Building Trust and Advancing U.S. Geoeconomic Strength Through Public-Private Partnership Stakeholder Capitalism

The United States and China are currently engaged in a struggle for global influence and critical resources known as the Great Power Competition (GPC). Strategic access to key populations, geographies and supply chains, largely built on trust, will be the deciding factor in determining a competitive advantage. The global devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that no one wins in a power struggle that overlooks human security for shareholder interests. This chapter explores a new way for the U.S. to engage within the modern GPC that increases competitiveness while better supporting the dignity of human constituents: specifically, to employ stakeholder capitalism rather than shareholder capitalism to win the hearts and minds of global citizens. This chapter will demonstrate that traditional national security policies, based primarily on the state, are less effective geopolitically and should no longer drive foreign policy or U.S. industrial policy. In order for the U.S. to compete in the current global arena, its policy must prioritize human and business security. Additionally, the chapter will explore the interdependent and complex relationship between the U.S. and China within the context of the modern GPC and the effects of this relationship on U.S. economy and industry. Finally, the chapter prescribes Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), both at home and abroad, as an effective means to bolster U.S. and foreign institutions. Such a strategy will better serve all stakeholders in a post-COVID-19 global society while positioning U.S. security interests uniquely within the modern GPC. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

From the Great Power Competition to Great Power Cooperation: Strategic Lessons from a Pandemic

A swiftly changing geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape in Central Asia-Southeast Asia (CASA) resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the modern Great Power Competition (GPC)-calls for a timely shift in U.S. foreign diplomacy to "soft power” facilitation and cooperation in this fragile region. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that isolationism and/or the over-reliance on militaristic might are ineffective strategies for maintaining long-term U.S. national interests. As China rapidly expands its "soft power” influence in the Central Region through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the U.S. must enact similar strategic undertakings to remain competitive. To that end, the New Silk Road Initiative (NSRI) is the United States' best option to compete and/or cooperate with China's BRI. Strategic implementation of the NSRI is critical, not only for gaining traction in the modern GPC, but ultimately for expediting a successful recovery from the pandemic, through increased regional trade and economic development. The NSRI can facilitate the commercialization of Afghanistan's vast wealth of natural resources, especially its rare earth and critical minerals, ensuring continued U.S. strategic influence in the CASA region. The NSRI can also be instrumental in affording new opportunities for interstate cooperation within the scientific and technological communities during this crucial time of global recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted not only our global interconnectedness and interdependence, but also the prospect of great power cooperation in the service of global healing. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Pakistan 2021: In pursuit of a pivotal role in post-pandemic South Asia

In 2020, the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan launched an economic diplomacy project titled Economic Outreach Initiative. It aims to unlock Pakistan's growth potential and showcase national trade, tourism and foreign investment capacities through a paradigm shift of foreign policy from geopolitics to geoeconomics. The Khan administration is committed to capitalising on the ongoing strategic partnership with China and to enhancing the relationship with Washington. In parallel, Pakistan intends to strengthen connectivity with South and Central Asian countries. South Asian regional stability is the linchpin to engineering such a transition. The United States' disengagement with Afghanistan and the Taliban's Kabul takeover have offered Islamabad the opportunity to become a pivotal player in the regional scenario. Islamabad's efforts to support the Afghan peace process include consolidating solid relationships with the new rulers in Kabul and adopting a leading role in moulding the future of Afghanistan. These efforts provide impetus to galvanising Pakistan's international legitimacy, enhancing its regional influence and fostering regional stability, allowing investments and flourishing economic relations with partner countries. Similarly, Pakistan eased its tense relations with India and announced, together with New Delhi, a ceasefire in February 2021. In an environment where the Government is unchallenged by a political opposition mainly engaged in planning the general elections of 2023, Pakistan managed to contain the Coronavirus pandemic despite facing a resurgence of internal militancy.

Holding Up a Mirror to the World Trade Organization: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

[...]what of other cognate international institutions that govern the global political economy and thereby facilitate or hamper access to lifesaving medical equipment and drugs, provide a system of enforceable rules to encourage vaccine development and distribution, or ensure that populations already beleaguered by a potentially lethal contagion do not become casualties of new scarcities of essential goods and services? [...]the rapid and global spread of COVID-19 was facilitated by a model of globalization that recognizes merit in the free movement of people across borders. [...]the WTO’s rules on trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) directly impact upon the issue of the accessibility of the vaccine. State-owned enterprises and subsidies in China showed a mixing of public and private power that was an anomaly to the rules-based system of free and fair markets that the liberal order had envisaged;it was, however, a good illustration of the exercise of state power on and via the private sector, along the lines outlined by the model of weaponized interdependence.

PAKISTAN 2021: IN PURSUIT OF A PIVOTAL ROLE IN POST-PANDEMIC SOUTH ASIA

In 2020, the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan launched an economic diplomacy project titled Economic Outreach Initiative. It aims to unlock Pakistan’s growth potential and showcase national trade, tourism and foreign investment capacities through a paradigm shift of foreign policy from geopolitics to geoeconomics. The Khan administration is committed to capitalising on the ongoing strategic partnership with China and to enhancing the relationship with Washington. In parallel, Pakistan intends to strengthen connectivity with South and Central Asian countries. South Asian regional stability is the linchpin to engineering such a transition. The United States’ disengagement with Afghanistan and the Taliban’s Kabul takeover have offered Islamabad the opportunity to become a pivotal player in the regional scenario. Islamabad’s efforts to support the Afghan peace process include consolidating solid relationships with the new rulers in Kabul and adopting a leading role in moulding the future of Afghanistan. These efforts provide impetus to galvanising Pakistan’s international legitimacy, enhancing its regional influence and fostering regional stability, allowing investments and flourishing economic relations with partner countries. Similarly, Pakistan eased its tense relations with India and announced, together with New Delhi, a ceasefire in February 2021. In an environment where the Government is unchallenged by a political opposition mainly engaged in planning the general elections of 2023, Pakistan managed to contain the Coronavirus pandemic despite facing a resurgence of internal militancy. © Viella s.r.l. & Associazione Asia Maior.

