Diffusion, innovation and the tech-politics underlying power transitions

Review article based on Technology and the Rise of Great Powers: How Diffusion Shapes Economic Competition by Jeffrey Ding

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55763/ippr.2025.06.01.005

Abstract

In Technology and the Rise of Great Powers, Ding examines the historical industrial revolutions (from 1780s onwards) to argue that it was diffusion of general purpose technologies as opposed to advantage in leading sectors that decided the outcome of great power transitions. In this review article, Ding’s framework is applied to India for discerning the lessons it holds for rising powers amid the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Keywords:

Diffusion, general purpose technologies, AI, India, China, US

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Authors Bio

Lokendra Sharma, Takshashila Instittuion

Lokendra is a Research Analyst working with the High-Tech Geopolitics Programme at the Takshashila Institution.

Arindam Goswami, Takshashila Institution

Arindam Goswami is a Research Analyst at The Takshashila Institution, working in the High-Tech Geopolitics Programme.

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Published

2025-03-23