Scramble for the Skies

Namrata Goswami is an independent scholar.Peter Garretson is senior fellow in defense studies with the American Foreign Policy Council.

Goswami and Garretson are directly involved in space policy research, and it shows. Addressing a perceived emerging great-power competition in outer space, they target the policymaker audience. Exploring five cases—the US, China, India, Luxembourg, and the UAE—they trace the roles of myth, history, and strategic culture in shaping epistemic communities, space resource ambitions, and policies pursued within each state. Working from textual sources and interviews, they propose multiple scenarios for the emerging struggle, and spell out the ideological and strategic approach expected from each state. Hypotheticals run from the China-dominant to the India-dominant ("Space Raj") and include the US-dominant ("Protector of the Realm") scenario, as well as a number of bipolar and balancing options. The authors' expected configuration of world powers in 2060 is China (number one), US (two), and India (three), with a likely crisis before 2028 and a critical "fork in the road" circa 2047. The appendixes outline the authors' assumptions and theory for academic readers, discussing why they adopted their approach and how their work fits into a larger research project. The "scramble" for resources and key locations in space, they argue, will shape human politics for centuries. Required reading for students, faculty, and practitioners, this book may also attract a general readership. Highly recommended.

• Chapter 1: Introducing the Concept of Great Power Competition for Space ResourcesChapter 2: The Role of Myths, History, and Strategic Culture on Space Based ResourcesChapter 3 (Part I): The Epistemic Community and the Foundations of Discourse in the United StatesChapter 4 (Part II): The United States Strategy and Space Resource AmbitionsChapter 5: China’s Strategy and Space Resource AmbitionsChapter 6: India’s Strategy and Space Resource AmbitionsChapter 7: Middle Power Strategy and Ambitions for Space Resources: Luxembourg and the UAEChapter 8: Are We Observing the Beginning of a Race or Scramble for Space Resources?Scenarios and Concluding ThoughtsAfterword: Theorizing Space Resources within International Relations Concepts and Positioning of the Authors