Contemporary Stabilisation and Security: Emerging Actors and Technologies

This project explores how emerging actors and technologies are reshaping global stabilisation and security challenges, governance, and policy responses.

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Introduction

This project examines how non-traditional actors and emerging technologies are transforming approaches to stabilisation and security challenges in fragile and conflict-affected contexts globally and what this means for future policy and programming. Explored through two-workstreams, RUSI Terrorism and Conflict team in collaboration with are investigating:

Engagement with Emerging Security and Stabilisation Partners
Implications of Novel Technologies on Security Sector Governance and Management

By exploring emerging non-traditional stabilisation actors and technologies in security sector governance, the project is designed to respond to new geopolitical challenges and shifts in diplomacy and security with innovative policy responses that remain effective, principled and future-ready.

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Aims and objectives

The overarching objective of the project is to provide evidence-based insight and policy recommendations for UK government on emerging stabilisation and security sector governance priorities. The project will concentrate on two parallel workstreams:

Workstream 1 aims to investigate how non-traditional actors, in particular Turkey and Qatar, are reshaping practices of conflict mediation, humanitarian diplomacy, and security sector governance in fragile and conflict-affected environments. By mapping non-traditional stabilisation models of states like Turkey and Qatar, we aim to better contextualise hybrid approaches of diplomacy, peacebuilding and security engagements.

Ultimately, it will aid in assessing alignment and risks associated with these models and identify opportunities, risks, and areas of alignment/divergence with UK policy interests and international best practices.

Workstream 2 aims to analyse the role and implications of emerging technologies in reshaping security sector governance (including AI, biometrics, machine learning, surveillance capabilities, and beyond). It aims to unpack both the opportunities as well as the ethical, accountability and legitimacy challenges such technologies bring with them.

In particular, the aim is to explore their impacts, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, and to inform better policy and practice.