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The Return of Geopolitics: Global Value Chains, Emerging Technologies and US-China Relations

Eggers Hall, 341

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The Moynihan Institute, and the East Asia Program are proud to present Mark Dallas and Dimitar Gueorguiev. 

Previously, the global order was largely rules-based and functionally integrated through global value chains. But, geopolitics has returned due to the U.S.-China trade and technology conflicts, the rise of supply chain vulnerabilities highlighted by COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, the geopolitical goals of policymakers and the foreign economic policies they pursue are conditioned by the technologies, industrial organization and geographies of global industries, even if policymakers remain unaware of this underlying industrial organization.  Put simply, economic interdependence varies based on industry structures bequeathed from the prior era of globalization. 

This talk examines information-communication technology (ICTs) industries that reside at the heart of U.S.-China technology conflicts (e.g. semiconductors, mobile telecom, high performance computation). It argues that ICTs are organized into ‘massive modular ecosystems’ that exhibit several key paradoxes.

These paradoxes raise fundamental challenges for governments in securing critical supply chains, and they problematize policies like ‘decoupling,’ ‘self-reliance’ and ‘re-shoring’ which both China and U.S. (among other nations) are currently pursuing. 

They also raise questions about the use of US economic sanctions and export controls against China, which rely upon overly simplified ‘networked’ typologies that can be governed at key ‘chokepoints,’ through ‘lists’ of export restrictions.  


Category

Social Science and Public Policy

Type

Talks

Region

Campus

Open to

Public

Organizers

MAX-Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, MAX-East Asia Program

Contact

Matthew H. Baxter
315.443.2553

mhbaxter@syr.edu

Accessibility

Contact Matthew H. Baxter to request accommodations

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To mark our centennial in the fall of 2024, the Maxwell School will hold special events and engagement opportunities to celebrate the many ways—across disciplines and borders—our community ever strives to, as the Oath says, “transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

Throughout the year leading up to the centennial, engagement opportunities will be held for our diverse, highly accomplished community that now boasts more than 38,500 alumni across the globe.