CJIL 2025 Symposium: Technological Innovation in Global Governance
Technological Innovation in Global Governance: Measuring Potential to Create, Facilitate, and Destroy
The world has witnessed three industrial revolutions, and the fourth one is knocking on the door. New technologies may soon permeate all aspects of people’s lives, fusing the physical, digital, and biological worlds. Such fusion presents opportunities and challenges for the future of global governance. The CJIL 2025 Symposium explores how international law is keeping pace with the burgeoning consequences of technological innovation. The key question is whether international law can provide the world with sound solutions for the disruptions caused by technological shifts. The panelists will examine their areas of expertise through an analytical framework that posits technology as a creator, facilitator, or destroyer.
1. Technology as Creator
Several decades ago, technology enabled humankind to start exploring space. This, in turn, spurred the development of international space law. Today, most nations rely on outer space for their economies. Space exploration is about to usher in a new era marked by emerging actors and needs for further regulation. Imagining 4IR’s fusion of the physical, digital, and biological worlds, is the current legal framework ready to accommodate the new parameters of international relations in outer space? What are the necessary solutions to meet the challenges presented by this new realm?
2. Technology as Facilitator
Technology has a proven record of making people’s lives easier. Are there ways in which technological innovation could facilitate international lawyering? Global diplomacy and evidence-gathering are good case studies for this, which 21st century technology promises to drastically change. What are the benefits and costs of such innovation?
3. Technology as Destroyer
Armed conflicts continue to impact millions of lives globally each year. Technological advancements shape international actors’ decision-making when it comes to warfare. Beyond the existing complex relationship between international armed conflict and international law, emerging technologies and changing geopolitics have begun to dictate why and how future conflicts will be waged. What shape will the 4IR warfare take? How can nations limit their national security and military risks posed in the cyberspace?
For detailed information on the Symposium, see https://www.law.uchicago.edu/events/2025-cjil-symposium.