US-China Geoeconomic Tensions: Implications for the African Continental Free Trade Area

Passage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) occurs at a time of rising tensions between the United States and China. Africa's growth and development prospects depend on a functioning and stable multilateral trading system, but recourse to economic nationalism and protectionism is increasingly undermining the open global economy and, indeed, the liberal international order on which free and fair trade depends. This article examines the implications of US-China tensions for the CFTA while assessing the opportunity for closer engagement between African countries and an axis of emerging powers led by China in an enhanced Global South strategy.

Some ways to modernise and increase the efficiency of trade and investment flows between the European Union and South East Asian Countries

Since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, the European Union's economic and sociopolitical strength has been subjected to a harsh test as all societal actors, in very specific ways, were obliged to keep the virus from spreading out of control, minimise the economic damage and ensure timely and urgent treatment for covid-19 patients while also managing social unrest and the rise of Eurosceptic rhetoric. As is characteristic for the modern trading landscape, supply chains have also been negatively affected by the pandemic, with figures plummeting sharply in 2020 with varying rates of recovery in 2021. Analysis of the current global geoeconomic context and the European Union's external trade and investment partnerships suggests that it could benefit from focusing its attention on one of the world's fastest growing economies, namely the South-East Asia region. In the present paper, we investigate the extent to which trade reliance on China and/or the United States, economic complexity, political uncertainty and number of dominant foreign trade partners have influenced the economic performance of the European Union and South-East Asia during the pandemic. The results and the implications thereof are discussed in the broader context of a possible paradigmatic change in the European Union's foreign trade.

GEOECONOMIC AND GEOPOLITICAL CHALLENGES OF ENERGY TRANSITION. IMPLICATIONS FOR WORLD ECONOMY

The article deals with geoeconomic and geopolitical challenges for the further development of the world economy in the conditions of the energy transition designated by a number of countries of the world. The authors carried out a detailed analysis of the trends in the development of “green” energy in the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, identified the main directions of changes in the state energy policy of developed and developing countries. It is established that the accelerated and forced transition to renewable energy sources had a negative impact on the dynamics of economic development of a number of countries of the world. The authors make the assumption that the non-alternative and accelerated transition to “green” energy, actively promoted by developed countries (EU, USA and other OECD countries), together with a sharp decline in investment in traditional hydrocarbon energy sources, can lead to the formation of significant imbalances in the global economy, loss of predictability of the development of global and regional energy and energy markets. In addition, the authors pay special attention to the role of rare earth metals in the energy transition, whose markets are characterized by high monopolization in favor of China. Together with the global economic crisis, which was caused by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the trends of the accelerated energy transition have significantly worsened the stability of the energy systems of many countries of the world. Taking into account these factors, the authors have analyzed the strategic consequences for states engaged in intensive decarbonization of their national economies and the fuel and energy complex. At the same time, the authors noted that the EU’s long-term plans to increase the share of hydrogen energy in the energy balance open up new prospects for the Russian Federation, which has extensive opportunities for the production and export of hydrogen. The importance of the development of domestic technologies in the field of hydrogen energy was noted. In addition, taking into account the development trends of the energy transition, the importance of the development of the rare earth industry in the Russian Federation to reduce the impact of imports of rare earth elements from China was noted. © 2022, Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Taiwan 2021: HeigHTened geo-economic relevance amid rising cross-sTraiT Tensions*

Taiwan remained one of the crossroads of international politics in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross-Strait relations with China continued their downward trend, with increasing military tensions in the airspace and waters surrounding the island, leading to speculations of a military takeover. The PLA activism in the Strait was inherently tied, in an action-reaction dynamic, to the further strengthening of relations between Washington and Taipei, with the new Biden administration in the White House operating in broad continuity with the previous Trump administration, albeit with expected differences in style. The Biden administration was instrumental in fostering support among allies to call for «peace and stability» in the Taiwan Strait. In this contest, Taiwan further strengthened relations with Japan, and made inroads in Europe. Partners abroad expanded ties with the island as a result of a broader push back against China’s ambitions on the international stage, and the impact of the global supply chain crisis revolving around the shortage of chips. Taiwan’s essential role in the supply chain crisis, a result of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s dominance in this strategic industrial sector and of the geographic concentration of chip plants on the island, has presented the Tsai administration with new geo-economic chal-lenges and opportunities. On the domestic front, President Tsai and the DPP obtained an important political victory after the rejection of the referendums on trade, energy, and the electoral law that were supported by the major opposition party, the KMT. © Viella s.r.l. & Associazione Asia Maior.

Impact of Geoeconomics on the Availability of Financing for Entities in the Agricultural Sector During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Problems of the availability of financing for the subjects of the agricultural sector are one of the priority directions of the strategic development of the national economy. In the context of digital transformation, the availability of financing becomes a critical aspect in the increasing impact of geoeconomic influences. The impact of geoeconomic influences on economic processes has considerably increased during the period of restrictive measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper investigates the impacts mentioned above on the accessibility of various sources of financing for the subjects of the agricultural sector, in particular in the conditions of digital transformation of the leading agricultural branches of the country. Based on the study of legal and practical aspects, the authors provide recommendations for effective financial support of the subjects of the agro-industrial complex of the country. Nowadays, it is critical to consider the direction of government support in the agricultural market. The authors show the main financial instruments and provide recommendations for further financial recovery of the agricultural sectors of Kazakhstan. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.