Media, industry and academia frequently depict the commercialization of satellite imagery as geos... more Media, industry and academia frequently depict the commercialization of satellite imagery as geospatial revolution with transformational effects on global politics. In doing so, they follow an understanding that isolates technology from politics. While this division is still prevalent in International Relations, recent scholarship has promoted the intricate relationship of technology with politics as socio-material. Adding to this literature, I draw on the sociology of expectations to propose an alternative reading of non-governmental remote sensing. For this purpose, the notion of techno-political barriers is introduced to trace controversies about technological expectations of satellite imagery. Based on expert interviews and document analysis, I identify three waves of enthusiasm, which are characterized by particularly salient expectations and techno-political barriers. The first wave is fuelled by an enthusiasm about the general benefits of visual transparency as opposed to Cold War secrecy. The second wave turns towards non-governmental imagery intelligence for human security. In the third wave satellite imagery joins multiple data streams to support political and business decisions. Taken together, the three-waves model distorts the linear understanding of a revolutionary development but reveals the political and controversial nature of the ongoing commercialization of satellite imagery. As a part of this, non-governmental remote sensing has experienced a focus shift from visual transparency towards geospatial big data. Moreover, the three waves model highlights the persistence of expectations and techno-political barriers in the non-governmental sector with important implications for policymaking and the global impact of commercial satellite imagery.
A broad range of non-state actors make use of commercial satellite imagery to monitor global secu... more A broad range of non-state actors make use of commercial satellite imagery to monitor global security issues. Questioning the favourable narrative of achieving ‘global transparency’ through Earth observation, the article unravels the underlying relations between the US government, commercial imagery providers, and other non-state actors. Linking insights from Science and Technology Studies and International Relations, two related arguments are put forward: first, the commercialization of satellite technology and imagery does not dismiss the influence of the state but is conducive of the co-production of shifting actor constellations and related to that, different ideas about transparency and power. Secondly, this leads to a less benign understanding of transparency which emphasizes its contingent emergence, limited scope, and context dependence. This ‘fragile transparency’ exposes the shifting power relations inherent to commercial satellite imagery and its potential as a political practice to render certain things as visible and threats to international security.
Despite international sanctions and a strained economy, North Korea continues to spend scarce res... more Despite international sanctions and a strained economy, North Korea continues to spend scarce resources on a costly space program. Hitherto, research has usually explained this continuity in terms of international security and/or international reputation. Accordingly, Pyongyang uses its space-related efforts as a pretext to develop inter-continental ballistic missiles and to enhance its international reputation. This article argues that these explanations do not suffice and thus adds domestic motives for consideration. By engaging recent North Korean studies, which emphasize the importance of performance and symbol for the politics of the Kim regime, this article explores recurring actions and routinized behavior by the leadership as symbolic practices that reinforce domestic legitimacy. The goal is to provide a conceptual avenue through which to better understand North Korean affairs. Taking into
The book Open Space: The Global Efforts for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data offers in... more The book Open Space: The Global Efforts for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data offers interesting parallels to this situation by looking at the evolution of data policies for environmental satellite data since the 1960s. Mariel Borowitz tackles an important puzzle by explaining why some governments opted for open access policies, while others chose to limit access to environmental satellite data. More specifically, Borowitz wonders that given the potential benefits of satellite data for myriad environmental and social problems, why “in many cases the space and meteorological agencies around the world that collect satellite data essential to addressing these issues do not share that data freely[?]” Borowitz identifies a certain pattern in data sharing policies from open access in the early phases of government remote sensing to more restrictive regulations, and then back to open data sharing. In this context, the book explains what drove government agencies to change their data sharing policies in this particular sequence.
The commercialization of high-resolution satellite imagery has put the former intelligence techno... more The commercialization of high-resolution satellite imagery has put the former intelligence technology within reach for non-governmental actors. This fueled expectations that the emergent practice of non-governmental remote sensing helps to promote global transparency and security from space. Challenging this one-sided narrative, the thesis combines socio-material approaches to security with grounded theory methods to explore the role of technology in security governance. The analysis builds on 50 qualitative interviews as well as supplementary documents and arrives at three central findings. First, it shows how security threats are co-produced by human and technological factors: The potentials and constraints of commercial satellite imagery co-determine which and how security threats are eventually problematized. In the process, the material and visual dimensions of satellite imagery render security problematizations as intuitively legitimate and credible. Second, the thesis draws up a typology of four distinct modes of non-governmental remote sensing. The variation is a result of how non-governmental actors react to and actualize the socio-material potentials and constraints of remote sensing technology. Finally, the thesis challenges prevalent ideas about the expected effects of satellite-based transparency. It argues that non-governmental remote sensing leads to forced transparency, when transparency is idealized as a quantifiable virtue that should be maximized. Effectively, this blurs the lines between transparency and surveillance. Based on this, the thesis reassesses the risks and implications of the maximization of transparency.
