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How Technology Is Reshaping the World Order

Politique étrangère Articles from Politique Etrangère
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Vol. 92, No. 2, Summer 2026
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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.

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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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Authentic Modern High Tech Robot Weapon
Center for Geopolitics of Technology
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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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A New Path for Europe

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02 June 2026
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The construction of the European Union is historically inseparable from the emergence, at the end of World War II, of an Atlantic world dominated by the United States. Successive enlargements and the revision of U.S. policy are undermining the concepts upon which the European Union has been built since the fall of the USSR. It is undoubtedly time to return to a path of more diverse groupings, corresponding to the levels of commitment and the interests of the states of the Old Continent.

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Reflections on A Darkening World

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02 June 2026
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The system that emerged after the Second World War to regulate international relations is now moribund. Russia and China may have weakened it, but it seems that Donald Trump’s United States may deliver the fatal blow. The prevailing atmosphere is one of power struggles, and the rise of nationalisms is fraught with danger. The artificial intelligence revolution also needs to be factored into this equation, as it has a strong bearing on how much power different players can exert. In this respect, Europe must ensure it does not get left behind.

Jean-Marie GUÉHENNO
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1936-2026: 90th Anniversary of the Journal

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02 June 2026
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Founded in 1936, Politique étrangère, France’s longest-running journal of international relations, is set to publish a special issue in early June 2026. Bringing together leading contributors from France and abroad, this issue aims to offer a panorama of an uncertain world and its possible futures. In an unprecedented initiative, Politique étrangère will bring together a broad range of international contributions in an effort to capture an international scene that is at once open and fragmented in all its diversity and dynamism.

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Digital Revolution, Economic Upheaval

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05 March 2026
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The digital revolution is profoundly shaking up the economy, with the impact felt well beyond the digital sector itself. Indeed, it is transforming the very concept of value creation. Artificial intelligence represents a new phase that requires a colossal investment in physical infrastructure like data centers. Europe failed to grasp the scale of these changes in time, but it does have certain advantages. 

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Anu BRADFORD, « How Technology Is Reshaping the World Order », Politique étrangère, Articles from Politique Etrangère, Ifri, 2 June 2026.
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