Journal of Autonomy and Security Studies

Preface

Militarisation is a process that increasingly takes pace in various areas – territorial as well as systemic – in the wake of the ongoing re-definition of what is a ”global order”. The Arctic, the military strengthening of NATO, and efforts to update national military capabilities, are just some examples of this. In some cases, militarisation takes place almost from a zero level, in other instances it adds to existing capabilities as a response to technological developments.

For a demilitarised area, such as the Åland Islands, the (re-)militarisation of neighbouring geographical regions is an obvious development of concern, and the discussion about the impact of processes of militarisation – whether geographic or qualitative – upon demilitarised regions is bound to continue. The fundamentals of the regime of norms and practices of demilitarisation are challenged.

A related and at least partially demilitarised sphere of human activity also regulated by a regime, is Outer Space. It may appear to be a special case of conditions for regime building, but in reality, developments on Earth set the conditions under which a structured and noncoercive use of Space is possible. As the articles explain, what happens in Space is both a technological reflection of political conditions on Earth, and vice versa: developments in Space can take on their own momentum, seriously affecting global relations. What we see today is that global political trends are mirrored also in Space.

This Issue of Journal of Autonomy and Security studies (JASS) takes on the particular politico-technological relationship that exists between Space and Earth, by analysing a number of ongoing developments – technological as well as political. As will be explained, this Issue consists of research notes and is the result of a generous and productive cooperation, explained by Dr Katariina Simonen in her Introduction, between JASS and the Finnish chapter of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

To our Readers, we wish you an exciting change of perspective on the reality of demilitarisation!

Kjell-Åke Nordquist
Editor-in-Chief