Graduation Year

2025

Date of Submission

4-2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

International Relations

Reader 1

Jennifer Taw

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© 2025 Adrian Flynn

Abstract

The contemporary state of international outer space affairs is pervaded by two simultaneous dynamics: intensifying great power competition and the democratization of access to space. With more states able to utilize space according to their interests, a select few have chosen to hedge in space affairs between the U.S. and China. This paper examines the motivations and mechanisms for states to hedge in space affairs, and draws on qualitative empirical data to compare how states hedge in the space domain versus how they hedge more broadly. This paper finds that states’ motivations and mechanisms for hedging in space largely mirror their general hedging postures. These findings illuminate the extent to which space is increasingly treated as a standard domain of international relations, reflecting terrestrial patterns of alignment and competition, as well as the increasing infeasibility of broad international space cooperation across geopolitical blocs.

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