When do attempts to control emerging technologies of warfare through multilateral agreements produce hollow agreements? This article contends that prospects for multilateral restrictions on new weapons technologies depend on how states assess the advantage from a new technology and the vulnerability it poses for them. However, they may misunderstand a new technology and develop hollow agreements restricting a technology that is never developed. Still, such agreements can create precedents that shape future governance efforts. To examine these dynamics, this article compares efforts govern emerging technologies in the context of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Protocols I and IV.
Egel, N. (2025). Anticipatory governance and new weapons of war: Lessons from the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Journal of Strategic Studies, 48(3), 720–743. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2024.2442683
