THE REVENGE OF PROMETHEUS: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION AND THE RECONFIGURATION OF INTERNATIONAL POWER IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

This article analyzes the reconfiguration of international power since the end of the Cold War by incorporating crucial dimensions of Science, Technology, and Innovation (ST&I). We track the evolution of relative positions occupied by the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, India, Russia, Brazil, and South Korea in the global economy between 1990 and 2020 in three dimensions: production dynamism (measured by relative share in world GDP calculated by Purchasing Power Parity), scientific and technological dynamism (measured by relative share in authorship of articles published in indexed international journals), and innovation dynamism (measured by relative share in world patent registration). To measure and evaluate the structural changes in progress, we adapted the Rae and Taylor as well as the Laakso and Taagepera indexes, commonly used to assess fragmentation degrees in political systems, to elaborate relative power concentration/dispersion indexes in each dimension and indicate the number and composition of “relative powers” within them. The results show the erosion of relative power of the “traditional powers” (United States, Europe and Japan), the accelerated Chinese ascension and the emergence of new “relevant powers” (especially India and South Korea), but with different diffusion/concentration degrees according to the dimension considered. They reinforce the understanding that national capacities in ST&I have become a central vector in the reconfiguration of world power.

Keywords

• science
• technology and innovation
• uneven development
• international power
• patents