IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nwe/natrud/y2026i1p53-85.html

Political Economy of War in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Author

Listed:
  • Hristo Prodanov

    (University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria)

Abstract

The political economy of war in the age of artificial intelligence examines how economic interests, technological advances, and geopolitical strategies shape contemporary and future conflicts. States and corporations compete in the development of digital technologies through control over data, cybersecurity, and the creation of increasingly sophisticated forms of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is becoming a key factor in the struggle for global dominance, influencing how global political-economic interests and international security are transformed. This perspective allows for a political-economic analysis that reveals the political, economic, and technological forces underlying modern wars, as well as the crucial role of artificial intelligence within them. The object of this analysis concerns the transformations of warfare resulting from technological development, while its subject is the specific role of artificial intelligence in contemporary conflicts. These dynamics are examined through a systematic analysis of both direct and reciprocal relationships among technological, economic, political, and broader social systems, combining historical and political-economic approaches. While this social system is increasingly associated with the “political economy of war in the age of artificial intelligence†, a far more necessary – and achievable – goal is the development of a “political economy of peace in the age of artificial intelligence†.

Suggested Citation

  • Hristo Prodanov, 2026. "Political Economy of War in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," Nauchni trudove, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 1, pages 53-85, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nwe:natrud:y:2026:i:1:p:53-85
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://unwe-research-papers.org/bg/journalissues/article/11770
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • F50 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - General
    • L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General
    • N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nwe:natrud:y:2026:i:1:p:53-85. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Vanya Lazarova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/unweebg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.