Geotech: converging technology, markets, and politics in international political economy

Technology currently powers the fourth industrial revolution engine of the knowledge economy. It also drives the transmission belts of growth, inclusion and sustainability across the planet. However, technological progress is simultaneously accelerating, enabling and disrupting the fundamental fabric of IPE. Technology forces us to recalibrate our timescales and mental models, enabling new spaces of economic and human attainment while disrupting sources of innovation and challenging established market makers and political leaders. This chapter probes Geotech, the intersection of technology, markets and politics, that makes IPE more connected, complex and uncertain than ever. It outlines key elements for adopting a more holistic, complex adaptive systems (CAS) framework for IPE, shedding light on how Geotech transforms individual incentives, firm production functions, national sustainable growth trajectories and global economic complexity in step change. Finally, it explores possible alternative IPE futures driven by Geotech, spanning the conflict-competition-cooperation spectrum for the rest of the 21st century.