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2026
August 2026
The Economy Under Debt: States, Companies and Households in the Same System
Debt is usually described as an anomaly. Government debt becomes a concern when it crosses certain thresholds, corporate debt when it threatens solvency, household debt when repayments absorb an excessive share of income. Each problem appears to belong to its own universe. Yet ac
Iran: The Suspended War
For several months, the question dominating the Middle East was one of escalation. How far would the United States and Israel go against Iran? How far could Tehran retaliate? Could the conflict draw the Gulf monarchies, Lebanon, Iraq or Yemen into a regional war that no one could
The Middle Class, from Morocco to Advanced Economies
For decades, the middle class represented more than an income category. It embodied a promise: that stable employment would gradually lead to a better standard of living, home ownership, savings, decent education for one's children and a reasonably secure retirement. That promise
The Economics of Stability: What Social Peace Costs Nations
A country’s stability is rarely measured by the amount of social transfers recorded in its budget. It is more readily observed in the price of bread, the reliability of pension payments, access to healthcare, the possibility of finding employment, and the widely shared conviction
Africa: Dynasties of Capital
Behind much of Africa’s private sector stand companies whose capital, strategy and, often, management remain concentrated in the hands of a single family. Their power tells a distinctive story of capitalism: entrepreneurs who became industrialists, businesses that evolved into co
Corruption: The Other System
Corruption is often depicted in almost rudimentary terms: an envelope slipped under a table, a bribed official, a rigged public contract, a few million dollars diverted into an offshore account. This kind of corruption exists. In many countries, it remains an everyday reality. Bu
Mexico: So Close to America
A glance at the map is enough to understand part of Mexico’s destiny. To the north lies more than three thousand kilometers of border with the United States. To the east and west, two oceans. To the south, Central America. Between them stands a country of more than 130 million pe
Who Informs AI?
For nearly three decades, a considerable part of the digital economy has been organized around an apparently simple question: how do you become visible on Google? Entire industries were built around that obsession. Media organizations learned to write for search engines, brands s
Palestine: The Time for Sanctions?
Condemnation of Israeli settlement expansion is nothing new. The explicit mention of sanctions by several major Arab and Muslim powers is more significant. Around the E1 settlement plan, regional diplomacy may be approaching the point where protest begins to give way to pressure.
A World Without a Centre
For several centuries, the international system almost always seemed to have a centre. It was not necessarily an uncontested centre, nor even a power capable of imposing its will everywhere. But somewhere there was a state, a group of powers or a set of institutions dominant enou
Power: What Still Makes a Great Country?
For centuries, the answer seemed almost self-evident. A great country was a large country, a populous country, one capable of raising armies, controlling trade routes and imposing its will beyond its borders. Power was measured in territory, soldiers and ships, then in tons of co
2050: The World Ahead
By 2050, demography, climate, technology and power will have redrawn the global landscape. This is not a prediction of a fixed future, but an examination of the forces already shaping the world ahead.