With the end of the Cold War, the relationship between military and civil technologies is being radically restructured. In the USA, the new paradigm is `dual-use', replacing `spinoff' as the main understanding of the relationship between military and civil technologies. A consequence is the re-integration of the industrial technological base of the military and the civilian sectors, and a complete redefinition of the task of the military industries and their role in technological development. Key concepts here are critical technologies, technology assessment, prototyping and flexible production. In Russia, because of the lack of strong civil actors in the vacuum succeeding the collapse of the Soviet Union, a different development track is emerging. As few examples exist of Western joint ventures, and since conversion is facing both financial and organizational barriers, the conversion problem has been reformulated. The main focus is no longer on conversion of military facilities and know-how for civilian uses. The emerging paradigm implies export of weapons inter alia, to finance conversion. However, such military exports are now justified with reference to commercial concerns. The task is to integrate Russia within the world economy and to gain access to foreign currency. This article sees these reconstructions of military technology in a theoretical perspective, as a result of which a new research agenda for peace studies emerges.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ACOST (Advisory Council on Science and Technology) , 1989. Defence R&D: a National Resource. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
2.
Albrecht, Ulrich , 1988. `Spin-off: A Fundamentalist Approach', pp. 35-58 in Philip Gummett & Judith Reppy, eds, The Relations between Defence and Civil Technologies. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
3.
Albrecht, Ulrich, 1990. `The Role of Military R&D in Arms Build-Ups', ch. 6, pp. 87-104 in Gleditsch & Njølstad, 1990.
4.
Alexander, Arthur J. , 1990. Perestroika and Change in Soviet Weapons Acquisition. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, R-3821-USDP June
5.
Alic, John A. ; Lewis M. Branscomb, Harvey Brooks, Ashton B. Carter & Gerald L. Epstein, 1992. Beyond Spinoff. Military and Commercial Technologies in a Changing World. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
6.
Amann, Robert & Julian Cooper, 1986. Technical Progress and Soviet Economic Development. London: Blackwell.
7.
Ballentine, Katherine , 1991. Soviet Defence Industry Reform: The Problems of Conversion in an Unconverted Economy. Ontario: Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security. Background Paper, July.
8.
Bijker, Wiebe E., 1987. `The Social Construction of Bakelite: Toward a Theory of Invention', pp. 159-187 in Bijker, et al., 1987.
9.
Bijker, Wiebe E. ; Thomas Hughes & Trevor Pinch, 1987. The Social Construction of Large Technological Systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
10.
Bijker, Wiebe E. & John Law, 1992. Shaping Technology, Building Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
11.
Callon, Michel, 1987. `Society in the Making: The Study of Technology as a Tool for Sociological Analysis', pp. 83-103 in Bijker et al., 1987.
12.
Conversion RICA. 19 May 1992, Moscow.
13.
Cronberg, Tarja , 1992a. The Price of Peace. Military Conversion on the Enterprise Level in Russia. Technology Assessment Textno. 10. Lyngby: Unit of Technology Assessment, Technical University of Denmark.
14.
Cronberg, Tarja , 1992b. `The Social Reconstruction of Military Technology: With Special Reference to the Environment, ch. 8, pp. 135-167 in Nils Petter Gleditsch, ed., Conversion and the Environment. Proceedings of a Seminar in Perm, Russia, 24-27 November 1991. Oslo: International Peace Research Institute. PRIO Report no. 2, 1992.
15.
Ellul, Jacques , 1964. The Technological Society. New York: Vintage.
16.
Elster, Jon , 1983. Explaining Technical Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17.
Enserink, Bert ; Wim A. Smit & Boelie Elzen, 1990. `Assessments and the B-1 Bomber Network', Project Appraisal, vol. 5, no. 4. December, pp. 235-254.
18.
Evangelista, Matthew , 1988. Innovation and the Arms Race: How the United States and the Soviet Union Develop New Military Technologies. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
19.
Future Relations between Defence and Civil Science and Technology. 1991. Report for the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. SPSG Review Paper no. 2. London: ESRC/SPSG Defence Science & Technology Policy Team.
20.
Galbraith, John K. , 1967. The New Industrial State. London: Hamilton.
21.
Gleditsch, Nils Petter & Olav Njølstad, eds, 1990. Arms Races. Technological and Political Dynamics. London: Sage.
22.
Goldman, Steven & Kenneth Preiss, 1991. 21st Century Manufacturing Enterprise Tragedy: An Industry Led View. Bethlehem, PA: Iacocca Institute, Lehigh University.
23.
Hartmann, Heidi, 1974. `Capitalism and Women's Work in the Home, Unpublished PhD thesis. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
24.
Hill, Catherine ; Sabina Deitrich & Ann Markusen, 1991. Converting the Military Industrial Economy: The Experiences of Six Communities. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers University.
25.
Hughes, Thomas , 1989. American Genesis. A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm. 1870-1970. New York: Penguin.
26.
Izyumov, Alexei , 1990. `The National Experience of the USSR'. Paper presented at the United Nations Conference on Conversion: `Economic Adjustment in an Era of Arms Reduction'. Moscow, 13-17 August.
27.
LaTour, Bruno , 1987. Science in Action. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
28.
LaTour Bruno , 1992. `Where Are the Missing Masses? The Sociology of a Few Mundane Artefacts', pp. 225-258 in Wiebe E. Bijker & John Law, Shaping Technology, Building Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
29.
MacKenzie, Donald , 1990. Inventing Accuracy. A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
30.
MacKenzie, Donald & Judith Wajcman, 1985. The Social Shaping of Technology. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
31.
Markusen, Ann & Joel Yudken, 1992. Dismantling the Cold War Economy. New York: Basic Books.
32.
Melman, Seymour , 1989. `Law for Economic Conversion: Necessity and Characteristics', pp. 161-167 in Lloyd J. Dumas & Marek Thee, eds, Making Peace Possible - the Promise of Economic Conversion. Oxford: Pergamon.
33.
Parrott, Bruce , 1983. Politics and Technology in the Soviet Union. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
34.
Rapoport, Anatol , 1987. `Conflict Escalation and Conflict Dynamics', ch. 11, pp. 163-178 in Raimo Väyrynen, Dieter Senghaas & Christian Schmid, eds, The Quest for Peace. London: Sage.
35.
Senghaas, Dieter, 1990. `Arms Race Dynamics and Arms Control', ch. 2, pp. 15-30 in Gleditsch & Njølstad, 1990.
36.
Thee, Marek, 1990. `Science-Based Military Technology as a Driving Force behind the Arms Race', ch. 7, pp. 105-120 in Gleditsch & Njølstad, 1950.
37.
United States' Congress/Office of Technology Assessment , 1989. Holding the Edge: Maintaining the Defense Technology Base: Summary. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
38.
United States Congress/Office of Technology Assessment , 1991. Redesigning Defense. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
39.
United States Congress/Office of Technology Assessment , 1992. After the Cold War. Living with Lower Defense Spending. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
40.
Winner, Langdon , 1977. Autonomous Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
41.
Yudken, Joel S. & Michael Black, 1991. `Towards a New National Needs Agenda for Science and Technology Policy: The Prospects of Democratic Science and Technology Policymaking', pp. 160-201 in Gregory A. Bischak, ed., Towards a Peace Economy in the United States. Essays on Military Industry, Disarmament and Economic Conversion. London: Macmillan.
