Economics & Global Affairs

Calder Walton says both seek to topple the United States from atop world stage, with China's blend of money, influence, all-hands-on-deck approach posing the greater threat.

Stephen Walt analyzes the priority that the United States should place on competing with China by asking and answering five questions.

Joseph S. Nye argues that history shows that globalization is largely driven by technological changes that reduce the importance of distance, and that will not change.

Stephen Walt writes that for all their shortcomings, states remain the dominant political form in the world today. The number of independent states has grown steadily since 1945 because different ethnic or national groups continue to crave the security and autonomy that only self-government can provide. 

John P. Holdren and coauthors argue that the next presidential administration must renew its commitment to investing in science and technology regardless of who wins in November. The United States is facing a great host of challenges that underscore the urgent need for renewed investment in the science and technology enterprise and the rapid application of new scientific knowledge and advanced technology to solve complex problems.

Joseph Nye writes that the world is increasingly obsessed with the ongoing power struggle between the United States and China. But the technology-driven shift of power away from states to transnational actors and global forces brings a new and unfamiliar complexity to global affairs.

Stephen Walt and Bruce Schneier are two of the ten leading global thinkers that Foreign Policy invited to each give their take on an expansion of government powers as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The continual spread of Open Banking means that regulators and merchants in various markets are becoming more aware of the critical importance of security as data speeds increase. One of the more intriguing markets moving forward with financial innovation is China, where regulators have upgraded both banking and cybersecurity rules in recent years.

The rules — as with Europe’s regulations surrounding financial data collection and use — are intended to keep information safe, while fostering growth for banks and merchants. Since China is one of the more dominant markets in the world, its changing rules are a matter of interest for both lawmakers in neighboring markets and merchants looking to expand into the country.

Bruce Schneier  explains that there is no escaping the technology of inevitable surveillance. Consumers have little choice but to rely on the companies that build their computers and write their software, whether in  smartphones,  5G wireless infrastructure, or subway cars.  China is more likely to try to get data from the U.S. communications infrastructure like the United States does rather than try to produce a subway car outfitted with surveillance apparatus.

Understanding deterrence in cyberspace is often difficult, because  minds remain captured by an image of deterrence shaped by the Cold War: a threat of massive retaliation to a nuclear attack by nuclear means. A better analogy is crime: governments can only imperfectly prevent it.