Strategies for Digital Development of Key States of the Global South in the Context of U.S.-Chinese Technological Rivalry

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Abstract

The article examines the strategies of the states of the Global South in the field of digital development in the context of technological rivalry between the United States of America and China. The main peculiarities of the U.S.-Chinese technological rivalry at the present stage are characterized. The U.S.-Chinese technological rivalry is considered as a factor influencing the development and implementation of national digital development strategies by the states of the Global South, which provide for the intensification of international cooperation in priority areas. The international political aspects of the implementation of digital development strategies of the most significant dynamically developing states of the Global South located in important international regions (Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America) are studied. Attention is paid primarily to such strategic areas of digital development of the considered states of the Global South, as digital data processing and storage systems, digital data transmission systems, new generation mobile communication technologies, space programs, digital commerce, integrated “smart city” technologies, technologies cybersecurity. The paper explores the strategic approaches of the considered countries of the Global South in relation to digital cooperation with the United States and China. The interaction of the considered states in the digital sphere with technologically advanced countries acting as alternative technological partners (Japan, leading European countries, the Republic of Korea, Israel, Russia) is analyzed. The study identifies and characterizes the most significant digital projects of foreign corporations implemented jointly with the countries under consideration. The features of international cooperation in the digital sphere between the key countries of the Global South within the international regions defined in the study, as well as at the transregional level are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to promising regional international technological projects in the digital sphere. As a result of the study, the main priority areas of foreign policy activities of the key states of the Global South are determined from the point of view of more effective implementation by these states of their digital development strategies. The specific features inherent in the strategies of digital development of the considered states of the Global South are revealed. The author comes to the conclusion that these states, in the context of the U.S.-Chinese technological rivalry, seek to diversify their international ties in the digital sphere, strengthen the technological potential of national digital companies, strengthen national “digital sovereignty,” use their competitive advantages to attract foreign investment in the digital segment of national economies, activate their transport and logistics potential through the introduction of technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, expand digital cooperation with other countries in their international regions, as well as at the transregional level.

About the authors

Oleg V. Stoletov

Moscow State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: oleg-stoletov1@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0479-7865

PhD in Political Sciences, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations and Integration Processes, The Faculty of Political Science

Moscow, Russian Federation

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Copyright (c) 2022 Stoletov O.V.

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