Since ATI has offered a course called Astropolitics for many years, and since our Astropolitics instructor is a noted expert in his field, and since we have an upcoming offering of Astropolitics, it only seemed natural that I, the new Science Advisor for ATI, should figure out “What the Heck is Astropolitics?”

Most of the definitions found on the internet seem to say that Astropolitics is the theory and study of the effects that Space has on politics.  Seemingly, any political decision by any country which involves Space issues or Space implications would fall under Astropolitics.

Astropolitics includes topics such as International Space Treaties, Space Law, International Conflict in Space Exploration, and International Space Economics.  The one topic addressed by Astropolitics which the author finds most compelling is the political impact of any contact which may someday occur with extraterrestrial intelligence.  That’s right, the body that conceived of and defined the field of Astropolitics actually considered the possibility that mankind may someday discover intelligent life someplace besides earth.  As an editorial note, the author of this blog finds this inclusion to be compelling, because of his firm belief that intelligent extraterrestrial life does exist elsewhere, although it may not be discovered in our lifetime, or forever, for that matter (and I certainly do not believe these lifeforms have ever visited earth, yet.)  Although there is no currently accepted doctrine for how countries will react to the discovery of extraterrestrial life, there are ongoing efforts by multiple countries to develop a set of structured rules, standards, guidelines, or actions that governmental entities plan to follow in the event of confirmed signals form extraterrestrial civilizations.  Perhaps there are even Astropolitics discussions occurring today in some extraterrestrial civilization.  Of note, extraterrestrials are always welcome to attend ATI courses if they have a way to travel to live classes, log into virtual classes, and pay with earth currency.

For many ATI courses, including our upcoming Astropolitics Course, potential students have the opportunity to attend a free one-hour virtual short-session.  This is an opportunity for students to learn more about what will be covered in the course, and meet the instructor.  Even if you have no intention of taking the full course, you may find the Free session informative, and you may even change your mind about attending the full course.  You can learn more about both the Astropolitics Free Session, and Astropolitics – ATI Courses at these links.  While there, you will also be able to register for the Free Session or the Class, or both.

And, as always, you can learn about the full set of courses offered by ATI at www.aticourses.com