Narratives of "Tech Wars": Technological Competition, Power Shifts and Conflict Dynamics Between the US, China and the EU

EasyChair Preprint 10563

Abstract

In the context of digitalization, technological change and competition are deeply entwined with questions of international security and power. In particular, leadership in digital technologies has become a key parameter of the growing geopolitical and geo-economic great power competition between the US, China, and the EU. The securitisation of such technologies can be seen in the widespread perception of an intensifying Tech War between the three actors. Against this background, the paper takes a social constructivist perspective to draw out the dominant interpretations of the competition for digital technological leadership between the US, China, and the EU. It uses a method of narrative analysis to explore the different meanings that are intersubjectively attributed to the technological competition and its implications for the power relationship between the three actors. The paper examines Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a paradigmatic case in which narratives of an “AI arms race” have proliferated in recent years. The empirical focus is on official strategy documents from the US, China, and the EU, which are supplemented with expert interviews to reconstruct the narrative dynamics and shifts in this field. Ultimately, this serves to identify the scope for cooperation between the three actors and to minimise risks to international security.

Keyphrases: Digitale Technologie, Künstliche Intelligenz, Machtpolitik, narrative

@booklet{EasyChair:10563,
  author    = {Daniel Lambach and Jakob Landwehr-Matlé and Kai Oppermann},
  title     = {Narratives of "Tech Wars": Technological Competition, Power Shifts and Conflict Dynamics Between the US, China and the EU},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 10563},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2023}}