Media, industry and academia frequently depict the commercialization of satellite imagery as geos... more Media, industry and academia frequently depict the commercialization of satellite imagery as geospatial revolution with transformational effects on global politics. In doing so, they follow an understanding that isolates technology from politics. While this division is still prevalent in International Relations, recent scholarship has promoted the intricate relationship of technology with politics as socio-material. Adding to this literature, I draw on the sociology of expectations to propose an alternative reading of non-governmental remote sensing. For this purpose, the notion of techno-political barriers is introduced to trace controversies about technological expectations of satellite imagery. Based on expert interviews and document analysis, I identify three waves of enthusiasm, which are characterized by particularly salient expectations and techno-political barriers. The first wave is fuelled by an enthusiasm about the general benefits of visual transparency as opposed to Cold War secrecy. The second wave turns towards non-governmental imagery intelligence for human security. In the third wave satellite imagery joins multiple data streams to support political and business decisions. Taken together, the three-waves model distorts the linear understanding of a revolutionary development but reveals the political and controversial nature of the ongoing commercialization of satellite imagery. As a part of this, non-governmental remote sensing has experienced a focus shift from visual transparency towards geospatial big data. Moreover, the three waves model highlights the persistence of expectations and techno-political barriers in the non-governmental sector with important implications for policymaking and the global impact of commercial satellite imagery.
A broad range of non-state actors make use of commercial satellite imagery to monitor global secu... more A broad range of non-state actors make use of commercial satellite imagery to monitor global security issues. Questioning the favourable narrative of achieving ‘global transparency’ through Earth observation, the article unravels the underlying relations between the US government, commercial imagery providers, and other non-state actors. Linking insights from Science and Technology Studies and International Relations, two related arguments are put forward: first, the commercialization of satellite technology and imagery does not dismiss the influence of the state but is conducive of the co-production of shifting actor constellations and related to that, different ideas about transparency and power. Secondly, this leads to a less benign understanding of transparency which emphasizes its contingent emergence, limited scope, and context dependence. This ‘fragile transparency’ exposes the shifting power relations inherent to commercial satellite imagery and its potential as a political practice to render certain things as visible and threats to international security.
Despite international sanctions and a strained economy, North Korea continues to spend scarce res... more Despite international sanctions and a strained economy, North Korea continues to spend scarce resources on a costly space program. Hitherto, research has usually explained this continuity in terms of international security and/or international reputation. Accordingly, Pyongyang uses its space-related efforts as a pretext to develop inter-continental ballistic missiles and to enhance its international reputation. This article argues that these explanations do not suffice and thus adds domestic motives for consideration. By engaging recent North Korean studies, which emphasize the importance of performance and symbol for the politics of the Kim regime, this article explores recurring actions and routinized behavior by the leadership as symbolic practices that reinforce domestic legitimacy. The goal is to provide a conceptual avenue through which to better understand North Korean affairs. Taking into
The book Open Space: The Global Efforts for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data offers in... more The book Open Space: The Global Efforts for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data offers interesting parallels to this situation by looking at the evolution of data policies for environmental satellite data since the 1960s. Mariel Borowitz tackles an important puzzle by explaining why some governments opted for open access policies, while others chose to limit access to environmental satellite data. More specifically, Borowitz wonders that given the potential benefits of satellite data for myriad environmental and social problems, why “in many cases the space and meteorological agencies around the world that collect satellite data essential to addressing these issues do not share that data freely[?]” Borowitz identifies a certain pattern in data sharing policies from open access in the early phases of government remote sensing to more restrictive regulations, and then back to open data sharing. In this context, the book explains what drove government agencies to change their data sharing policies in this particular sequence.
The commercialization of high-resolution satellite imagery has put the former intelligence techno... more The commercialization of high-resolution satellite imagery has put the former intelligence technology within reach for non-governmental actors. This fueled expectations that the emergent practice of non-governmental remote sensing helps to promote global transparency and security from space. Challenging this one-sided narrative, the thesis combines socio-material approaches to security with grounded theory methods to explore the role of technology in security governance. The analysis builds on 50 qualitative interviews as well as supplementary documents and arrives at three central findings. First, it shows how security threats are co-produced by human and technological factors: The potentials and constraints of commercial satellite imagery co-determine which and how security threats are eventually problematized. In the process, the material and visual dimensions of satellite imagery render security problematizations as intuitively legitimate and credible. Second, the thesis draws up a typology of four distinct modes of non-governmental remote sensing. The variation is a result of how non-governmental actors react to and actualize the socio-material potentials and constraints of remote sensing technology. Finally, the thesis challenges prevalent ideas about the expected effects of satellite-based transparency. It argues that non-governmental remote sensing leads to forced transparency, when transparency is idealized as a quantifiable virtue that should be maximized. Effectively, this blurs the lines between transparency and surveillance. Based on this, the thesis reassesses the risks and implications of the maximization of transparency.
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