UNILATERALISM IN 21ST CENTURY US SPACE POLICY

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, US space policy has shown an increasing and persistent shift towards unilateralism and demonstrated a greater disregard for multilateral approaches to resolving key international issues in space such as space weaponization as well as space congestion. With recent technological developments, there is now a more pressing need to address and deal with some of these issues, especially since outer space is likely to become an important international operating environment in the near future. In this regard, the US’s refusal to engage with these issues multilaterally is particularly consequential because it individually accounts for more than half of the world’s active space systems. As such, this thesis seeks to investigate the key mechanisms behind this shift in US space policy. In particular, this thesis will utilize securitization theory as a theoretical framework, arguing that the securitization of the US space policy discourse has been influential in causing this shift towards unilateralism. Notably, the securitized discourse has an influence on policymakers’ perceptions of space as a domain, resulting in a greater preference for unilateralist policies to protect US “national security interests”. In order to exemplify the argument, the thesis will be using a qualitative approach, analyzing the securitization of the US space policy discourse before illustrating its effect on policymaking and US space strategy.