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Accepted Paper:
Relative gains or human security? A closer look at the EU's Ethics Issues Checklist for upstream control of dual-use research in Europe
Saheli Datta Burton
(UCL)
Christine Aicardi
(King's College London)
Tara Mahfoud
(University of Essex)
Paper short abstract:
Dual-use (DU) technologies present a threat to human security but also hold considerable economic value. Our article takes a closer look at EU policies to control misuse of DU technologies through the lens of the Ethics Issues Checklists and Tables.
Paper long abstract:
Dual-use (DU) technologies present a threat to human security but also hold considerable economic value. This article takes a closer look at EU policies to control misuse of DU technologies - through the lens of the Ethics Issues Checklists and Tables used for upstream control of European DU research - to understand the tensions between EU's desire to bolster its relative gains from DU technologies and its implications for human security. We show that not only do the EU's shift towards an economistic framing of DU regulations privilege relative gains at the expense of security imperatives but thereby also undermines the EU's commitments to human security agreed in multilateral treaties. Furthermore, findings show a nuanced understanding of EU's preference for economic considerations that combine economic growth expectations from a stronger European DU innovation and industry along with a strengthening of Europe's hard power capacities via a strengthened domestic security industry.