Disruptive Technologies for Security and Defence: Temporality, Performativity and Imagination

Emerging technologies are increasingly portrayed as having disruptive effects in security and defence, both in civilian and military environments. Yet, while revolutionary military technologies have always been connected to the notion of permanent techno-scientific innovation, there remains ample room for a critical enquiry on what it means to be disruptive in security and defence technology, the effects of claiming disruption and the broader socio-political contexts within which disruptive technology emerges. In this regard, the article draws theoretical insights from critical security studies, science and technology studies, and innovation studies, to propose a new analytical framework to study disruptive security and defence technologies along three analytical axes: temporality, performativity, and imagination. The notion of disruption implies a pre-existing linear, temporal dimension that is meant to be disrupted, and the mere claim of disruption is a performative act that can – although not always – trigger, enable or enact pre-imagined socio-technical futures. As the notion of disruption becomes prevalent in both civilian and military environments, the article contributes to unpacking its constitutive elements and to give it a more central position in contemporary IR debates.