In this article, we maintain that the anticipated integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled systems into state-level decision making over whether and when to wage war will be accompanied by a hitherto neglected risk. Namely, the incorporation of such systems will engender subtle but significant changes to the state’s deliberative and organisational structures, its culture, and its capacities – and in ways that could undermine its adherence to international norms of restraint. In offering this provocation, we argue that the gradual proliferation and embeddedness of AI-enabled decision-support systems within the state – what we call the ‘phenomenon of “Borgs in the org”’ – will lead to four significant changes that, together, threaten to diminish the state’s crucial capacity for ‘institutional learning’. Specifically, the state’s reliance on AI-enabled decision-support systems in deliberations over war initiation will invite: (i) disrupted deliberative structures and chains of command; (ii) the occlusion of crucial steps in decision-making processes; (iii) institutionalised deference to computer-generated outputs; and (iv) future plans and trajectories that are overdetermined by past policies and actions. The resulting ‘institutional atrophy’ could, in turn, weaken the state’s responsiveness to external social cues and censure, thereby making the state less likely to engage with, internalise, and adhere to evolving international norms of restraint. As a collateral effect, this weakening could contribute to the decay of these norms themselves if such institutional atrophy were to become widespread within the society of states.

As part of a suite of policy documents on older people's issues, the ‘New Labour’ British government has published a joint housing and health strategy, Quality and Choice for Older People's Housing. In this they attempt to map out the problems facing older people. The strategy also suggests that among the solutions there should be more opportunities for older people to make choices and for their deeper involvement in housing matters. This paper sketches the background to this strategy and reviews the literature to determine whether there is a foundation of dialogue with older people on housing issues. While there have been increasing efforts to build socially inclusive processes, particularly in the major ‘regeneration’ programmes, it is still the case that older people are usually excluded. The core of the paper is a case study from the Better Government for Older People programme which explored the process by which older people worked alongside professionals to remodel a local authority dwelling. An analysis of the dialogue provides a window onto the self conceptions of professionals. Older people gained as individuals and as a group from the housing project, and were able to develop collective influence through a representation role. Learning by the local authority was more incremental. The paper ends with a discussion of the broader lessons for service providers.