications department of the Supply Chain Management Unit (herby UNFPA SCMU) as a digital communication intern.My ambition has always been to be part of an organization that fights for human rights, gender equality, and better sexual and reproductive health care for all. Therefore, this internship was the perfect opportunity for me to not only explore this passion of mine but also to finally put in place all the knowledge that I’ve learned during the past few years at the University.Keywords: United Nations, Communication, Social Media, Human Rights

This study carries out a systematic review of state-of-the-art critiques of the Sustainable Development Goals, by drawing on theoretical insights from class analysis, Social Reproduction Theory, and World Systems Theory. We found extensive literature on the shortcomings of the SDGs. We singled out a study that addresses the SDGs’ role in the perpetuation of class-related struggles in a global capitalist system and used it to guide us through the literature review. Following from this, this study scrutinizes the interplay between class dynamics and the SDGs in relation to their role in addressing or perpetuating class-related concerns in capitalism.The basis of the above-mentioned theoretical framework enabled us to carry out an extensive analysis that not only includes a descriptive explanation of the state-of-the-art critiques of the SDGs but also allows them to present their own analytical theses. In this study, the consistent application of this theory revealed research gaps that can be found especially in the area of class theory and missing explorations of the world-system. There is a neglect of class perspectives in both locally specific and globally general perspectives on the SDGs, which partly takes place within a so-called intersectional framework. Moreover, within the critiques we found the world-system perspective missing completely. Particularly the integral connection between capitalism and imperialism was neglected as both an observation as well as an analytical framework within the state-of-the-art critiques. Some critiques found that SDGs contributed to accumulation of dispossession, but this study identifies that the reviewed literature does not contextualize the SDGs within the polarized patterns of the world-system. We suggest further research integrating a similar theoretical framework to explore the effects and motives of the SDGs within the world-system, how they interact with class relations, and how they might even influence class relations.