The 2026 relaunch of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) is a major African geoeconomic milestone, akin to the AfCFTA. Once deemed unfeasible due to Sahel security issues, the project is now revived by a shifted strategic landscape: Europe's post-Ukraine war energy crisis, reshaped political balances in the Sahel, the rise of new regional powers, and intensifying global energy competition.

Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz Conflict Directly Impacts the Global Economy—Especially China

For decades, globalization was conceived as one of the main drivers of positive transformation in the international system. The prevailing belief among academics and policymakers was that the intensification of flows of goods, services, capital, and people would promote economic growth and greater political stability.

Contemporary geopolitics often seems to orbit around the statements and impulses of figures such as Donald Trump, whose relationship with institutional predictability has always been, at best, fragile. When decisions with global impact are made without coordination, without consultation, or even in contradiction with specialists — such as his former counterterrorism chief — the international system ceases to operate on rules and begins to react to impulses.

As the conflict in the Middle East intensifies, pressure on the White House also grows to demonstrate strength and deliver concrete results on the international stage. In contexts of war or prolonged instability, governments tend to seek political, military, or diplomatic victories that reinforce their domestic position and external credibility.

For several decades, the global development imaginary has been consolidated into a rigid dichotomy: Asia as the engine of world growth and Africa as a marginal continent within the international economic system. This narrative, widely reproduced in political, media, and academic discourse, fails to capture the complexity and heterogeneity of African trajectories.

The announcement of the trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and India, sealed in January 2026, was received with the pomp reserved for major civilizational milestones. Nicknamed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “mother of all agreements,” the pact outlines a free trade zone that brings together the world’s largest trading bloc and the planet’s most populous nation. Together, they represent 2 billion consumers and 25% of global GDP.