Erik Lin-Greenberg: The Transparency Dilemma: International Relations in a World Without Secrets
Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/02/2025
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Categories No Categories
Please join the Hitachi Center for Technology and International Affairs for a conversation with political scientist Erik Lin-Greenberg. He will discuss a recent academic paper he coauthored with political scientist Theo Milonopoulos, titled “The Transparency Dilemma: International Relations in a World Without Secrets.”
In the paper, they develop a systematic framework for understanding the Janus-faced effects of democratized, open-source intelligence on international politics. They analyze how states confront the bane and boon of increased transparency—a phenomenon we describe as the transparency dilemma. They identify three core areas of international politics where the transparency dilemma appears most prominently—international signaling, the conduct of military operations, and the domestic politics of foreign policymaking. For each of these areas, they synthesize literature on signaling, informational cues, intelligence studies, domestic politics, and the politics of emerging technologies to map out how open-source information can both help and hinder governments. They then apply their framework to a case study of the Russia-Ukraine war and find support for their argument that democratized intelligence has both positive and negative effects on states.
The event is open to members of the Fletcher and Tufts communities and invited guests. Please register via the following Microsoft Form to attend in person or let us know if you would like to attend virtually. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to submit discussion questions for the speaker in advance. Lunch will be served at the beginning of the event. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions, and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Erik Lin-Greenberg is the Leo Marx Career Development Assistant Professor in the History and Culture of Science and Technology in the Department of Political Science at MIT. His research examines how emerging military technology affects conflict dynamics and the regulation and use of force. In his book project, he studies how remote warfighting technologies – like drones – shape crisis escalation. In other ongoing projects, he explores how technology and public opinion influence alliance politics and decisions on the use of force. He is also interested in the international politics of food and the use of wargaming as a tool of scholarly inquiry. He completed his Ph.D. in Political Science at Columbia University and an M.S. and B.S. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before entering academia, he was an active-duty officer in the United States Air Force and continues to serve as Director of Operations of an Air Force Reserve Squadron.