Geoeconomics
Economics is central to the study of China’s rise, its growing engagement with the nations of the world, and its impact on the structure and trajectory of the international system. And China is not alone – the use of economic instruments and the leveraging of economic relationships as pathways to power and influence are increasingly common in world politics today. Moreover, many issues that were once debated in purely economic terms – such as the costs and benefits of protectionism versus free trade – are now being debated through an ‘economics-security nexus’ instead.
These developments have re-invigorated the study of Geoeconomics, a multidisciplinary field that seeks to understand the methods and consequences of nation-states’ use of economic tools to pursue political and strategic objectives.
This Spoke will be a regional focal point for cutting edge research in this field, as well as a global leader in setting the public policy agenda in this emerging geoeconomic world order. It will draw on a wealth of expertise from across the ANU, bringing together academics and policymakers from diverse backgrounds to grapple with complex and contentious ideas. Topics covered include:
- Cooperation and conflict in global trade;
- Economic diplomacy and coercion;
- Grand strategy and great power competition;
- Innovation and technology competition;
- The economic-security nexus in sectors including education, cyber, and finance;
- Evolution of the rules-based order; and
- Australia-China bilateral relations.
Jane Golley
Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific
Anthea Roberts
School of Regulation and Global Governance, College of Asia & the Pacific
Darren Lim
School of Politics and International Relations, College of Arts & Social Sciences
Andy Kennedy
Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific
Dirk van der Kley
School of Regulation and Global Governance, College of Asia and the Pacific
Rory Medcalf
National Security College, College of Asia & the Pacific
Jensen Sass
School of Regulation and Global Governance, College of Asia & the Pacific
Brendan Sargeant
Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, College of Asia & the Pacific
Shiro Armstrong
Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific
Gregory Raymond
Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia & the Pacific
Benjamin Herscovitch
School of Regulation and Global Governance, College of Asia and the Pacific
Navigating the Emerging Geoeconomic Order: Integrating Economics, Security and Technology
Department of Defence ($998,382), 2020-2022
Primary Investigator: Professor Anthea Roberts
Secondary Investigators: Professor Jane Golley, C, Associate Professor Andrew Kennedy, Dr Darren Lim, Professor Rory Medcalf, Dr Jensen Sass and Dr Lesley Seebeck
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.
Engaging with private sector on the intersection of economics, security and technology
National Foundation for Australia-China Relations grant ($372,000)
Researchers: Professor Anthea Roberts, Geoffrey Gertz, Professor Jane Golley, Dr Benjamin Herscovitch, Dr Darren Lim
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.
ANU Policy Greenhouse Collaboration Initiative: “Australian Policy Choices in a New Geoeconomic World Order”
We are delivering a series of policy workshops to facilitate deep and broad conversations across ANU’s Colleges and the Commonwealth Government departments and agencies. This workshop series aims to enhance the Government’s capacity for policy-making on geoeconomic issues. We will produce a series of Geoeconomic Policy Briefs and online articles to disseminate our research findings to the government and the broader public.
The project team is led by Anthea Roberts, Jane Golley and Darren Lim. It involves a significant number of ANU academics, including Andy Kennedy, Rory Medcalf, and Lesley Seebeck.
Workshop 1
Geoeconomics: Foundational concepts and framing policy choices
18 October 2019, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra
Presenters: Prof Jane Golley (ANU), Prof Anthea Roberts (ANU), and Dr Darren Lim (ANU)
Officials from Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Defence and Department of Education attended.
Workshop 2
Geoeducation: The geoeconomics of international students and cross-border research collaboration
11 December 2019, ANU Australian Centre on China in the World, Canberra
Presenters: Prof Jane Golley (ANU), Paul Harris (ANU North American Liaison Office), Dr Amanda Barry (ANU China Liaison Office), Prof John Close (Chair, ANU Defence Working Group and Head of the Department of Quantum Science).
Officials from Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence of Defence, Department of Home Affairs and Department of Education attended.
Workshop 3
The geoeconomics of technology
20 February 2020, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra
Presenters: Assoc Prof Andy Kennedy (ANU), Dr Paul Hubbard (ANU), and Ms Helen Mitchell (Australian Government)
Officials from Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Defence, Department of Home Affairs, Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, and Austrade attended.
