Indo-Pacific Insight Series Vol 25
Technopolitik: Technology,
geostrategic competition and warfare
July 2025
By Alana Ford
As global power dynamics shift, advanced technologies are no longer just tools—they are instruments of geopolitical competition and modern warfare. In Technopolitik: Technology, Geostrategic Competition and Warfare, Senior Fellow Alana Ford explores how technologies like AI, cyber tools, and autonomous systems are reshaping the way influence is asserted, alliances are formed, and conflicts are fought.
From drone warfare and disinformation to economic coercion and critical infrastructure attacks, the Indo-Pacific is a key theatre for hybrid and irregular warfare. This paper unpacks these developments through timely case studies, examines future trends like AI-driven influence and quantum disruption, and calls for urgent action.
This is a must-read for policymakers, industry leaders, and citizens alike who want to understand how technology is reshaping power in the Indo-Pacific and what Australia must do to stay ahead.
Key Messages
↗ Technology is reshaping strategic competition and warfare— transforming how, where, and by whom power is exerted.
↗ Advanced technologies—such as AI, cyber tools, and autonomous systems—are not neutral; they are now critical instruments of geopolitical influence, disruption, and control.
↗ Hybrid and irregular warfare increasingly blur the lines between peace and conflict, using low-cost, tech-enabled tactics, often below the threshold of conventional war.
↗ China’s grey zone pressure on Taiwan and North Korea’s illicit crypto operations are examples of how the Indo-Pacific region has become a key theatre of high-tech competition, coercion and influence.
↗ Australia must cut through bureaucratic inertia and accelerate long term capability development to adapt to this new era.
Related insights
Indo-Pacific Insight Series
The Indo-Pacific Insight Series offers in-depth analysis of strategic trends shaping the Indo-Pacific. These publications draw on regional expertise to provide considered, forward-looking assessments of key foreign policy, security and economic issues. Designed for policymakers, analysts and engaged readers, the series explores the deeper context behind headline developments.