Department of Politics and Public Administration

This half-course explores the interplay between technology and politics. In an era of rapid technological advances (e.g., artificial intelligence, automation), technological change is poised to be a key catalyst for societal disruption and an avenue for intensifying geopolitical competition. This course examines these contemporary challenges by reviewing historical, theoretical, and empirical research in international and comparative political economy. Key topics include the impact of automation on labor markets and politics, the geopolitics of technology, and the gig economy. The course aims to enable students to critically analyze the drivers and consequences of technological change.

Professor Nicole Wu (nkwu@hku.hk)

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the politics and theories related to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as the role of nuclear energy and technology. Core topics of this course include the basics of nuclear weapons, nuclear strategies, and deterrence theory. Students will examine these issues within historical and theoretical frameworks, drawing on both conceptual and empirical perspectives to better understand the evolution of nuclear politics and strategy.

We’re all living in a fast-changing world — now largely driven by technology and innovation — from the way we shop, where we get information, and to the future of financial services. Meanwhile, we acknowledge the biggest challenge to technology and innovation is no longer the development of new technology itself but rather how to get users and policymakers to first understand the pros and cons of emerging technologies, and then how to apply them to the new digital society in a responsible way, as the general public do expect higher efficiency in delivery of public services, as well as better control of our own data privacy. Those are the questions and issues we will explore in this course. The instructor designed the course based on his first-hand long-time experience at Meta (previously known as Facebook) as well as a witness of the rapid changes of regulatory landscapes across the globe, which is becoming more and more divided. Students need to learn and assess which internet governance models will be more desirable and why. We will also touch on geopolitics and learn why technology lies at the heart of growing US-China tensions, for example, AI, electric vehicles, and the semiconductor business.