TECHORDER · Geopolitical Struggles of the Emerging Global Tech Order

The regulation of digital technology is central to the growing geopolitical struggles in global politics, yet we know little about how the major players themselves perceive the key points of contention. The point of departure for TECHORDER is that global tech governance is guided not just by technical expertise, profit motives, or national security concerns, but also by ideas about the transformative potential of digital technologies, which are seen as capable of bringing about both apocalyptic and utopian outcomes. The project breaks new ground by developing a new theory and multi-method investigation into the emerging ‘global tech order’: the order constructed by the imaginaries, global authority configurations, and rule-making efforts that govern and legitimize digital technology and relationships between states and major technology companies. TECHORDER focuses on two of the most geopolitically contentious technologies: artificial intelligence and quantum technology. The project examines the visions of corporate leaders and employees at major technology companies like Microsoft, IBM, Tencent, Mistral and Tata, as well as leaders and officials from key states including the US, China, India, the UK, France, and Germany. TECHORDER investigates how these actors perceive the technologies, their own geopolitical roles, the global power configuration of participants involved in the negotiation of global tech rules. The project introduces a new multi-method approach integrating ethnographic observations, participatory mapping, surveys, interviews, computer vision and network analysis. TECHORDER significantly advances our theoretical understanding of international order, big technology companies, and 21st-century geopolitics beyond existing scholarship in International Relations. The project will generate crucial new insights into the hidden cultures, geopolitical rivalries, and norm-making efforts that shape the very idea of international order in the digital age.