Prof Mathias Koenig-Archibugi

This course is available on the MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po) and MSc in International Relations (Research). This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

All International Relations (IR4) optional courses at LSE are Controlled Access and require an application via LfY. Students must include a statement in their LfY application of no more than 200 words explaining their interest in the course and its relevance to their academic and career goals.

Application deadline: 12:00 noon, Friday 26 September 2025.

Notification of outcome: by 12:00 noon, Monday 29 September 2025.

After this date, students should consult the MSc Course Availability Spreadsheet for remaining spaces on IR4-level courses. 

For further details, see the LSE Selecting Courses webpage in the first instance or contact IR.Programmes@lse.ac.uk only if necessary.

Technological change can generate major benefits but also significant harm. The course examines harms that display three features. First, their impact is not limited to the country of origin but extends across borders, raising the problem of international collective action. Second, their impact may be particularly severe in the future, raising questions of intergenerational justice. Third, the harms are potentially catastrophic in magnitude. The scope of the course encompasses topics such as artificial intelligence, nuclear technologies, biological research with the potential to cause pandemics, growing antibiotic resistance, geoengineering, and cyberwarfare and cyberterrorism. The combination of international and intergenerational dimensions can make the governance of such risks especially challenging. The course applies to such problems the insights on the conditions for effective cooperation in a world of sovereign states that are offered by the current literature in International Relations and related disciplines. The course does not offer technical introductions to the relevant technologies and instead analyses their governance implications from the perspective of IR and other social sciences.

The course has three parts. The first part  presents a conceptual toolbox for the analysis of the international impacts and governance of major risks that transcend national borders and have long-term impacts. The second part covers a series of case studies about the relationship between specific technologies and international politics. The third part consists of a classroom simulation of the negotiation of an international agreement aimed at mitigating a major contemporary risk.

LSE is currently evaluating the use of edit tracking tools for AI-resilient assessment. This course might use edit tracking tools for assessments.

15 hours of seminars and 15 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

1. Class exercises based on the weekly readings.
2. Formative essay based on the course readings and related to the simulation, due in Week 8. The essay gives students the opportunity to apply the conceptual toolbox of the course to the analysis of a specific case and to receive feedback to support preparation for the assessment.
3. Participation in policy simulation.

Exam (100%), duration: 180 Minutes in the Spring exam period.