As part of its scientific activities for the year 2026, the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Tunis opened, on February 6, 2026, its series of international seminars with a lecture entitled" Power, Technology and Competitiveness: New Fault Lines in the Global Economy ”. This event comes in light of the profound transformations taking place in the global economic system, characterized by the escalation of technological and industrial conflicts, the reshaping of the balance of power and global value chains. The lecture was delivered by the economist Remi Borjou (Rémy Bourgeot), Research Associate at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) Specialized in technological issues and commercial strategies; the session was moderated by Mr. Aram Belhaj, economist and research professor at the University of Carthage.
The lecture focused on an in-depth structural diagnosis of the radical transformations that are reshaping the global political economy, in a context in which technological conflicts are intertwined with the redistribution of power and the disintegration of prevailing economic models. The analysis was organized around three fundamental axes that reveal the depth of the transformations taking place in the current international system:
· Back to “Structural Protectionism": The lecturer began his presentation by observing the strong return of protectionist policies that went beyond the logic of defending the local product to become a geopolitical weapon and a tool of economic coercion. This was clearly manifested with the rise of economic nationalism in the United States, embodied in the "Inflation Reduction Act" based on sovereign support, and the strategic use of progressive tariffs as an international pressure tool.
· Industrial sovereignty as a determinant of influence: In the second axis, Professor Borgo referred to the issue of “industrial sovereignty” as the main engine of power. The growing technological gap between Europe and the Asian and American powers was reviewed, stressing that excellence in the "semiconductor" sector and artificial intelligence technologies is rearranging the hierarchy of cosmic forces. This was evidenced by the Russian model, which showed industrial-military steadfastness, revealing the fragility of Western capabilities in keeping pace with the pace of conventional production during acute crises..
· Dismantling structural dilemmas and critiquing neoliberal doctrine: The analysis addressed criticism of the decades-old “technocratic doctrine” that inflated administrative structures at the expense of technical and engineering competencies, generating a “structural deficit” that undermines radical innovation. The intervention also stressed the inevitability of industrial policies regaining their central position, considering that the Chinese sweep was the result of long-term investment in technical education and strategic planning, which forces developing countries to break free from economic stereotypes and adopt pragmatic approaches based on "cost and opportunity" analysis.".
The lecture concluded with an in-depth discussion on the implications of these shifts on the stability of international currencies and national sovereignty. Borgo stressed that the current "fault lines" are not transient crises, but a radical restructuring of the global system in which technological superiority has become a prerequisite for political decision. The interventions concluded by stressing that the future stability of the global economy will depend on the ability of countries to balance frantic competition and the need for a minimum level of institutional cooperation to avoid the total collapse of supply chains, stressing that: Economic sovereignty today is built in laboratories and data centers before it is built in markets.