The emerging geoeconomic world order is characterised by an increased convergence of economics fields and security risks. Accelerated by intensifying US-China rivalry, the world is witnessing a greater focus on relative economic gains and heightened concerns about the security risks posed by economic and digital interdependence. This geoeconomic competition is also evolving into a struggle for technological leadership, creating the growing prospect of bifurcated technology ecosystems. These shifts are leading to a significant restructuring of the institutions that govern international trade and investment, as well as posing new and challenging dilemmas for policymakers seeking to balance economic and security priorities.
Professor Anthea Roberts leads RegNet’s research program on the emerging geoeconomic order. As well evaluating the risks at the nexus of economics, security and technology, this research program explores strategies for building resilience and developing integrated policymaking responses. Given the cross-cutting nature of this field, the work is necessarily interdisciplinary, drawing on insights from economics, political science, international law, international relations, technological innovation, security studies, and cyber policies. This RegNet research program involves extensive and ongoing collaboration with centres of geoeconomic expertise across the ANU, including with the National Security College, the Australian Centre for China in the World and the Crawford School of Public Policy.
Geoeconomics Working Group
Professor Roberts also chairs the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific’s Geoeconomics Working Group. The Working Group is an interdisciplinary and collaborative ANU-wide effort to analyse and debate emerging geoeconomic issues.
ANU project collaborators
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Impact
The real world impact of the RegNet Geoeconomics group is illustrated in the following research grants and activities:
The geoeconomics of critical technology standards in Southeast Asia
Our geoeconomics research informs new approaches to thinking about the importance of critical technology standards and standard setting. Standards are vital not only to unlock the economic opportunity offered by critical technology, but via their “geoeconomic” dimension, affecting broader patterns of geopolitical security, which in turn makes standard-setting a domain of strategic competition. Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, this new project will deliver a series of virtual training workshops to partner governments in Southeast Asia to raise awareness of the importance of geoeconomics with respect to technology standards and related governance arrangements. The workshops and underlying research will support Australia’s long-term engagement with Southeast Asian governments by communicating the geoeconomic context, including economic opportunities and potential risks, and the consequences of alternative policy approaches with respect to standard setting.
Engaging with private sector on the intersection of economics, security and technology
Under a grant funded by National Foundation for Australia China Relations, members of the geoeconomics working group are holding executive workshops for Australian business leaders on issues related to geoeconomics and economic issues in China. The workshops will focus on issues of immediate concern such as economic coercion and mitigation strategies, as well as longer-term trends such as the impact of new technology, technology governance and standards, and rapidly changing trade and investment regulatory regimes. These activities are designed to help businesses build resilience, and to identify and manage risks associated with their direct and indirect economic interests in relation to China. The workshops are designed to deliver findings from the group’s cutting-edge research to Australian businesses that are trying to navigate the challenges and opportunities of the changing geoeconomic landscape.
Navigating the Emerging Geoeconomic Order: Integrating Economics, Security and Technology
The global and regional strategic environment is fundamentally changing. Whereas economics and security used to operate as largely separate fields, the two are converging in new ways. States are increasingly conscious of the vulnerabilities associated with economic interdependence and digital connectivity. Responding to this challenge, this multi-year project leverages the ANU Geoeconomics Working Group—a unique interdisciplinary group with expertise in security, economics, cyber issues, political science and law—to provide frameworks for understanding how economic relationships and policy instruments can be sources of leverage, and for evaluating cross-cutting risks and opportunities at the nexus of economics, security and technology. This project is funded by the Australian Defence Department and will culminate in a public report about navigating the emerging geoeconomic order.
Courses and Teaching
The members of the Geoeconomics group are engaged in teaching the following course in Australia and the United States that relate to geoeconomics and evolving notions of national security:
Security in the Indo-Pacific (Course taught by Dr. Benjamin Herscovitch at the National Security College, ANU)
Geoeconomics: Trade, Investment and Security (Course taught by Prof. Anthea Roberts at Harvard Law School)
In the post-Cold War period, economics and national security were relatively separate realms, both in policymaking and scholarship. But recent years have seen a marked convergence in the economic and security dimensions of policy and regulatory challenges facing many governments including Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the study of geoeconomics, which sits at the intersection of geopolitics, economics, security, law, and technology policy. It explores the way in which major power rivalry is reshaping international trade and investment and their associated legal regimes across domains as diverse as supply chains, export controls, trade tariffs, investment screening, and student visas. It examines changing ideas about the opportunities and vulnerabilities associated with economic interdependence, particularly with respect to critical infrastructure and technology. It uses topical case studies, including economic coercion campaigns and the regulation of 5G networks, to examine the policy trade-offs and governance challenges involved in integrating economic and security considerations.
Geoeconomics and National Security (Course taught by Dr. Darren Lim at the National Security College, ANU)
Leadership, Risk and National Security Crisis Management (Course taught by Prof. Anthea Roberts, Dr. Dirk van der Kley and Mark Crosweller at the National Security College, ANU)
China, America and National Security (Course taught by Dr. Dirk van der Kley at the National Security College, ANU)
Engaging China: Working with Policy in the PRC (Course taught by Associate Professor Andrew Kennedy at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU.)
Hero image by Lucas Wendt from Pixaba