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2. China’s Semiconductors Reflections on Sources and Solutions to an Expensive Problem
- Author:
- Jonathan Liebenau
- Publication Date:
- 11-2023
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- The semiconductor industry has been a renewed topic of political debate for over three years. Due to recent US sanctions on the most advanced semiconductors, the industry has quickly become another flashpoint in the competition between the US and China to dominate the 21st century’s strategic technologies. In this Strategic Update, Dr Jonathan Liebenau explains the development of the semiconductor industry in the context of China’s rise to become an increasingly capable technology power. China’s sustained efforts in industrial policy to cultivate a domestic innovation system coincided with Western firms’ offshoring strategies since the 1990s, transforming China into a large producer and consumer of semiconductors. While Taiwan and the West retained cutting edge chip design capabilities, Chinese firms such as Huawei and Hikvision have become competitive providers of mobile phones, surveillance equipment and related infrastructure services. Despite Washington and its partners’ conviction to constrain in China’s technological prowess, industrial policy initiatives such as the CHIPS Act will face an uphill battle when it comes to bringing manufacturing capacity back to Western economies. In this context, the UK must combine short term incentives with a longer-term strategic vision to remain competitive in one of the 21st century’s key strategic arenas.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, Sanctions, Strategic Competition, Production, and Semiconductors
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, North America, and United States of America
3. NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept: One Year On
- Author:
- LSE Ideas
- Publication Date:
- 09-2023
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- This Strategic Update summarises a roundtable discussion held at LSE IDEAS in July 2023. Contributors to the discussion were: General Sir James Everard, Stuart Austin, Professor Gordon Barrass, Professor Christopher Coker, Tom McKane, Hugh Sandeman, Susan Scholefield, and Peter Watkins. None of the content of the Strategic Update is attributable to any one individual. One year on from NATO’s Madrid 2022 summit, this Strategic Update address the 2022 NATO Strategic Concept and its implications for the future, especially regarding Russia’s war on Ukraine. The paper addresses the misalignment between preparations for defence and the real state of its armed forces, the UK’s symbolic support for Ukraine versus its capability, the concepts of resilience and deterrence, and finally the future of NATO’s relationship with Russia.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, NATO, Armed Forces, Deterrence, Resilience, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Ukraine, and United States of America
4. NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept: Matching Ambition with Reality
- Author:
- Jonny Hall and Hugh Sandeman
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- This Strategic Update is based on a discussion hosted by LSE IDEAS in July 2022 on NATO’s 2030 Strategic Concept. Participants in the discussion included: General Sir James Everard, Gordon Barrass, General Sir Richard Barrons, Lt Gen Giles Hill, ProfessorChristopher Coker, Dr Luca Tardelli, Marissa Kemp, Tom McKane, and Peter Watkins. This Strategic Update reflects points made during the discussion, but no participant is in any way committed to its specific content, and the views expressed here are attributable solely to the authors. The Strategic Concept is the first since 2010 and was redrafted throughout a fundamentally different geopolitical and security context—following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and subsequent full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This Update addresses the Concept’s recognition of necessary strategic realignment, with NATO’s widening in both its defence commitments and geographic focus on China, as well as its ambiguity in regards to practical military strategy, deterrence, and endpoint of the war in Ukraine.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, Military Strategy, Geopolitics, Deterrence, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, Europe, and United States of America
5. Regime Change No More: Coming to Terms with the Greater Middle East
- Author:
- Henrik Larsen
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- Reflecting on the ‘farcical retreat from Afghanistan’ back in August 2021, Henrik Larsen discusses the need for a reckoning within US foreign policy and that of its NATO Allies. To focus on the other challenges to transatlantic security with a sense of integrity, these states must come to grips with their failed regime change agenda over the past 20 years. Afghanistan was the first of their interventions in the Greater Middle East since 2001, alongside Iraq, Libya, and Syria, that obscured the pursuit of realistic objectives and prioritised (liberal) ideals that proved to be detached from the local realities. In the wake of NATO’s new Strategic Concept for 2030 and beyond, this Strategic Update seeks to analyse the options for policy in the Middle East going forward.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, NATO, and Regime Change
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Middle East, and United States of America
6. Protect, Constrain, Contest: Approaches for coordinated transatlantic economic and technological competition with China
- Author:
- François Chimits, Ashley T. Lenihan, Jonathan Liebenau, Stephen Paduano, Anthony Vinci, and Peter Watkins
- Publication Date:
- 01-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- The Biden Presidency offers opportunities for a renewed effort at formulating a coordinated allied approach to technological and economic competition with China. The latest report from China Foresight at LSE IDEAS provides a guiding framework for transatlantic coordination, and offers insights into key elements of future cooperation. While challenges abound, the opportunities for action prove just as great in number.
- Topic:
- Economics, Science and Technology, Transatlantic Relations, and Strategic Competition
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and United States of America
7. Hedging by Default: The Limits of EU “Strategic Autonomy” in a Binary World Order
- Author:
- Richard Higgott and Simon Reich
- Publication Date:
- 02-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- For some time, international relations has trended in the direction of an American and Chinese dominated binary world order. While the Trump administration has been an accelerator not a cause of this trend between 2016 and 2020, not coincidentally the post 2016 era has also seen key EU figures move to develop a strategy of greater "strategic autonomy". This interest in strategic autonomy was, in no small part, a reflection of growing European distrust in the reliability of both China and, increasingly, the USA. The paper shows, in contrast to the Cold War era during which the EU was unambiguously aligned, how the EU now appears to have embarked on a hedging strategy, albeit implemented more by default than design. In its desire to defend its core interests the EU appears to lean to one side or the other on an issue by issue basis in at least seven key policy domains identified in the paper. This approach is seen to be the outcome of its dual desire to articulate the values of its much touted “Geopolitical Commission" at the same time as it tries to continue its traditional institutional commitment to multilateralism. The paper concludes that the ambiguity present in this endeavour to straddle the realist-liberal fence only serves to expose the limitations of the strategy.
