The previous year taught us some time-tested truths regarding great-power rivalry. However, it also presented some fresh ones on how technology is altering the strategic landscape.
The threat that China, Russia, and other authoritarian governments represent to the international rule of law, respect for sovereignty, democratic values, and free people is now beyond dispute. These dangers have increased as China and Russia have adapted new technology to monitor populations, fudge statistics, and regulate data flows. They are demonstrating how authoritarians might further restrict freedom of association, speech, and opinion.
Rising geopolitical tensions and the expansion of disruptive technology into all spheres of public and private life have occurred at the same time. The implications for 2023 and beyond are obvious: the new arena for strategic rivalry will be the technological platforms of the future. Therefore, it is in America’s best interest for these technologies to be developed, produced, deployed, and managed by democracies.
The way in which other democracies generously supported Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion demonstrates how technology is reshaping geopolitics. Against a far larger foe that at first appeared to have an overwhelming military advantage, a highly networked, tech-savvy nation swiftly came together. Due to its effective use of open-source software innovation, decentralised operations, and maximising the use of open-source technology, Ukraine is now waging the first digitally networked war in history. Its technological capabilities are all connected through unbroken internet connectivity.
Ukraine is also providing a preview of what a technologically empowered democracy can entail: With the use of commonplace devices like mobile phones that come with built-in encryption and privacy software, cloud-based services enable direct communication between the government and its constituents. Young, creative politicians and officials are directly collaborating with a IT workforce with talent, eradicating decades of bureaucratic sclerosis. All other democracies should be able to innovate if Ukraine can do so while fighting a war.
