Technology Innovation and Great Power Competition
Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition
INTLPOL 340 / MS&E 296
Fall Quarter 2023-2023
Keeping America’s Edge in an Era of Great Power Rivalry
The U.S. national security establishment is at risk of being disrupted.
"The People's Republic of China is the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it. Beijing has ambitions to create an enhanced sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and to become the world’s leading power. It is using its technological capacity and increasing influence over international institutions to create more permissive conditions for its own authoritarian model, and to mold global technology use and norms to privilege its interests and values."
– President Joseph R. Biden, National Security Strategy, 2022
About Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition
This is a unique course. We offer the combination of reading, lectures and guest speakers seen in traditional policy courses, however, this is an experiential policy class. The material we offer explores how new technologies pose challenges and create opportunities for the United States to compete with rivals in the international system with a focus on strategic competition with the People's Republic of China. With the small team you will form, you will embark on a quarter-long project that will get you out of the classroom to identify a priority national security challenge. Your team will validate the problem and propose a detailed solution, which will be tested against actual stakeholders in the technology and national security ecosystem.
Why We're Teaching this Class Now
The years following the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War are often referred to as America’s “unipolar moment” with the U.S. enjoying global dominance measured across all indices of national power. Since then, rival great powers like China and Russia have sought to undermine the U.S. led international order through deliberate and concerted whole of government efforts aimed at leveling the playing field with the U.S. and, wherever possible, tilting it to their advantage.