1st International Conference on
The Information Revolution and the Changing Face of International Relations and Security

 

Lucerne, Switzerland

May 23-25, 2005

 

 

 

The Center for Security Studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the Comparative Interdisciplinary Studies Section (CISS) of the International Studies Association are pleased to announce a joint two-day invitation-only conference in the beautiful surroundings of Lucerne, Switzerland to explore the implications of the information revolution for the international system and national and international security.  The conference proposes to engage in a discourse to analyze the scope and complexity of the contemporary challenges and opportunities confronting the international community.  Scholars are just beginning to understand the dynamic integration of computers and telecommunications technologies into a multimedia system of communication. While there is widespread belief that the information revolution is helping to restructure the international system, there is far less consensus about the theoretical and practical impact of the often contradictory developments we are observing.  An interdisciplinary dialogue that would provide alternative perspectives would be greatly beneficial in assessing the global implications and challenges posed by the significant and unprecedented impact of the “information revolution” upon the international community. The organizers hope to gather a select group of experts from the academic disciplines as well as professionals from the military, government, and the private sector to engage in a cross professional and interdisciplinary discourse to explore the magnitude and extent of these changes in the international arena.

 

The discourse is spread across three broad based topical areas:

 

topic 1 Governing the Information Age: This topic will address the issue of how the information revolution challenges the supremacy of the state. Includes issues such as new forms of governance; Internet regulation; “new” forms of power (soft power), etc.

Topic 2 Security in the Information Age: This topic will attempt to analyze the security implications of the information revolution. Includes subjects such as “cyber threats”; information operations; countermeasures, etc.

Topic 3 New Approaches for the Information Age: Challenges and Case Studies. This topic will focus on changing circumstances and the new conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and feasible approaches towards a changing global environment. Includes selected case studies on the information revolution and the transformation of  global exchanges.