Channels, Fall 2018

Channels • 2018 • Volume 3 • Number 1 Page 127 Eyes on the Money: How Realist Economic Policy Facilitates the Modern Surveillance State in the USA and the PRC Benjamin Warder History and Government Introduction n this age of increasing global connectedness and the heightened levels of international interaction therewith, the preeminence of historically fundamental bases of power becomes all the more relevant and necessary to understand. Such bases of national power, such as military might, technology and innovation, natural resources, etc., effectively define the modern nation-state’s capabilities, and thereby its place in the existent world order. At the root of this delineation lies the most fundamental basis of power: the national economy. Taking into account the fact that economics includes harnessing, managing, maintaining, and utilizing a state’s resources, it is not difficult to realize that the national economy serves as the basal linkage and support of each basis of power listed above. Following this realization is the idea that power, especially as it relates to the international system, is by nature highly competitive, engendering a notable degree of concern and necessitating the national government’s concentrated effort to maintain. This fervent effort to attain and retain power, specifically in regard to protecting bases of power, a purpose which has long been the métier of national governments, advances in tandem with innovative methods and technology according to the level of purposeful integration. To stand as a world power in the modern era requires a great deal of this purposeful integration, specifically in relation to the protection of the national economic system, which has already been established as the basis of all other manifestations of national power. A common and notable approach to protecting the national economic base adopted by governments of the world powers indeed demonstrates the effective use of innovative technology, that approach being the establishment of the surveillance state. The concept of the surveillance state refers to the installation and utilization of widespread and encompassing technological surveillance capabilities, as carried out by a national government within its own territory. The United States of America (USA) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) serve as exemplary exhibitions of this concept, not only because of the high levels of state surveillance enacted (which are not necessarily the most concentrated or territorially comprehensive) but because the two states stand as the two dominant world powers, especially in regard to economic success. The USA and PRC stand as the leading economies of the world, with the highest and second-highest gross domestic product measures ($18.6 trillion and $11.2 trillion, respectively). Additionally, the two countries serve integral and prominent roles in a wide assortment of international economic associations and unions and have firmly established themselves as key economic entities in the I