Synthetic Biology and Dilemmas of Insecurity

Abstract

It is increasingly apparent that the route to national security is a more global approach to the management of new and emerging technology. However, national security preoccupations still dominate in this area of global politics. This sets limits upon the types of concern associated with emergent technology which can be dealt with at the international level—particularly in the context of the broader UN System. Fields such as synthetic biology are significant in a number of ways at the international level—heralded as both a potential threat and benefit to global security. They are also a site at which more competitive and communal visions of security are reproduced. In this chapter, major initiatives to pre-emptively engage with security concerns are reviewed and critically assessed.