International Norms and Autonomous Weapons — Ingvild Bode

17. 3. 2024

This episode of The IR thinker examines how autonomous weapon systems are challenging and reshaping global norms, in conversation with Professor Ingvild Bode. Drawing on the AutoNorms project, the discussion explores how AI-driven military technologies blur established legal and ethical boundaries, how norms can emerge “from below” through everyday military and technological practices rather than only via treaties, and why traditional rationalist and institutionalist approaches struggle to capture these dynamics. 

The episode looks at divergent national perspectives in China, Japan, Russia and the United States, the limits of formal diplomatic and legal processes, the risks of normative fragmentation for the so-called rules-based order, and the underexplored role of deterrence, resistance and disinformation in the governance of autonomous weapons.

Ingvild Bode

Ingvild Bode is Professor of International Relations and Director of the Centre for War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark. Her research focuses on processes of policy and normative change in global security, with particular emphasis on artificial intelligence in the military domain, the use of force, AI governance, United Nations peacekeeping and the dynamics of the UN Security Council.

Publications:

Emergent normativity: Communities of Practice, technology, and Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems

Machine guardians: The Terminator, ai narratives and US Regulatory discourse on lethal autonomous weapons systems

Autonomous weapons systems and changing norms in international relations

Content

00:00 - Introduction
02:01 - The Motivation Behind the AutoNorms Project
04:18 - Bridging the Research Gap on Technology in International Relations
06:27 - Key Findings and Outcomes of AutoNorms
08:16 - Autonomous Weapons and the Evolution of International Norms
11:50 - Theoretical Foundations: War Theory in the Research
14:06 - Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Norm Development in Global Security
17:13 - Understanding Social Norms Through AutoNorms
18:25 - Investigating Practices That Shape AWS Norms
19:50 - Challenging Rationalist and Institutionalist Approaches to Security
25:08 - The Grand Theory Behind AutoNorms
27:21 - Data Collection Strategies in the Research
32:23 - Managing Confidentiality and Restricted Information
35:54 - Why China, Japan, Russia, and the U.S.? Case Selection Criteria
38:42 - Divergent National Perspectives on AWS and Security
44:08 - Engagement with Formal Diplomatic and Legal Processes
46:58 - Normative Fragmentation: A Challenge to the Rules-Based Order?
50:10 - Resistance to Emerging Norms and Key Actors
53:25 - The Role of Deterrence in AWS Governance
55:46 - Does the EU Have a Unified AWS Research Programme?
58:26 - Unexpected Findings in the Research Process
01:00:24 - Underexplored Areas in AWS Norm Research