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 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 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.
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.
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.
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China’s urbanization has created growing peri-urban communities, where children face challenges to early childhood development (ECD) despite proximity to developed urban areas. Little is known about how the environmental factors of ECD differ between rural migrants and new urban residents. To address this, we sampled 77 peri-urban households with 18–24-month-old Han Chinese children to examine the associations between early cognitive and language development, parental self-efficacy, stimulating parenting practices, and the home language environment measured with Language Environment Analysis (LENA). We find that rural migrants and new urban residents exhibited no significant difference in any child or household characteristic except parental residency. There was no significant difference in the family environment factors or early cognitive or language development, either. However, parental self-efficacy and stimulating parenting practices both predicted better cognitive and language development in rural migrant households, whereas only conversation turn counts predicted better language development in new urban resident households.
Background The quality of parenting can affect the developmental outcomes of young children. This study aims to investigate the associations between parenting quality and the early childhood development of children under age 3 across four major rural subpopulations in China.
Methods Using a stratified cluster sampling method, 760 children aged 6–36 months and their primary caregivers in four rural subpopulations from four provinces and a metropolis in China were surveyed. Child development was assessed by the Third Edition of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Parenting quality was measured using the Family Care Indicators. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, multivariable regression analysis, and linear regression analysis.
Results Across the four subpopulations, prevalences of delays of the sample children in four domains — cognition, language, social-emotional, and motor development are 52%, 45%, 52%, and 19%, respectively. The proportion of children with any type of delay is 82%, while over half (53%) have delays in at least two areas, and 27% have delays in three or more areas. Child’s mother as the primary caregiver, maternal education levels, and family asset values are all positively associated with the quality of parenting. Notably, low levels of parenting quality in rural China are linked to high rates of developmental delays.
Conclusions This study demonstrates that the level of parenting quality is significantly associated with early childhood developmental outcomes. Results highlight the need for raising investments in family care to improve early childhood development in different rural subpopulations in China.
In November 2025, the Department of War finally killed the last vestiges of Robert McNamara’s 1962 Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS).
The DoW has pivoted from optimizing cost and performance to delivering advanced weapons at speed. Taking decades to deliver weapons is no longer an option. The DoW has joined the 21st century and adopted Lean Methodology.
Two organizations ought to be very concerned – China and the defense prime contractors.
Children and Youth Services Review,
November 1, 2025
Background Mindfulness-based interventions (MI) have shown efficacy in improving mental health among adults; however, the results for younger populations remain inconsistent Research on this topic in low- and middle-income countries is still limited. This study seeks to address this gap by examining the impact of a mindfulness-based intervention on Chinese migrant youth.
Methods A randomized controlled trial delivering mindfulness and life skills mentorship to 653 migrant students aged 9 to 17 in China. Quantitative results in depression and anxiety were examined between Mindfulness Training group (MT group, n = 167), the Mindfulness Training plus Life Skill Training group (MT + LS group, n = 118), and Control group (n = 368) using student t-tests and Differences-in-Differences. Qualitative study from 20 interviews was conducted using a semi-structured interview and deductive approach.
Results Quantitatively, participants in intervention group did not show significantly different anxiety and depression symptoms compared to control groups post intervention. Nevertheless, qualitative data highlighted several key benefits of the mindfulness intervention, including improved emotional regulation and increased social support among participants.
Conclusions A volunteer-led, two-month mindfulness and life skills intervention with Chinese migrant youth did not yield statistically significant reduction in depression or anxiety symptoms. While no notable quantitative benefits were observed, qualitative findings suggested enhanced application of mindfulness and emotional regulation skills among participants that the quantitative measures failed to capture.
From FSI Director, New York Times bestselling author, and former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul comes a clear-eyed look at how the rise of autocratic China and Russia are compelling some to think that we have entered a new Cold War—and why we must reject that thinking in order to prevail.
