Opinion: the quantum race is reshaping global security governance

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An essay published by E-International Relations argues that quantum technologies, covering computing, communication and sensing, have moved well beyond experimental physics labs and are now being pursued intensely by the US, China, the EU, India, Japan and others as genuine strategic national assets. The piece notes quantum computers could simulate chemical interactions with unprecedented accuracy for drug discovery and green energy, while quantum sensors could map underground resources or detect submarines with precision beyond classical devices, and quantum communications promise theoretically unbreakable cryptography built on entanglement

The essay explicitly invokes Cold War imagery in describing a quantum race, but notes an important difference from nuclear weapons, which arrived with devastating clarity in 1945. Quantum technologies are instead developing incrementally across laboratories and corporate research centers, with uneven visibility and genuinely uncertain timelines, which the author argues creates both real danger and genuine opportunity simultaneously

The danger identified is that mistrust and secrecy between rival states could accelerate an arms race dynamic where countries hoard breakthroughs and fear hidden adversary progress, while the opportunity is that quantum remains early enough that governance frameworks could still be built before its most destabilizing impacts actually unfold. Curious what people think about whether meaningful international governance frameworks can realistically get built in time, given how competitive this specific technology race has already become

The Quantum Race: How Emerging Technologies Reshape Global Security Governancewww.e-ir.org