International organisations are playing catch-up to the rapid development of emerging technologies and greater digitalisation, especially as these new systems and processes are being produced at a seemingly breakneck speed by a range of commercial and government actors. As of today, international actors such as the United Nations and the European Union at least agree that artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, Big Data and even quantum computing, are likely to affect every area of life in profound – if uncertain – ways. How these technological developments are likely to affect peacekeeping and crisis management is unclear.
The EU currently deploys 17 missions and operations with around 5,000 personnel in 11 countries. They face many of the same challenges as UN peace operations and, in fact, find themselves in the same operating area as the UN, for instance in Mali, Somalia, Iraq and others. In seeking to unravel and respond to the uncertainties surrounding digital technologies in peace operations that affect both organisations, a look at developments in the EU context can provide useful insights and reveal opportunities for collaboration.
TechPops ZIF Berlin, 2020
Daniel Fiott 