How Technology Is Reshaping the World Order
The central role of technology in the competition between the major powers is fueling an ever-more intense rivalry. Artificial intelligence is enabling large corporations to accrue unprecedented power, with consequences for states and even for international conflict. However, states do have tools at their disposal to regulate these developments. In this international competition, Europe has a strong hand, but must be prepared to play its cards in order to create a new kind of international cooperation.
Anu Bradford is a professor of law and international organizations at Columbia Law School. She is the author of The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World and Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology, both published by Oxford University Press in 2020 and 2023.
This article is available in French in Politique étrangère, vol. 91, n° 2, 2026.
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Center for Geopolitics of Technology
Artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, cybersecurity, robotics, semiconductors, space…Technologies—particularly digital technologies—now profoundly affect all human activities and, by extension, international relations. The political, strategic, economic, and social stakes that arise from them are expressed across multiple political levels, involving states, international organizations, and private companies alike. International dynamics of competition and cooperation are being reshaped as a result. To address these challenges, Ifri launched its Geopolitics of Technology Center in 2020, offering a distinctly European perspective on the international issues surrounding so-called critical technologies.
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Text published in Politique étrangère, Vol. 91, No. 2, 2026.
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