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Rethinking the Political / -Science- / Fiction Nexus: Global Policy Making and the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Charli Carpenter
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Abstract

A burgeoning literature in IR asserts there is a relationship between pop cultural artifacts and global policy processes, but this relationship is rarely explored using observational data. To fill this gap, I provide an evidence-based exploration of the relationship between science-fiction narratives and global public policy in an important emerging political arena: norm-building efforts around the prohibition of fully autonomous weapons. Drawing on in-depth interviews with advocacy elites, and participant-observation at key campaign events, I explore and expand on constitutive theories about the impact of science fiction on “real-world” politics.

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Articles
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 53 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

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