events that have already occurred or are just about to, and then try to imagine what
the realistic future of space exploration may look like.
In the twentieth century, the US became a global superpower whose economic
and military supremacy has lasted into the twenty-first. The US places strategic
priority on its air and naval forces, which deploy 12,000 military aircraft,
13
against
a total of 8,000 of Russia and China, and 430 ships
14
which are qualitatively superior to the 900 deployed by Moscow and Beijing together. Moreover, US troops
worldwide in 2020 are estimated to be about 180,000 units, equal to 8% of the
total workforce, based over 140 countries on six continents.
15
The reasons why military forces have always accompanied the economic health
of a nation are not the subject of these pages. It is sufficient to consider how, until
the nineteenth century, the global domination of European states was assured by
their massive military fleets, capable of influencing international political and economic relations.
16
Even nowadays in our globalized world, control of the seas
remains an imperative. As an example, one should consider that the total amount
of goods transported through the South China Sea alone are worth nearly $4 trillion in trade each year,
17
of which more than $1 trillion is linked to the US market,
mostly as exports from China.
For five centuries, European nations dominated through their armies and naval
fleets. They developed routes for a global trade from the Americas to the Indies
and fought continuous wars both inside and outside of the European continent.
European culture was promulgated through a global network of political, economic and military relations that pervaded every colonized territory.
From the late eighteenth into the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution
18
changed the world’s geopolitical balance, introducing new technologies that completely changed the way of life. With the advent of mass transportation, the interconnection among nations strengthened.
This unprecedented social and economic process created optimistic expectations. In 1910, the British journalist Norman Angell Lane published the book The
Great Illusion, in which he expounded his theory, later named Angellism, according to which “military and political power does not confer any commercial
13
http://armedforces.eu/compare/country_USA_vs_China.
14
Idem
15
https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-military-forces-fy-2021-army.
16
Beckley, Michael. 2010. Economic Development and Military Effectiveness. New York,
USA: Department of Political Science, Columbia University, The Journal of Strategic Studies
33 (1): 43–79.
17
https://www.state.gov/the-south-china-sea-southeast-asias-patrimony-and-everybodysown-backyard/.
18
Singer, C., E.J. Holmyard, A.R. Hall, and T.I. Williams. 1994. A History of Technology, Vol.
IV. The Industrial Revolution, Bollati Boringhieri.
70 Technopolitics of Space Between History and Realpolitik
the realistic future of space exploration may look like.
In the twentieth century, the US became a global superpower whose economic
and military supremacy has lasted into the twenty-first. The US places strategic
priority on its air and naval forces, which deploy 12,000 military aircraft,
13
against
a total of 8,000 of Russia and China, and 430 ships
14
which are qualitatively superior to the 900 deployed by Moscow and Beijing together. Moreover, US troops
worldwide in 2020 are estimated to be about 180,000 units, equal to 8% of the
total workforce, based over 140 countries on six continents.
15
The reasons why military forces have always accompanied the economic health
of a nation are not the subject of these pages. It is sufficient to consider how, until
the nineteenth century, the global domination of European states was assured by
their massive military fleets, capable of influencing international political and economic relations.
16
Even nowadays in our globalized world, control of the seas
remains an imperative. As an example, one should consider that the total amount
of goods transported through the South China Sea alone are worth nearly $4 trillion in trade each year,
17
of which more than $1 trillion is linked to the US market,
mostly as exports from China.
For five centuries, European nations dominated through their armies and naval
fleets. They developed routes for a global trade from the Americas to the Indies
and fought continuous wars both inside and outside of the European continent.
European culture was promulgated through a global network of political, economic and military relations that pervaded every colonized territory.
From the late eighteenth into the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution
18
changed the world’s geopolitical balance, introducing new technologies that completely changed the way of life. With the advent of mass transportation, the interconnection among nations strengthened.
This unprecedented social and economic process created optimistic expectations. In 1910, the British journalist Norman Angell Lane published the book The
Great Illusion, in which he expounded his theory, later named Angellism, according to which “military and political power does not confer any commercial
13
http://armedforces.eu/compare/country_USA_vs_China.
14
Idem
15
https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-military-forces-fy-2021-army.
16
Beckley, Michael. 2010. Economic Development and Military Effectiveness. New York,
USA: Department of Political Science, Columbia University, The Journal of Strategic Studies
33 (1): 43–79.
17
https://www.state.gov/the-south-china-sea-southeast-asias-patrimony-and-everybodysown-backyard/.
18
Singer, C., E.J. Holmyard, A.R. Hall, and T.I. Williams. 1994. A History of Technology, Vol.
IV. The Industrial Revolution, Bollati Boringhieri.
70 Technopolitics of Space Between History and Realpolitik