Tortoise the Titan: Private Entities as a Geoeconomic Tool in Outer Space

The current competition between China and the US or generally between the Western and Chinese political-economic model over global dominance is one of the most pressing topics of contemporary political sciences. The competition is taking place in all domains and utilizing a wide array of foreign policy tools. From military standoff over Taiwan to information campaign over COVID-19 pandemics, to economic investments around the world, to the contest in cyberspace, we can identify numerous topics that are part of the broad topic. This article analyses one specific tool in a toolbox of the ongoing power competition – the utilization of private space companies. Like the terrestrial international politics following the end of the Cold War, outer space is shifting from the utilization of geopolitical tools only to the increasing reliance on geoeconomic means of power competition. The rapid growth of the number of private actors operating in the domain changes the nature of the activity but does not settle the conflict lines present in international politics. This article reconceptualizes the New Space era and the heating geoeconomic competition by adding into consideration the Mahanian view on the sustainability of operations in non-land domains through the utilization of commercial activities and the different approaches taken by authoritarian and democratic regimes. While originally designed for the sea domain, this article claims, that his thought might be used for other domains including outer space to aid us to spot different approach to the utilization of private space companies as geoeconomic tools in the West (including the US and Europe) and China as main competitors. The article responds to the question of the difference between the approach to the private space companies in the West and in China and of sustainability of the different trajectories taken.