The ANU CAP Geoeconomics Working Group meets regularly for lunch-time seminars covering a range of topics. The Working Group is chaired by Prof Anthea Roberts. Past seminars have included:
- Kazuto Suzuki, “Japan's new Economic Security Policy” 9 June 2022.
- Sarah Bauerle Danzman, “the potential impact of outbound investment screening” 5 May 2022.
- Sean Lloyd, “How MNCs are navigating a turbulent geoeconomic world” 22 March 2022.
- Henry Gao, “China’s view of the WTO”, 17 February 2022.
- Christina Lai, “Taiwan’s strategy for countering China’s economic coercion”, 6 December 2021.
- Shiro Armstrong, “The Application of Economic Tools for Statecraft and National Security”, 11 November 2021.
- Manoj Harjani, “Unpacking the ‘tech decoupling’ in Southeast Asia”, 7 October 2021.
- Timothy Watson, “The Diminishing Giant Syndrome Meets the China Dream”, 31 August 2021.
- June Park, “The Weaponization of Supply Chains in the Contactless Economy under COVID-19: The Role of the U.S.-China Race for Supremacy in AI in the Japan-South Korea Chip War”, 17 August 2021.
- Sarah Bauerle Danzman, “Protecting or Stifling? The Effect of Investment Screening on Technology Firms”, 13 July 2021.
- Rudra Chaudhuri and Malavika Raghavan, “Multilateralism or fragmentation - the future of cross border data flows”, 17 June 2021.
- Malcolm Jorgensen, “The Jurisprudence of the Rules-Based Order: Germany’s Indo-Pacific Guidelines and the South China Sea Code of Conduct”, 21 May 2021
- Audrye Wong, "The strategies and effectiveness of economic statecraft", 21 March 2021.
- Dan Ciuriak, "The role of big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence in motivating strategic behaviour in international economic relations", 4 March 2021.
- Henrique Moraes, "The Emergence of Strategic Capitalism", 26 November 2020.
- Dirk van der Kley, "Fragmented grand strategy: The organisational process and internal power structure of PRC geoeconomics", 29 October 2020.
- Amy King, “China and international economic order: new research directions”, 29 July 2020.
- Jason McDonald, “Economics of national security: targeted mitigations”, 24 June 2020.
- Greg Raymond, “Geoeconomics of Mainland Southeast Asia and Southern China Integration”, 28 May 2020.
- COVID-10 and geoeconomics, 29 April 2020.
- Matthew Sussex, “Belts, Roads and Strategic Choices in Eurasia”, 2 October 2019.
- Douglas Guilfoyle, “The South China Sea dispute: resource jurisdiction, strategy and lawfare”, 21 August 2019
- Darren Lim and Victor Ferguson, “Geoeconomics on the ground: insights from South Korea and Sri Lanka”, 10 July 2019
- Brendan Taylor and Richard Rigby, “A Chinese sphere of influence?”, 5 June 2019
- Anthea Roberts, “Unscrambling the Rubik’s Cube: Who wins and loses in an age of economic globalisation?”, 1 May 2019
- Wesley Widmaier, “The General Theory of Geoeconomics? Keynes, Money and the Sources of Conflictual or Common Interests”, 12 April 2019
- Shiro Armstrong, “Economics and Politics in East Asia”, 6 March 2019
- Andy Kennedy, “China’s rise in innovation: techno-nationalism and techno-backlash”, 6 February 2019
If you are interested in joining the Working Group, please contact Professor Anthea Roberts.
Policy briefs
Policy briefs arising from the ANU Policy Greenhouse Collaboration Initiative.
• Geoeconomic Brief #1 — Context and Concepts
• Geoeconomic Brief #2 — Towards a Geoeconomic Framework
• Geoeconomic Brief #3 — Geoeducation
• Geoeconomic Brief #4 — Technology
Books
Medcalf, R., Contest for the Indo-Pacific: Why China Won't map the Future, La Trobe University Press (2020).
Kennedy, A., The conflicted superpower: America’s collaboration with China and India in global innovation, Columbia University Press (2019).
