5G as a battlefield: the sino-US dispute and the geopolitical impact of the new technological frontier on Brazilian territory

• Grant number: 21/10242-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2022
• End date: June 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Manoel Fernandes de Sousa Neto
• Grantee: Mariana Cardoso
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the US has lost its status as a unipolar superpower, while the so-called "emerging powers" rose politically and economically, especially China, which grew at a rate of almost 10% a year for three decades. In this context, world powers have been launching themselves to dominate the new technological level that promises to be the fourth industrial revolution: the 5G, the current battleground in the war for hegemony. This research is justified by the fact that 5G is the current center of disputes between the great powers, given that the new technological paradigm controls the transport, communication, and information networks and its domain implies a position of power over other countries. While Brazil does not dominate the new technology, its implementation implies the renewal of Brazilian dependence on international powers. This work aims to explain how the geopolitical dispute on the 5G technological frontier between China and the US influences the sovereignty of the Brazilian territory and reverberates in deep spatial changes. Based on bibliographies, newspaper articles, 5G diffusion data and discourse analysis of the main actors of the phenomenon, a dialogue with fundamental theorists will be established, associating Milton Santos' concept of space (1996) with the theories of capital reproduction and creative destruction (HARVEY, 1982), of uneven and combined geographic development (SMITH, 1988) and seeking to understand neo-imperialism with Lenin (2008) and Luxembourg (1985). The aim of this research is to elucidate the political, economic, and territorial consequences for Brazil and how the new technological frontier reinvents neocolonialism over the country.(AU)