Frankenstein Technology: Implications for the Geopolitics of Export Control

Abstract

Military technologies have always been critical tools in shaping how nation-States interact. Given this, the enactment of export controls has played a fundamental role in the development of geopolitical blocs around the world. Recently, experts have observed a rise in “Frankenstein” weapons, i.e., military technologies reassembled from export-controlled subcomponents, which are available from multiple foreign suppliers. This paper argues that the core contributor to the increase in the creation of Frankenstein weapons has been nation-States favouring unilateralism over multilateralism in enacting their export control laws. This nationalistic approach by numerous (but especially Western) nation-States has created regulatory gaps, in which private players can more readily subvert the policy reasoning for global export control. We identify that Frankenstein weapons are an emerging norm in the current geopolitical context, and we analyse the predominant causes for that emergence, suggesting a need for drastic reframing of export control policy worldwide.