NS4259 Science and Technology in Geostrategic Competition

This course surveys the role of science and technology (S/T) in international security and economic competition and in peaceful and violent changes in the global order. It analyzes the role that S/T have played in both generating and moderating competition and war among major powers from the First Technological Revolution of the nineteenth century to the current Fourth Technological Revolution. It examines the way S/T has constituted contemporary geostrategic competition and cooperation, while altering the relations among states and between governments and their societies.

The course considers the role of S/T in the rise of the Western powers in the 19^th century and the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. The course looks at the contemporary efforts of China and Russia to generate indigenous innovation programs on par with the leading Western countries. It delves last into the profound changes the Anthropocene Age—climate change and the Fourth Technological Revolution— are having on competition and cooperation among the major powers. The course weaves the connections between S/T, security and economic competition and global governance into a contemporary survey of the geostrategic impacts of technological change and the potential for a great transformation of the global order.

Lecture Hours

4

Lab Hours

0

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

·       Identify the four technological revolutions and their transformative technologies.

·       Identify the complexity of social-technical systems and their evolution.

·       Identify the different views of S/T: determinism, constructivism and the middle ground.

·       Identify and explain the implications of the four technological revolutions for economy, society and international order.

·       Identify and explain the role of S/T in geostrategic competition among the United States, China and the Soviet Union/Russia.

·       Understand and analyze the role of S/T in global transformation of international systems.