Abstract
This chapter explores the main digital technological innovations currently associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution—artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things—and their effects on the international political economy. It reviews some of their main benefits and challenges to established structures of the global economy, such as international trade and production, or the monetary and financial system. The chapter highlights that the complex coupling, interdependencies, and pervasiveness of these digital innovations disrupt the practice of international political economy on three dimensions: the established institutions that structure the international political economy, the distribution of authority between state and non-state actors, and the distribution of resources between and within developed and developing states.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Everledger uses blockchain, smart contracts, and machine vision to authenticate and protect the provenance of high-value assets.
References
Al-Saqaf, Walid, and Nicolas Seidler. 2017. Blockchain Technology for Social Impact: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead. Journal of Cyber Policy 2 (3): 338–354.
Arvanitakis, James, and David Hornsby. 2016. Universities, the Citizen Scholar and the Future of | J. Arvanitakis | Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781137538680.
Bacon, Jean, Johan David Michels, Christopher Millard, and Jatinder Singh. 2017. Blockchain Demystified, SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3091218. Rochester: Social Science Research Network. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3091218.
Barkho, Gabriela. 2018. Why a Top Cryptocurrency Exchange Is Technically Illegal in New York City. Inverse, January 17, 2018. https://www.inverse.com/article/40144-binance-bitlicense-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-exchange-new-york-city.
BBC News. 2017. China Shutting Down Bitcoin Exchanges. BBC News, September 19, 2017, sec. Business. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41320568.
———. 2018. Biggest Ever Digital Currency “Theft”, January 27, 2018, sec. Asia. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42845505.
Brass, Irina, Leonie Tanczer, Madeline Carr, and Jason Blackstock. 2017. Regulating IoT: Enabling or Disabling the Capacity of the Internet of Things? CARR Risk and Regulation Magazine 33 (August). http://www.lse.ac.uk/accounting/CARR/pdf/Risk&Regulation/r&r-33/riskandregulation-33-web.pdf.
Brass, Irina, Leonie Tanczer, Madeline Carr, Miles Elsden, and Jason Blackstock. Forthcoming. Standardising a Moving Target: The Development and Evolution of IoT Security Standards. In IET Conference Proceedings. https://events.theiet.org/petras/programme.cfm.
Campbell-Verduyn, Malcolm. 2017. Bitcoin and Beyond: Cryptocurrencies, Blockchains, and Global Governance. Abingdon: Routledge.
Chiu, Iris H.-Y. 2016. Fintech and Disruptive Business Models in Financial Products, Intermediation and Markets – Policy Implications for Financial Regulators. Journal of Technology Law & Policy 21: 55–112.
Christensen, Clayton M., Rory McDonald, Elizabeth J. Altman, and Jonathan Palmer. 2016. Disruptive Innovation: Intellectual History and Future Paths. Harvard Business School. http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/17-057_2059672c-e9fb-4df9-9f3e-2654b9b1c2a9.pdf.
ENISA. 2017. Baseline Security Recommendations for IoT in the Context of Critical Information Infrastructure. https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/baseline-security-recommendations-for-iot.
ESMA. 2017. ESMA Alerts Investors to the High Risks of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). November 13, 2017. https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/library/esma50-157-829_ico_statement_investors.pdf.
G20. 2017. Shaping Digitalisation at Global Level. https://www.de.digital/DIGITAL/Redaktion/EN/Dossier/g20-shaping-digitalisation-at-global-level.html.
Gartner. 2017. Gartner Says 8.4 Billion Connected. July 2, 2017. https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3598917.
Hale, Thomas, and David Held. 2011. Handbook of Transnational Governance: Institutions and Innovations. Ed. Thomas Hale and David Held. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Knight, Will. 2015. At Amazon Warehouses, Humans and Machines Work in Frenetic Harmony. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/538601/inside-amazons-warehouse-human-robot-symbiosis/.
Lagarde, Christine. 2017. Central Banking and Fintech—A Brave New World? Bank of England Conference. IMF. September 29, 2017. https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2017/09/28/sp092917-central-banking-and-fintech-a-brave-new-world.
Liao, Shannon. 2017. Inside Russia’s Love-Hate Relationship with Bitcoin. The Verge, October 31, 2017. https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/31/16387042/russia-putin-bitcoin-regulation-ethereum-blockchain-technology.
Meola, Andrew Meola, Business. 2016. How IoT Logistics Will Revolutionize Supply Chain Management. Business Insider, December 21, 2016. http://uk.businessinsider.com/internet-of-things-logistics-supply-chain-management-2016-10.
Nau, Dana S. 2009. Artificial Intelligence and Automation. In Springer Handbook of Automation, 249–268. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78831-7_14.
OECD. 2017a. The Next Production Revolution: Implications for Governments and Business. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264271036-en.
———. 2017b. Key Issues for Digital Transformation in the G20. https://www.oecd.org/g20/key-issues-for-digital-transformation-in-the-g20.pdf.
Ravenhill, John, ed. 2016. Global Political Economy. 5th ed. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Reed, Chris, Umamahesh Sathyanarayan, Shuhui Ruan, and Justine Collins. 2017. Beyond Bitcoin – Legal Impurities and Off-Chain Assets, SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3058945. Rochester: Social Science Research Network. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3058945.
Schumpeter, Joseph Alois. 1939. Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical, and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Process. Martino Pub.
Schwab, Klaus. 2017. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. London: Penguin UK.
———. n.d. The Fourth Industrial Revolution: What It Means and How to Respond. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/. Accessed 31 Jan 2018.
Scott, Brett, John Loonam, and Vikas Kumar. 2017. Exploring the Rise of Blockchain Technology: Towards Distributed Collaborative Organizations. Strategic Change 26 (5): 423–428 https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2142.
Tanczer, Leonie, Irina Brass, Miles Elsden, Madeline Carr, and Jason Blackstock. 2018. The United Kingdom’s Emerging Internet of Things (IoT) Policy and Legislative Landscape. In Rewired: Cybersecurity Governance. Hoboken: Wiley.
The Economist. 2015. The Promise of the Blockchain: The Trust Machine. The Economist, October 31, 2015. https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21677198-technology-behind-bitcoin-could-transform-how-economy-works-trust-machine.
UNIDO. 2016. Industry 4.0 Opportunities and Challenges of the New Industrial Revolution for Developing Countries and Economies in Transition. Panel Discussion. 2016. https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/2017-01/Unido_industry-4_NEW_0.pdf.
US FTC. 2015. Internet of Things, Privacy and Security in a Connected World. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/federal-trade-commission-staff-report-november-2013-workshop-entitled-internet-things-privacy/150127iotrpt.pdf.
US Senate. 2017. Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1691/text?format=txt.
Woolf, Nicky. 2016. DDoS Attack That Disrupted Internet Was Largest of Its Kind in History, Experts Say. The Guardian, October 26, 2016. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/26/ddos-attack-dyn-mirai-botnet.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brass, I., Hornsby, D.J. (2019). Digital Technological Innovation and the International Political Economy. In: Shaw, T.M., Mahrenbach, L.C., Modi, R., Yi-chong, X. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45443-0_38
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45443-0_38
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-45442-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-45443-0
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)