Foundations for a Lens of Quantum Governance
Abstract
The second quantum revolution is a revolution of information. Advances in quantum computation, communication, and sensing offer new capabilities while raising questions about how quantum infrastructures will be organised, accessed, and governed. We argue that their significance for governance lies not in transforming political principles, but in how their technical and infrastructural requirements may affect existing relationships of authority, responsibility, legitimacy, and power. This paper develops a quantum governance lens that connects governance scholarship with quantum information science, examining interactions between technical design, institutional arrangements, and infrastructural dependencies. We apply this lens to five areas: quantum computation, quantum key distribution, Quantum Byzantine Agreement, blind quantum computation, and dual-use quantum sensing. These applications illustrate how technical capabilities may influence access, trust, privacy, oversight, and accountability, while demonstrating that technical guarantees cannot resolve institutional questions independently. We conclude that quantum technologies do not necessarily introduce unique governance challenges or require entirely new governance frameworks. Rather, they provide a context in which established questions of legitimacy, accountability, and equity must be reconsidered in relation to emerging technological capabilities and institutional choices.
Related
- Quantum Foundations Beyond Bell's Theorem: A Topical Review
- Foundations of Many-Body Theory of Quantum Unified Statistics: Green functions and Linear Response Theory
- QECert: Formal Foundations for Quantum Error-Correction Theory in Lean
- A Personal History in Quantum Foundations: an Oral History Interview
- Probing Quantum Foundations in Long-Baseline Neutrino Oscillations: Wave Packet Approach from MINOS Data to DUNE Predictions
BibTeX
@misc{lemstra2026foundations,
title = {{Foundations for a Lens of Quantum Governance}},
author = {Shira K. Huizing Lemstra and Tzula B. Propp},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.16939},
eprint = {2610.16939},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16939},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Foundations for a Lens of Quantum Governance
AU - Shira K. Huizing Lemstra
AU - Tzula B. Propp
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.16939
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16939
AB - The second quantum revolution is a revolution of information. Advances in quantum computation, communication, and sensing offer new capabilities while raising questions about how quantum infrastructures will be organised, accessed, and governed. We argue that their significance for governance lies not in transforming political principles, but in how their technical and infrastructural requirements may affect existing relationships of authority, responsibility, legitimacy, and power. This paper develops a quantum governance lens that connects governance scholarship with quantum information science, examining interactions between technical design, institutional arrangements, and infrastructural dependencies. We apply this lens to five areas: quantum computation, quantum key distribution, Quantum Byzantine Agreement, blind quantum computation, and dual-use quantum sensing. These applications illustrate how technical capabilities may influence access, trust, privacy, oversight, and accountability, while demonstrating that technical guarantees cannot resolve institutional questions independently. We conclude that quantum technologies do not necessarily introduce unique governance challenges or require entirely new governance frameworks. Rather, they provide a context in which established questions of legitimacy, accountability, and equity must be reconsidered in relation to emerging technological capabilities and institutional choices.
ER -