Great power competition is the rivalry among the world's largest and most influential countries for power, security, and economic advantage. It plays out through military strength, trade, technology, alliances, and diplomacy. The president, Congress, the Defense and State departments, and the National Security Council all shape the response.
People usually ask how the United States deals with rival powers, how competition shows up in technology, space, and supply chains, how nuclear arms fit in, and whether the country should cooperate, compete, or stand apart.
An independent team explaining how government works
The United States Navy, the preeminent maritime force of the modern era, is trapped in a logistical and economic paradox. Despite a shipbuilding budget that has…
In the popular imagination, the internet is a "cloud"—an ethereal, wireless network that transmits data through the air. This metaphor masks the physical reality of the…
While the foundational legal structures of the Taiwan-US relationship—the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiqués, and the Six Assurances—remain technically operative, the reality of US-Taiwan…
More than a year ago, the Commission on the National Defense Strategy issued a report with a stark conclusion: the United States faces the most challenging…
The White House has released a document that dismantles the post-Cold War consensus on American foreign policy. The 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS), signed…
The geopolitical map of Europe is being redrawn. Not by the shifting frontlines of the Donbas, but by the pen strokes of diplomats in…
The specter of nuclear testing—a practice most Americans associate with Cold War-era footage of mushroom clouds—has returned to the headlines with alarming force. Vague…
The multiyear effort by the United States to force Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok represents a true geopolitical drama of the digital age.…
From the mission of the U.S. Space Force to NASA's ambitious return to the Moon, American space policy remains profoundly shaped by the Cold…
From the Cold War panic that birthed NASA to the modern establishment of the U.S. Space Force and the rise of private spaceflight, America's…
The new space race links American, Chinese and Russian lunar plans, international partners, private companies and the challenges of reaching Mars.
In the White House Situation Room, the President and senior cabinet officials convene to address the most pressing threats to the nation. This body,…
The relationship between the United States and China has become the most important geopolitical challenge of our time. While headlines focus on presidential statements…
For over seven decades, the world has operated within a framework known as the "rules-based international order." This system of laws, agreements, and institutions…
