Continuing Challenges to International Law and Order from Evolving Technologies such as Blockchain

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Within the global arena diplomacy and international law have gone through a variety of transformations and adaptions, following the changing worldview of sovereign states and authority. Often the driving forces are innovation, and as such, international relations are constantly in flux. As a major driver behind change, technology tends to facilitate different interactions including the epochal trends toward globalization. Following the implementation of a new technology, there are disruptions to traditional customs, causing an evolution of social, political, and economic activities. This is particularly true in the face of further decentralization, as states may need to reassess their recognition of treaties and international law. While there have always been small states—even individual actors—with enough impact to disrupt and change the international order, recent technologies are empowering these actors to have a more significant and wider impact. This is not new; the development of weapons of mass destruction have created similar situations, such as in North Korea, where a small state has bypassed global norms and regulations to become an independent nuclear power. New technologies are constantly introduced, and a recent innovation, blockchain technology, is examined herein, within the historical context of its geopolitical implications.

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