- Topic:
- International Relations, European Union, Geopolitics, and Strategic Autonomy
- Political Geography:
- China, Europe, Asia, and United States of America
8. Sea Change? The Impact of the US Presidential Election on Central and South-Eastern European Security and Defence
- Author:
- Corina Rebegea, Wojciech Michnik, and Ivan Vejvoda
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- This LSE IDEAS report assesses the likely impact of the new Biden administration on security and defence in the Black Sea, Balkan and Central European regions. The report finds grounds for optimism but also for managing expectations. President Biden's support for multilateral security approaches is likely to strengthen NATO and regional cooperation, particularly on Russia, but the region cannot expect to be the US' top priority. A return to values-based diplomacy under Biden, too, may put pressure on democratically-backsliding allies to whom his predecessor turned a blind eye.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, NATO, Diplomacy, Elections, and Multilateralism
- Political Geography:
- Europe, North America, and United States of America
9. Changing Dynamics of Pak-US Relations and the Challenge of Soft Power
- Author:
- Moonis Ahmar
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- There is a history of ups and downs in Pak-US relations since early 1950s till today. From the period of alliances to ostensible hostility and indifference, the changing dynamics of Pak-US relations must be analysed from a pragmatic point of view where power, national interests, security and sovereignty matter. Furthermore, mistrust, suspicions, ill-will and paranoia still influence the political, security, economic and power dynamics of relations between Pakistan and the United States. This research follows the theory of soft power due to two main reasons. First, instead of being a ‘patron-client’ relationship, PakUS relations could be transformed by focusing on diplomacy, trade and technology instead of threats and coercion. Second, President Obama’s policy of ‘do more’ for Pakistan in combating terrorism in Afghanistan proved to be counterproductive as anti-Americanism surged in Pakistan. Overcoming the bitterness of the past in Pak-US relations will be a major challenge to the Biden-Harris administration. Moving forward in Pak-US relations will require political will, determination, prudence and trust from both sides. It is up to the leadership from both countries to foster trust and take confidence building measures which can transform their relations from patron-client to partners in progress. Shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics will ensure a win-win situation for both sides in the years to come.
- Topic:
- Economics, Violent Extremism, Democracy, Geopolitics, and Soft Power
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, South Asia, North America, and United States of America
10. Coordination Failure: Risks of US-China competition in space
- Author:
- Gidon Gautel
- Publication Date:
- 04-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- The 2020s will see a flurry of space activity, with both national and commercial programs picking up pace. Both the United States and China hold strong ambitions in telecommunications, lunar exploration, and beyond. However, currently fraught relations between the superpowers are unlikely to improve and may yet deteriorate further. On the one hand, competition between both countries may drive space activities and foster technological innovation. On the other, as both superpowers expand their activities in space, geopolitical tensions may increase the risk of harmful dynamics that could endanger the sustainable rollout of future programs. In this Strategic Update, Gidon Gautel seeks to outline and call attention to two high-risk flash points arising from the development of the US and China’s national space programmes and industries.
- Topic:
- Geopolitics, Space, Innovation, and Strategic Competition
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, North America, and United States of America
11. President Biden’s Africa Policy
- Author:
- Rebecca Rattner and Bjorn Whitmore
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- Joe Biden’s administration has committed to transforming America’s relationships across the globe. This period of reform presents the opportunity for a long-overdue reimagination of America’s policy in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this Strategic Update, Rebecca Rattner and Bjorn Whitmore argue a successful new relationship between America and Sub-Saharan Africa must rely on genuine partnership, support to local actors, and strong regional institutions. Their piece considers how to apply these principles in practice by examining the nuanced socio-political realities in East, West, Central, and Southern Africa.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Regional Cooperation, and Joe Biden
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States of America, and Sub-Saharan Africa
12. Facing A Strategic Endgame? The US and the Ambiguities of Strategic Thinking
- Author:
- Christopher Coker
- Publication Date:
- 06-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- The disastrous strategic failures by the US in the past 30 years can be explained by its failure to understand what strategy actually is and how ambiguity lies at its heart. As a result it has stumbled from crisis to crisis. There is no reason to think that it is any better placed under Biden to address the challenges of a ‘post-hegemonic’ world, argues Christopher Coker.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Hegemony, Crisis Management, and Strategic Interests
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
13. How Can America Challenge China's Political Ambitions in an Age of Deglobalisation?
- Author:
- Dimitri Zabelin
- Publication Date:
- 09-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- COVID-19 has accelerated the trend of deglobalisation and further entrenched China into the growing political and economic fort of Asia. This has made the US less effective at implementing policies aimed at curbing Beijing’s political ambitions and strength in the region. Washington must therefore make itself indispensable in Asia and employ strategies for bringing China into a global network that can collectively reign in the Asian giant’s growing influence.
- Topic:
- Economics, Politics, Strategic Competition, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, North America, and United States of America