Skip to main content Skip to secondary navigation
Stanford University and the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innvoation

Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition

Keeping America’s Edge in an Era of Great Power Rivalry

INTLPOL 340 / MS&E 296 | Fall Quarter 2022-2023

Main content start

The U.S. national security establishment is at risk of being disrupted.

Welcome to Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition

This is a unique course. We offer the combination of reading, lectures and guest speakers seen in traditional policy courses, however, this is an experiential policy class. The material we offer explores how new technologies pose challenges and create opportunities for the United States to compete with rivals in the international system with a focus on strategic competition with the People's Republic of China. YWith the small team you will form, you will embark on a quarter-long project that will get you out of the classroom to identify a priority national security challenge. Your team will  validate the problem and propose a detailed solution, which will be tested against actual stakeholders in the technology and national security ecosystem.

Why We're Teaching this Class Now

The years following the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War are often referred to as America’s “unipolar moment” with the U.S. enjoying global dominance measured across all indices of national power. Since then, rival great powers like China and Russia have sought to undermine the U.S. led international order through deliberate and concerted whole of government efforts aimed at leveling the playing field with the U.S. and, wherever possible, tilting it to their advantage.