Book Talk: Technology and the Rise of Great Powers with Jeffrey Ding

When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the moment of innovation - the eureka moment that sparks astonishing technological feats. In his new book, Jeffrey Ding offers a different explanation of how technological revolutions affect competition among great powers. Rather than focusing on which state first introduced major innovations, he investigates the ability of states to successfully adapt and spread these technologies across their economies.

Drawing on historical case studies of past industrial revolutions as well as statistical analysis, Ding demonstrates how institutional adaptations oriented around diffusing technology play a crucial role in shaping global competition. His findings bear directly on current concerns about how emerging technologies such as AI could influence the US-China power balance.

Following his presentation, Ding will be joined by Robert Trager, Co-Director of the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative, Ben Garfinkel, Director of the Centre for the Governance of AI and Kayla Blomquist, Director of the Oxford China Policy Lab for a panel discussion before Q&A

About the speaker:

Dr. Jeffrey Ding is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, sponsored by Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. His research focuses on great power competition and cooperation in emerging technologies, the political economy of innovation, and China's scientific and technological capabilities.

His book, Technology and the Rise of Great Powers (Princeton University Press, 2024), investigates how past technological revolutions influenced the rise and fall of great powers, with implications for U.S.-China competition in emerging technologies like AI. Other work has been published or is forthcoming in European Journal of International Relations, European Journal of International Security, Foreign Affairs, International Studies Quarterly, Review of International Political Economy, and Security Studies, and his research has been cited in The Washington Post, The Financial Times, and other outlets. Ding received his PhD in 2021 from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Previously, he worked as a researcher for Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology and Oxford's Centre for the Governance of AI.

Host or Publisher Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative