Technology and the Rise of Great Powers

Event Details

When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the moment of innovation—the eureka moment that sparks astonishing technological feats. In Technology and the Rise of Great Powers (Princeton University Press, 2024), Jeffrey Ding, Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University, offers a different explanation of how technological revolutions affect competition among great powers, looking at the phenomenon from the perspective of diffusion.

Drawing on historical case studies of past industrial revolutions as well as statistical analysis, Ding develops a theory that emphasizes institutional adaptations focused on diffusing technological advances throughout the entire economy. He illuminates the pathway by which these technological revolutions influenced the global distribution of power and explores the generalizability of his theory beyond the given set of great powers. His findings bear directly on current concerns about how emerging technologies, such as AI, could influence the U.S.-China power balance.

On December 12, Professor Jeffrey Ding will discuss his new book with George Chen, Yale World Fellow '14 and Managing Director and Co-Chair of Digital Practice for policy consultancy The Asia Group (TAG). The two scholars will discuss the mechanisms of technological diffusion and how they are shaping the pattern of economic competition among great powers.

Speakers

Jeffrey Ding
Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University
Jeffrey Ding is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University, and serves as a reviewer for important academic journals such as the American Political Science Review (APSR). Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation. He researches great power competition and cooperation in emerging technologies, the political economy of innovation, and China's scientific and technological capabilities. His book, Technology and the Rise of Great Powers, investigates how past technological revolutions influenced the rise and fall of great powers, with implications for U.S.-China competition in emerging technologies like AI.
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George Chen
Managing Director and Co-Chair of Digital Practice at The Asia Group
George Chen is a practitioner/scholar with over two decades of expertise across media, technology, and public policy. Currently, he is Managing Director and Co-Chair of Digital Practice for policy consultancy The Asia Group (TAG), headquartered in Washington, DC. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Centre of Civil Society and Governance of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), where he teaches "Digital Society and Governance" to Master students. Prior to his roles at TAG and HKU, he was Meta’s (Facebook) first-ever and most senior policy leader for Greater China, Mongolia, and Central Asia for more than seven years (2016-2023). Earlier in his career, George held various editorial and management roles at leading media organizations, including the South China Morning Post and Reuters. In 2014, George was appointed a Yale World Fellow.
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