Journal articles and book chapters
Kennedy, A. and Dwyer, D., 2020, "The Stakes in Decoupling Discovery: China's Role in Transnational Innovation", The Pacific Review, 15 October 2020.
Golley, J., Harris, P. and Laurenceson, J., 2020, "Campus Conundrums: Clashes and Collaborations", in China Story Yearbook: China Dreams, ANU Press (2020).
Lim, D. and Ferguson, V., “Decoupling and the technology security dilemma”, in China Story Yearbook: China Dreams, ANU Press (2020).
Lim, D., Ferguson, V. and Bishop, R., “Chinese Outbound Tourism as an Instrument of Economic Statecraft”, Journal of Contemporary China (2020).
Golley, J. and Wesley, M., “The Geoeconomics of the Belt and Road Initiative”, in The Belt and Road Initiative and Future of Regional Order in the Indo-Pacific, Lexington Books (2020).
Roberts, A., Choer Moraes, H., and Ferguson, V., “Towards a geoeconomic order”, Journal of International Economic Law (2019): 655-676.
Kennedy, A., “The Politics of Skilled Immigration: Explaining the Ups and Downs of the U.S. H-1B Visa Program”, International Migration Review Vol. 53, No. 2 (2019): 346-370.
Kennedy, A., “China’s rise as a science power: Rapid progress, emerging reforms and the challenge of illiberal innovation”, Asian Survey 59(6) (2019), 1022-1043.
Lim, D. and Mukherjee, R., “Hedging in South Asia: Balancing economic and security interests amid Sino-India rivalry”, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol 19(3) (2019): 493-522.
Lim, D. and Mukherjee, R., “What money can’t buy: The security externalities of Chinese economic statecraft in Post-War Sri Lanka”, Asian Security 15(2) (2019): 73-92.
Golley, J. and Ingle, A., “The Belt and Road Initiative: how to win friends and influence people”, in China Story Yearbook 2017: Prosperity, ANU Press (2018).
Kennedy, A., “Technology: Rapid Ascent and Global Backlash” in China Story Yearbook 2017: Prosperity, ANU Press (2018).
Kennedy, A. and Lim, D., “The innovation imperative: Technology and U.S.-China rivalry in the 21st Century”, International Affairs 94(3) (2018): 553-572.
Kennedy, A., “China’s Innovation Trajectories”, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy Vol. 60, No. 3 (May 2018): 71-86.
Kennedy, A., “Unequal Partners: U.S. Collaboration with China and India in Research and Development”, Political Science Quarterly Vol. 132, Issue 1 (2017): 63-86.
Short articles and opinion pieces
Kennedy, A., “China, the Vaccine Race, and Science in the 21st Century”, Crawford School of Public Policy COVID-19 Analysis, 17 June 2020.
Jiang, Y., “The Scientist and the Spy — intellectual property and industrial espionage”, The China Story Blog, 13 June 2020.
Lim, D. and Ferguson, V., “In beef over barley, Chinese economic coercion cuts against the grain”, Lowy Interpreter, 13 May 2020.
Golley, J., “Cooler headlines must prevail in Australia-China debates”, The Canberra Times, 4 May 2020.
Lim, D., “Mask diplomacy: a novel form of statecraft?”, The China Story Blog, 1 May 2020.
Lim, D. and Ferguson, V., “China's ‘boycott diplomacy’ over calls for coronavirus inquiry could harm Australian exporters”, ABC News, 28 April 2020.
Golley, J. “Australia, China and COVID-19: dependency in a crisis”, CEDA, 14 April 2020.
Lim, D. and Ferguson, V., “Chinese economic coercion during the THAAD dispute”, The ASAN Forum 7(6), 28 December 2019.
Lim, D., “Economic statecraft and the revenge of the state”, East Asia Forum, 4 December 2019.
Golley, J. and Laurenceson, J., "Australia and the BRI: compete, cooperate or challenge", Asia Society Disruptive Asia series, July 2019.
Lim, D. and Ferguson, V., “Huawei and the decoupling dilemma”, Lowy Interpreter, 28 May 2019.
Roberts, A., Choer Moraes, H., and Herguson, V., “The US-China trade war is a competition for technological leadership”, Lawfare Blog, 21 May 2019.
Lim, D., “The US, China and ‘Technology War”. Global Asia 14(1), March 2019.
Golley, J., ‘China Policy Overview: Contradictions, Conundrums, Contention and Conflict’, in CEDA Economic and Political Overview 2019, February 2019.
Roberts, A., Choer Moraes, H. and Herguson, V., “Geoeconomics: The US strategy of technological protection and economic security”, Lawfare Blog, 11 December 2018.
Roberts, A., Choer Moraes, H. and Herguson, V., “Geoeconomics: The Chinese strategy of technological advancement and cybersecurity”, Lawfare Blog, 3 December 2018.
Roberts, A., Choer Moraes, H. and Herguson, V., “Geoeconomics: The variable relationship between economics and security”, Lawfare Blog, 27 November 2018.
Roberts, A., Choer Moraes, H. and Herguson, V., “The Geoeconomic World Order”, Lawfare Blog, 19 November 2018.
Kennedy, A., “Trump Takes Aim at China’s Tech Sector. That Could Hurt U.S. Innovation” The Washington Post, June 11, 2018.
Kennedy, A., “How Trump is losing the high-tech fight with China”, East Asia Forum. 27 May 2018.
Golley, J., ‘How to win friends and influence people in Bo’ao’, Australian Institute of International Affairs, 11 April 2018.
Kennedy, A., “Is the United States Offshoring High-Tech Leadership to China?” East Asia Forum, 17 May 2017.
Ikenberry, G. and Lim, D., “China’s Emerging Institutional Statecraft: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Prospects for Counter-Hegemony”. Brookings Institution: Project on International Order and Strategy, April 2017.
Podcasts, interviews and recorded public seminars
Raymond, G., One Belt, One Road, One Buddhist heritage, The Religion and Ethics Report with Andrew West, ABC News, 10 March 2021.
Jiang, Y. and Smith G., Will Australia-China relations continue to spiral?, Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny, 9 March 2021.
Kassam, N. and Lim, D., Natasha Kassam on preparing for a China-led world, Australia in the World Podcast, 25 February 2021.
Jiang, Y., Golley, J., and Taflaga, M., Trade-offs and troubles in the Australia-China relationship, Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny, 7 December 2020.
Golley, J., Australia, China and the Belt and Road Initiative with Jane Golley, Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny, 6 September 2020.
Golley, J.and Behm, A, 'Navigating the Australia-China Relationship',Economics of a Pandemic Webinar Series, Australia Institute, June 2020.
Lim, D. and Gyngell, A., 'US turmoil; India CSP; G-7; WHO lessons; HK; Australian geoeconomics', Australia in the World, June 2020.
Golley, J., 'What China’s rebound means for Australian business', CEDA, April 2020.
Lim, D. and Gyngell, A., 'The WHO; “mask diplomacy”; DFAT & Covid-19', Australia in the World, April 2020.
Jiang, Y. and Ni, A., 'Domestic Coronavirus Propaganda and China-Australia Relations', ChinaTalk, April 2020.
Lim, D. and Gyngell, A., 'Coronavirus; Huawei in the UK; the WTO, and UK / EU trade deals', Australia in the World, February 2020.
Jiang, Y., Kirk, M. and Coatsworth, N., 'Coronavirus and a state of unease', Policy Forum Pod, February 2020.
Hvistendahl, M. and Jiang, Y., 'Seedy Business: The Future of China's Industrial Espionage', Little Red Podcast, February 2020.
Lim, D., Gyngell, A. and de Brouwer, G., 'Economics vs security, climate change, and effective policymaking', Australia in the World, January 2020.
Gyngell, A., Golley, J., Uren, D. and Simons, M., Australian Foreign Affairs - China Dependence, Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny, November 2019.
Golley, J. and Sussex, M., 'China-Australia Relations', ANU Federal Election Conversation Series, April 2019.
Lim, D. and Gyngell, A., 'Geoeconomics; Australia’s consular operations', Australia in the World, April 2019.
