Upcoming Events
Techno-Nationalism: How It’s Reshaping Trade, Geopolitics, and Society
Hinrich Foundation Research Fellow Alex Capri’s new book, Techno-Nationalism: How It’s Reshaping Trade, Geopolitics, and Society, is available now. The book plumbs the challenges at the intersection of trade, technology, geopolitics, and rising nationalism across the world, drawing in part on Capri’s years of research commissioned by the Foundation on these themes. Register now to join us for a book launch on November 7.
“Alex Capri’s Techno-Nationalism features at its heart the cutting edge of high technology as a singular symbol of national achievement and systemic challenges to global governance, wending it through a history of state power, industrial revolutions, and economic statecraft.
In his confident sweep across the vast expanses of this global contest, Capri ranges from the depths of undersea data cables to the outer-space reaches of satellite constellations and into the invisible realms of the internet. The book details some of the thorniest dilemmas for business, governments, and humankind thrown up by the largest collision of foreign, defense, and trade policies in nearly a century.
As Alex's commissioning editor since July 2022, I have been delighted to shape his research, which was sponsored by and on behalf of the Hinrich Foundation, on papers including the race for data supremacy, the satellite war, data centers, undersea cables, China's tech policy, and the AI arms race, among others. Techno-Nationalism is nothing less than a map of a world increasingly coming asunder as it struggles to contain a gathering confrontation.”
- Chuin Wei Yap, International Trade Program Director, Hinrich Foundation
[Text below by Wiley]
Picture a world where governments deploy autonomous drones to the oceans’ depths to defend undersea fibre optic cable networks — the backbone of the Internet — from espionage and sabotage.
Picture a world where governments deploy autonomous drones to the oceans’ depths to defend undersea fibre optic cable networks — the backbone of the Internet — from espionage and sabotage.
In the skies above, government-funded constellations of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, numbering in the tens of thousands, beam wireless Internet to the world’s most remote regions while simultaneously tracking the flight of hypersonic missiles.
Meanwhile, in cyberspace, diplomats and spies unleash artificial intelligence (AI) to engage in narrative wars and influence campaigns, using deepfakes and sophisticated algorithms to affect political and social outcomes.
These are some of the elements of Techno-Nationalism, which holds that a nation’s economic strength and its national security — even its social stability— is linked to the technological prowess of its leading tech companies, universities and government institutions.
Great power competition between America and China has spawned a fierce innovation race involving the most critical twenty-first century technologies, from advanced materials, AI, and biotech to nano-scale manufacturing and quantum science. At the heart of it all are semiconductors — the ultimate foundational technology and power-multiplier.
This book is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand the full impact of a technology-oriented cold war, across the international landscape.
The Hinrich Foundation will be holding a book launch for Techno-Nationalism on Thursday, 7 November 2024, at 5 pm at the Foundation’s Singapore offices. Sign up here.
