The Geopoliticisation of International Organisations and Strategic Technologies: Exacerbating Global Rivalries?

International organisations (IOs) are traditionally seen as facilitators of international cooperation between states. Regarding emerging strategic technologies, many observers view IOs as multilateral institutions that can mitigate great power rivalry through regulation. This article argues, however, that IOs are increasingly geopoliticised, which can be defined as the act of making IOs part of global rivalries in world politics with the purpose of restructuring the global balance of power. It provides case studies from the contestation of emerging safeguards implications of nuclear technologies at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to competition over the future of the global digital order at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and the contention over the regulation of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The article concludes that as IOs have become increasingly authoritative actors in international relations, they no longer only facilitate cooperation between states, but are themselves also increasingly part of global rivalries.