Thread: Why is the UK Huawei decision such a big deal? Think weaponized interdependence. cnet.com/news/uk-gives-…
2/The US administration has given a lot of reasons to be weary of Huawei -- economic competition, intelligence sharing, national security...newstatesman.com/spotlight-amer…
3/But this misses the way in which all of these concerns are wrapped up together in a world of global economic networks that often have key choke points. See recent piece in @HarvardBiz w/@henryfarrell. hbr.org/2020/01/choke-…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell 4/Many global networks are not open and decentralized but are dominated by a few key economic players that channel information. Think Google or the US dollar.
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell 5/States are increasingly using these chokepoints to gain geostrategic advantage, conditioning access to key hubs or gleaning information from them. @henryfarrell explain this more general phenomenon as weaponized interdependence in a piece in @Journal_IS henryfarrell.net/wp/wp-content/…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS 6/The US concern over Huawei is a mirror image of what was disclosed about US activities in the @snowden
documents. See ATT, for example. nytimes.com/2015/08/16/us/…
documents. See ATT, for example. nytimes.com/2015/08/16/us/…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden 7/Huawei is then really about hub politics. If Huawei supplies the backbone of 5G and the next gen Internet, then the US will lose its access to the global panopticon. This is more than simple intel sharing or Huawei profits.
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden 8/Unfortunately, the US has played a bad hand in trying to prevent Huawei dominance. First, it has been too slow to recognize the sticky politics of weaponized interdependence. Economic players would lose big. techradar.com/news/huawei-5g…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden 9/This has led to a all sticks no carrots approach which has turned off allies like the UK. businessinsider.com/donald-trump-h…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden 10/ It also ignores the ramifications for US companies and how the fight might spillover on their future innovation capacity. See, for example, the Pentagon's concerns.thehill.com/policy/cyberse…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden 11/The failure of the US to get the UK on board signals the failure of US policy-makers to really grasp the new reality of weaponized interdependence and develop a corresponding policy playbook. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden 12/For example, the US was late in developing a coordinated NATO strategy on 5G, leaving members to face salami tactics from China. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden 13/@henryfarrell try to think through the strategic playbook for a world of weaponized interdependence in this piece in @ForeignAffairs foreignaffairs.com/articles/unite…
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden @ForeignAffairs 14/As China grows economically, 5G and Huawei are the canary in the coal mine. This is not just about a 'backdoor' or trade fight. It is about how the structure of the global economy generates a new type of great power politics.
@HarvardBiz @henryfarrell @Journal_IS @Snowden @ForeignAffairs 15/And if we are not careful, brash threats and ally arm twisting will only weaken our ability to meet the immense challenge that weaponized interdependence poses. foreignaffairs.com/articles/2020-…
