On geopolitics and geoeconomics of technology: towards a critical geopolitical economy analysis of transnational infrastructures

This reflection article to the Special Issue on ‘Transnational Infrastructures in Geoeconomic Competition’ critically yet constructively comments on the arguments brought forward in the Special Issue from a geopolitical economy perspective. The article first discusses the geopolitics/geoeconomics binary and introduces some basic tenets of critical geopolitical economy as a scholarly approach. The article also identifies various types of transnational infrastructures and analyzes contemporary tech economies from a critical geopolitical economy perspective. Recent technological developments, such as AI deployment in warfare, have made the geopolitical dimension of technological competition and the associated corporate-state relations increasingly prominent. The article suggests that the study of these relations – the state-corporation geopolitical nexus – is one of the next critical frontiers where ‘critical geoeconomics’ can contribute.