Democracy & Robots: The Political Consequences of the Automation of Coercion

• In Event: Drones and Autonomous Warfare

Abstract

In an earlier study, I showed how military automation is likely to transform the conduct of military contests, paradoxically increasing civilian casualties in some cases (Gartzke 2019). Here, I examine the impact of military automation on political liberty. One of the chief advantages of democracy is that it is cheap; nations with public participation in politics and the legitimacy that ensues can spend much less on domestic security forces and repression. Unfortunately, automation of coercive power makes repression much cheaper and possibly more reliable. Military automation will tend to counteract the "waves" of democracy witnessed in the 20th century, even as civilian automation is driving a wedge between skilled and unskilled labor. Increasingly, democracy will become an alternative for societies where there is high social cohesion and/or where leaders are satisfied to govern temporarily or where wealth can be protected from government power.

Author

• Erik Gartzke, UCSD