Technology, Military Power, and the New Geopolitics of Security

February 27, 2026

Technological and industrial capabilities have become core instruments of state power, reshaping military strategies, economic competition, and global influence. The rapid rise of AI, cyber warfare, autonomous systems, and advanced manufacturing is redefining how states project power and deter adversaries. While technological leadership offers opportunities for innovation and strategic advantage, it also generates new risks related to escalation, dependency, and asymmetric vulnerabilities. In this evolving geopolitical landscape, the ability to integrate technology, industry, and strategy is increasingly decisive for long-term sovereignty and influence.

Speakers
Akram Zaoui
Chargé de Mission to the Executive President
Akram Zaoui is a Senior International Relations Specialist and Chargé de Mission to the Executive President at the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS). Prior to this, he was Manager of Research Support and the Public Policy Lab at the PCNS. His main area of interest is the geopolitical economy of the Extended Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. From 2018 to 2020, Zaoui was the coordinator of a network of 70+ civil society organizations (CSOs) across France, working with foundations, government, local communities, and the private sector. Zaoui holds a dual degree in corporate and public management from HEC Paris and Sciences Po, as well as a bachelor's degree (licence) in history from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He audited courses in Iranian and Shia Stud ...

RELATED CONTENT

  • May 25, 2018
    Is it possible to reasonably reflect and analyze the Sahara conflict without taking into account, on the one hand, the relevance of both legal and extra-legal factors, and on the other hand, the interplay between the different stakeholders involved ? This intensely complex topic requires taking into consideration not only regulations of international law, but also the geopolitical, anthropological, and security aspects intertwined in the matter ...
  • Authors
    May 3, 2018
    “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart” (Donald Trump on Twitter). A menace in 223 characters - an imaginary video game moving slowly towards the reality of Hiroshima. History on collision course with our future. No thought about victims, no word of destruction, just “you should not be partner with a gas killing animal, who kills his people and enjoys it.” The Commander in Chief of the Un ...
  • Authors
    April 23, 2018
    The 132nd day in the Gregorian calendar, anno 2018, will be part of history, a day future generations will most likely not forget, the 12th of May. Only history buffs will remember that on the 12th day of May, Napoleon conquered Venice, once known as the “Most Serene Republic”. On May 12th and the following days in the year of 1940, the Nazis crossed the Meuse and defeated France in a Blitzkrieg. England’s King George VI celebrated his coronation in 1937, on this ...
  • Authors
    Sabine Cessou
    April 19, 2018
    L’Afrique centrale a fait l’objet du focus sous-régional de la deuxième partie des cinquièmes Dialogues stratégiques, une rencontre biannuelle organisée le 11 avril dernier à Paris par l’OCP Policy Center et HEC.  Renouveler le partenariat Europe-Afrique Le débat s’est d’abord inscrit dans une réflexion générale sur « l’Afrique et le monde». Dans ce cadre, le partenariat traditionnel entre l’Afrique et l’Europe semble avoir besoin de se renouveler, dans la mesu ...
  • Authors
    Sabine Cessou
    April 13, 2018
    L’avenir de l’Inde a fait débat le 11 avril en présence de 110 personnes, lors des 5èmes Dialogues stratégiques, une rencontre biannuelle organisée à Paris par l’OCP Policy Center et le Centre HEC de géopolitique.  En 2050, l’Inde comptera 17 % de la population globale et aura le troisième PIB mondial. « Le ralentissement de la croissance en Chine n’occultera peut-être plus l’essor de cette grande démocratie », a noté Jacques Gravereau, président du HEC Eurasia Institute. Soul ...
  • Authors
    Mokhtar Ghailani
    April 9, 2018
    Fidèle à sa tradition de diffuser la connaissance et de promouvoir le débat d’idées, l’OCP Policy Center a reçu, le 5 avril 2018, le journaliste mauritanien Lemine Ould Salem, pour la présentation de son tout dernier livre intitulé « L’histoire secrète du Djihad. D’al-Qaïda à l’Etat islamique», paru en janvier dernier aux éditions Flammarion. Dans cet ouvrage, l’auteur rapporte ses entrevues avec l’une des principales figures d’Al-Qaïda, Abou Hafs en l’occurrence, « conseiller spiri ...
  • Authors
    April 6, 2018
    The young women sitting in the Olympic ice hockey stadium of Kwandong, South Korea, were dressed like a group of gorgeous stewardesses on an outing after graduating from flight school, or as if they were celebrating the survival of an emergency landing. They applauded in a very methodical fashion, a well-studied rhythm that their eternal Supreme leader Kim Jong-Un certainly did not learn at his Swiss boarding school “Liebefeld Steinhoelzi” near Bern, Switzerland. Who dares to confir ...
  • Authors
    Mokhtar Ghailani
    March 30, 2018
    L’OCP Policy Center a eu la primeur de la présentation, par l’historien Jean Pierre Filiu, de son dernier livre « Généraux, gangsters et jihadistes. Histoire de la contre-révolution arabe », la toute première hors de son pays, la France. Une première dont il se réjouira au début du débat-échange autour de son ouvrage, tenue le 28 mars 2018, en partenariat avec l’Institut Français du Maroc. Habitué à faire appel à plusieurs disciplines scientifiques à la fois, telles que l ...