Recent Work on Emerging Technologies and Global Politics

Posted: 15th July 2025

Dear Colleague,

 
I hope you are enjoying the relatively slow days of summer. I have now been back at Perry World House for nearly a year following my time at the Pentagon, and I am thrilled to say that the past year has been one of the most productive and inspiring of my academic career. I am pleased to share with you not one, not two, not three, but four new shorter-form articles that I have coauthored in recent weeks. The first piece, published in the National Interest on June 25 and coauthored with Lauren Kahn (C’19 and former Perry World House Research Fellow) from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, discusses how the United States should revamp its defense innovation process to allow itself to remain competitive with other national actors, including China. The second article, also coauthored with Lauren and published on June 27 by AI Frontiers, discusses how we need to stop talking about artificial intelligence as if it is a nuclear weapon or nuclear technology. They are fundamentally different, so the governance approaches need to be different. On July 4, Foreign Affairs published a piece written by myself, Lauren, and Joshua Schwartz (SAS PhD ’22)—this one examined the way drones are and are not changing the future of war. And finally, Lauren, Council on Foreign Relations Stanton Nuclear Senior Fellow Erin Dumbacher, and I coauthored a piece published by the Council on Foreign Relations about the actual defense spending in the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and how much of it can and will be sustained on an ongoing basis.
 
As you may know, Perry World House refined our programmatic areas of work last summer, and as this makes clear, the intersection of emerging technologies and global politics remains a core area of interest, not just in our Security pillar, but beyond. And it is certainly a theme that has kept us busy this year. We have convened groups focused on AI governance—cosponsored with numerous other Penn centers and schools—maritime security, and the Indo-Pacific. In February, Perry World House hosted our first side event at the Munich Security Conference, drawing attention from senior military leaders, heads of prominent think tanks, and other policy makers.
 
I hope that you will continue to turn to Perry World House for trusted commentary on and analysis of important global issues and events. Have a wonderful rest of your summer, and we look forward to engaging with you in the fall.
 
Best,
 
Michael C. Horowitz
Faculty Director
Perry World House