The technocapitalist (in)security paradox. Systemic risks in a time of global crises and geo-political (re)ordering

The project will analyse the challenges that public institutions face when they rely on large digital infrastructures provided by global big tech corporations while at the same time trying to minimize cyber threats and civil as well as military vulnerabilities. The aim of the project is to analyse the effects of the tech-capitalist (in)security paradox for the democratic resilience of the Swedish welfare state. To take on this aim, we will focus on how the paradox is played out in the relations between policy and practice through two key rationalities of the welfare state representing the two sides of the paradox: competition and security.

By drawing on the intersection of emerging theories of systemic risk and governmentality studies to analyse the recursive relationship between technological capabilities and their institutional embedding, the project will contribute to the understanding of how systemically important digital technology is materially and institutionally constituted. The project is designed as a qualitative study, and we will draw on a set of techniques within the field of political ethnography to generate empirical material for analysis: 1) document studies, 2) semi-structured interviews with elements of observation in the environments where the interviews take place and 3) participation and policy labs in order to in a more active way interact with relevant stakeholders, including testing different solutions to the tech-capitalist (in)security paradox.