Great Power Competition

Great power competition describes the ongoing rivalry among the United States, China, and Russia for military, economic, and technological advantage. It plays out in defense budgets and weapons programs, in control over supply chains and infrastructure, and in the reach of alliances and international institutions. Because the stakes touch trade, security, and daily life, decisions in this area shape how the government spends money and sets priorities for decades.

Military readiness is a recurring flashpoint, since lawmakers and defense officials argue over whether the size and speed of the armed forces match the threats the country says it faces. Debates over shipbuilding delays and cost overruns illustrate the gap between ambition and capacity, as detailed in Why U.S. Navy Ships Cost So Much and Take So Long to Build, and broader questions about whether spending translates into strength appear in Why the US Military Is Struggling Despite a $900 Billion Budget. New categories of weapons, including America’s Hypersonic Weapons Race, add urgency to these debates.

Economic and technological leverage now shapes rivalry as much as military hardware does. Access to computer chips, minerals, and physical infrastructure like undersea cables has become a matter of national security, as explored in Why America’s National Security Council Obsesses Over Microchips, Critical Minerals: US Strategy to Break China’s Supply Chain Dominance, and How the U.S. Secures the Internet’s Physical Backbone Under the Ocean.

Institutions and global order round out the picture, from the White House staff who craft strategy toward Beijing, described in How America’s National Security Council Shapes China Strategy, to the financial system underpinning American influence abroad, covered in How China, Europe, and De-Dollarization Will Challenge US Leadership. Competition even extends beyond Earth, as shown in A New Space Race: How America, China, and Russia Are Racing for the Moon and Mars.