Non-Degree / Dates: 25 – 29 January 2027

Emerging Technologies, Great Power Competition and the Future of World Politics is a one-week course at Tallinn Winter School, 25–29 January 2027, at Tallinn University in Tallinn, Estonia. It is designed for students of all levels (Bachelor, Master and PhD) and any background, with no prerequisites. 20 contact hours, 6 ECTS, the most of any course at the school. Fee: 450€ early bird until 31 October, 500€ after.

The development of Large Language Models (LLMs) and (semi)autonomous technologies, also known as emerging technologies, has pushed the world into a new era of great power competition. This competition takes place at new scales: critical mineral resources, soft power (e.g. culture), infrastructure, supply chains, militarisation and imaginations of the future. These scales are intimately connected to everyday life and the practice of politics. Hence, this course asks how we can understand emerging technologies in the context of great power competition. It also asks how we can approach this problem critically, by paying attention to the impacts of this competition on climate and social justice.

Great power politics has fascinated thinkers for millennia. From Ancient Greece to 17th-century India, from Italian city-states to slave plantations in the United States, great power competition has always, in one form or another, played an important role in dictating the terms of everyday life for everyone. With LLMs and emerging technologies, this competition gets a new face. We are no longer competing solely over containing adversaries and competitors, but are quite literally in a race for the future: whoever controls the resources of today will determine the outcomes of world politics for generations to come. Questions of technology are therefore central to thinking about the future, politics, knowledge and great powers.

This course examines emerging technologies from the perspective of International Relations. Using critical and cutting-edge interdisciplinary approaches in the discipline, we learn to ask questions about whose imaginations of the future matter in world politics and what they tell us about the nature of great power competition in the age of LLMs. With this approach, the course develops a nuanced understanding of one of the most significant issues of our time.

Course topics:

  • Big Tech and World Politics: Structure, Agency, Relations
  • Great Power Competition and Critical Mineral Resources: History, Current Challenges and Future
  • Planetary Infrastructures of Big Tech: From Satellites to Mines and Their Impacts on Our World
  • Imaginaries of AI in World Politics: The AI Interregnum and Power in International Relations
  • Techno-Optimism, Doomerism, or Something Else? The Future of Techno-Geopolitics

The course combines active class participation and engagement with readings, independent preparation for classes and independent work on assignments.

Why this course?

  • The course approaches technology and geopolitics from a critical perspective, centring imperialism, climate concerns and power analysis in its reflections.

  • It offers interdisciplinary and cutting-edge insights from disciplines like International Relations to explore the importance of our historical moment and to reflect on the future of the geopolitics of AI and Big Tech.

  • It challenges the myth of great power politics being “above” everything else, instead connecting it to political struggles at different scales of life.

Teacher(s)

Toni Čerkez, PhD, is Lecturer of International Politics at Tallinn University and Affiliate Researcher at the CEEShub. Toni’s research focuses on relational and critical theories of IR, with a specific focus on Anthropocene studies, the political ontology of technology (predictive algorithms, AI and cybernetics), cosmological approaches and decolonial knowledge(s) in IR. Toni is the head of the Liberal Arts in Social Science programme.

Tallinn University reserves the right to make changes to the teaching staff where necessary. Any such changes will not affect the learning outcomes or the academic quality of the course.

Timetable

Classes take place from Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 13:30.

Participants

The course is designed for students of all levels (Bachelor, Master and PhD) who are interested in the subject matter, no matter their background. No prerequisites.

Credit points

Upon full participation and completion of coursework, students will be awarded 6 ECTS credits and a certificate of completion.

Course fee

Early-Bird Course Fee (until 31 October)450€
Regular Course Fee (after 31 October)500€

NB! Accommodation, cultural programme and meals are not included in the price.

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