Technological Expectations and the Making of Europe

Abstract

In a case study approach, the paper traces how technological expectations have been influential in the creation of European institutions, R&D programmes and regulatory instruments and how they have contributed to processes of European integration. The first case study shows how the promises of a coming ‘Atomic Age’ have been mobilized to support the foundation of the European Atomic Energy Community and, thus, contributed to European integration in the post-WW2 era. The second case study analyses how the security stream within the EU’s framework programmes for R&D is shaped by the promise of ‘technosecurity’ and enacts the normative claim of the EU’s security integration in the post-Cold War era. The third case study analyses how the EU’s AI strategy and AI act articulates the vision of a ‘human-centric AI’ and how this vision is related to the EU’s current attempt to restore citizens’ trust in times of crisis.