Workarounding

This book focuses on the “tech middle powers” and their patterns of cooperation. The challenge of tech middle-power (TMP) cooperation offers a fascinating window into world politics more broadly, as it lies at the intersection of three key trends in contemporary global politics. First, there's a shift toward minilateral informal collaboration practices worldwide, which are increasingly supplementing or replacing the diminishing influence of multilateral institutions and the often limited scope of bilateral partnerships. Second, the “Easternization” of science and technology has resulted in a redistribution of industrial capacity, changing global production networks, and relocated cutting-edge innovations worldwide, marking a shift away from the traditional industrial hubs of the Western OECD nations. Finally, the world is witnessing the dynamics of an increasingly bipolar geopolitical landscape, where two technological and economic superpowers—the United States and China—compete for strategic partnerships, often in an exclusive manner. Middle powers, particularly those with advanced technological capabilities, face unique economic and security challenges in this volatile environment of bipolar competition.In this collection of essays, authors explore the growing phenomenon of “workarounding” – cooperation between and among middle power countries that excludes the US and China.