GTG Research

Research Initiatives

The Program on Geopolitics, Technology, and Governance (GTG) examines how emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and smart devices—are redefining power, economies, and policies worldwide. Our research addresses the complex challenges these advances pose for international security, and how governments, businesses, and individuals adapt to shifting landscapes of risk and opportunity.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & EMERGING TECHNOLOGY POLICY

Artificial intelligence is reshaping economies, security, and governance worldwide, raising urgent questions about how to distribute its benefits equitably while managing risks. GTG examines how democracies can leverage AI innovation to advance shared prosperity and security, with particular attention to infrastructure requirements, Global South perspectives, and mechanisms for international cooperation.

Related projects:

AI for Peace

This research initiative investigates how the United States and its allies and partners can leverage their comparative advantages in AI innovation to equitably distribute the benefits of AI while incentivizing trustworthy deployment. The research focuses on three key areas:

Infrastructural requirements for deploying AI at scale for countries at all levels of economic development and multilateral, multi-stakeholder mechanisms for meeting those requirements.
Global South perspectives on promising use cases for AI and governance approaches for facilitating AI deployment while managing risks.
Prospects and options for international collaborations to address cross-border security, environmental, and other externalities.

The Future of Decision–Making

The Future of Decision-Making Project (FODM) is a multi-year, interdisciplinary research initiative examining how emerging technologies—particularly artificial intelligence and advanced decision-support systems—are reshaping human decision-making in high-stakes domains such as national security, defense, and crisis management. Rather than focusing solely on technological capability, the project centers on the human dimension: how judgment, responsibility, and accountability evolve as machines increasingly inform, shape, or constrain human choices. The project brings together scholars and practitioners from academia, government, and industry to develop empirically grounded, policy-relevant insights into the future of human-machine decision systems.

GEOPOLITICS OF TECHNOLOGY

Emerging technologies are becoming central to great power competition and regional security dynamics. GTG examines how technological advantages translate into geopolitical leverage, how U.S. strategy can balance competition with innovation and alliance partnerships, and how technology is reshaping power dynamics across critical regions like East Asia.

Related projects:

Geopolitics of Technology in East Asia

GTG's annual conference and ongoing research initiative brings together leading regional experts, policymakers, and industry leaders to examine how technological developments are reshaping geopolitical dynamics across East Asia. The research focuses on critical technology supply chains—particularly semiconductors—regional responses to U.S.-China competition, and opportunities for multilateral cooperation on technology governance.

CHINA & DIGITAL COMPETITION

China's rapid digital development and distinct governance approaches have profound implications for global markets, security, and technology standards. GTG analyzes Chinese technology policy and corporate strategies through original-language sources, providing insights into how China's digital trajectory shapes international competition and governance debates.

Related projects:

DigiChina

The DigiChina project, led by Graham Webster, enhances understanding of China's digital policy developments through translating and analyzing Chinese-language sources. Since 2017, DigiChina has published translations of primary sources, contextual explanation, and analysis on China’s technology policy landscape, covering topics including the Cybersecurity Law regime, data governance, artificial intelligence, and China’s official push for greater technological independence.

CYBERSECURITY & INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Effective governance of technology challenges requires sustained dialogue and cooperation across borders. GTG facilitates Track II exchanges with international partners, building relationships and shared understanding that can lay groundwork for broader policy cooperation on cybersecurity and technology governance issues.

Recent Publications

Publications

Working Papers

Through the Quality Kaleidoscope: Reflections on the Science and Practice of Improving Health Care Quality in Closing the Quality Gap: Revisiting the State of the Science. Methods Research Report.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013

Journal Articles

Neglected Rural Public Health Issue: The Case of Intestinal Roundworms

China & World Economy, 2013

Working Papers

The Economic Costs of Drug-Trafficking Violence in Mexico [2013 edition]

2013

Journal Articles

Cost-Effectiveness of Helicopter Versus Ground Emergency Medical Services for Trauma Scene Transport in the United States

Annals of Emergency Medicine, 2013

Journal Articles

Toward a Systems Continuum: On the Use of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology to Assess and Affect Aggression, Cognition and Behaviour

Topics in the Neurobiology of Aggression: Implications for Deterrence. A Strategic Multilayer (SMA) Publication, Pentagon Press, 2013

Journal Articles

Can One Laptop per Child Reduce the Digital Divide and Educational Gap? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Migrant Schools in Beijing

World Development, 2013

Journal Articles

Are Elite University Graduates Aiding China’s Transition to an Innovation-based Economy? Results from a Career Choices Survey among Would-be Innovators in China and the United States

Asia Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2013

Recent Publications

Implementation of Basel III: Economic Impacts and Policy Challenges in the United States, Japan, and the European Union

America against Standard and Poor’s: Toward Systemic Reform?

Public Private Interplay for Next Generation Access Networks: Lessons and Warnings from Japan's Broadband Success

The determinants of drug compliance: evidence based on a quantile regression approach

Through the Quality Kaleidoscope: Reflections on the Science and Practice of Improving Health Care Quality in Closing the Quality Gap: Revisiting the State of the Science. Methods Research Report.

Neglected Rural Public Health Issue: The Case of Intestinal Roundworms

The Economic Costs of Drug-Trafficking Violence in Mexico [2013 edition]

Cost-Effectiveness of Helicopter Versus Ground Emergency Medical Services for Trauma Scene Transport in the United States

Choosing a Physician Depends on How You Want to Feel: The Role of Ideal Affect in Health-Related Decision Making

Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation Reduces Anemia and Anxiety in Rural China's Elementary School Children

Frontiers in Food Policy: Perspectives on Sub-Saharan Africa

Toward a Systems Continuum: On the Use of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology to Assess and Affect Aggression, Cognition and Behaviour

Ethnic differences in the relationship between insulin sensitivity and insulin response

Energy and resource efficiency as a unifying principle for human, environmental and global health

The Roots of Tomorrow’s Digital Divide: Documenting Computer Use and Internet Access in China’s Elementary Schools Today

The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis

China’s Labor Transition and the Future of China’s Rural Wages and Employment

Kurz hinter der Wahrheit und dicht neben der Lüge: Zum Werk Barbara Honigmanns

Tenth Korea-U.S. West Coast Strategic Forum

The life cycle of bare branch families-A simulation study

Shorenstein APARC Center Overview 2012-2013

College is a Rich, Han, Urban, Male Club: Research Notes from a Census Survey of Four Tier One Colleges in China

Closing the Quality Gap: Revisiting the State of the Science. Summary Report

Can One Laptop per Child Reduce the Digital Divide and Educational Gap? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Migrant Schools in Beijing

Are Elite University Graduates Aiding China’s Transition to an Innovation-based Economy? Results from a Career Choices Survey among Would-be Innovators in China and the United States