Geoeconomics: A Cross-Track Conversation on a Topical Concept

Students from Global Commerce in Culture & Society (GCCS) and Global Security & Justice (GSSJ) met at the end of the spring semester to discuss common interests in geoeconomics.

How do governments use their influence over commodities, firms, and technologies to pursue geopolitical objectives? How do companies resist such attempts, or try to leverage them to commercial advantage?

These questions were at the heart of the conversation facilitated by professors Pierre-Christian Fink (GCCS) and Tayyab Safdar (GSSJ). They had noticed over the past weeks that several students in their respective tracks were writing capstone theses on topics related to geoeconomics, and invited the students to draw out cross-track connections over lunch in UVA’s Garden Room.

Two students engaged in dialogue about their capstone research on the global semiconductor industry as a geopolitical prize: Jonah Linker (GSSJ) explored how hosting ASML, the company that produces the most advanced machines used in chip manufacturing, provides the Dutch government with leverage in foreign relations. Margot Douglass (GCCS) focused on Taiwan, where most high-end chip manufacturing takes place. While headlines are typically dominated by revenue and GDP numbers, she asked what the broader social consequences of the industry’s growth are.

Evelyn Lewis (GSSJ) explained how protecting women’s rights was used as one of the reasons for the war in Afghanistan. Contrasting these accounts with the understandings that Afghan women develop as they socialize in beauty salons, she invoked a new form of feminist solidarity. Marie Heilman (GCCS) compared the depictions of Gorgo, Queen of Sparta, in movies from the 1960s and 2000s about the Battle of Thermopylae. The capstone thesis argues that commercial changes in the movie industry were connected to a more standardized portrayal of Gorgo that distracted from her role in the making of geopolitical decisions.

• Luka Ivanovic (GCCS) on gold, often understood as a safe-haven asset, as a driver of economic and political instability in countries where it is mined and traded.
• Elise Orr (GSSJ) on the importance of social-media companies for populist politics.
• Salonee Raheja (GCCS) on the tension between anti-trust law and national-security goals in the field of AI.
• Naomi Schatz (GCCS) on the 2024 Paris Olympics as an attempt to improve France’s geopolitical standing.