Geopolitics is less an exercise in prediction than a way of understanding how the world operates: behind every visible event there are deeper forces (interests, dependencies, power balances, historical inertias) that, when understood, allow us to glimpse the direction in which we are heading.Understanding those forces —and, importantly, how they impact daily life as citizens, businesses, or public institutions (central government, local authorities, or provincial administrations)— is what allows anticipation and forecasting about the world’s trajectory (our outlook) to be turned into real value.
We call this applied reading Practical Geopolitics™: a way of thinking structurally and acting strategically and tactically, connecting tensions in the international system with concrete decisions by citizens, companies, institutions and governments.
Although rooted in theory, it is not abstract theory but a method to navigate an environment changing under pressure.
From political and technological structural realism to strategic practice
Our methodology starts from two premises: i) theories about why and how societies create and adopt new technologies, and ii) theories about how states organize themselves relative to one another.
Regarding how societies create and consume technology, the frame is not that innovation happens in a vacuum —there is always an underlying motivation to maximize power. For example, we did not talk about 5G by chance in 2016–2020; Beijing identified that technology as a field to increase its leverage vis-à-vis Washington and built on academic research dating back to the 1990s.
Technology rarely spreads spontaneously; it responds to prior political dynamics. In short: “new artifacts do have politics.” Periods of intense geopolitical confrontation sharpen ingenuity and mobilize public funds to deploy preexisting (or ad hoc) technologies that serve defined geopolitical objectives —whether to win a military confrontation, control a market, or end dependence on foreign natural gas.
Regarding relations among states, our methodology draws on structural realism or neorealism (Kenneth Waltz): the international order tends toward balance among powers rather than consensus. States act according to their relative positions within an anarchic system; structure conditions behavior and limits options.
This dual theoretical framework is the “secret sauce” of Geopolitical Insights.
When macro becomes micro
Practical Geopolitics™ connects scales: reading the system’s architecture and translating it into movement; anticipating how international tensions shape incentives, risks and opportunities and helping companies and institutions align strategy with geopolitical and regulatory priorities of their political community (in our case, the European Union).
In an environment where industrial policy is an extension of foreign policy, the advantage lies in understanding how strategic direction becomes ground for opportunity.
Trade wars, export controls and public investment funds are not isolated incidents but manifestations of a broader structural transformation: the reconfiguration of the global political order.
The European Union exemplifies this. One might see no common thread between the Green Deal, the Chips Act, the Net Zero Industry Act, the Critical Raw Materials Act or the NextGenerationEU funds. But within our framework, they are different political and economic instruments targeting the same objective: making the Union a strategic actor capable of responding to global pressures with its own means.
For example, Brussels’ push to reduce dependence on Russian gas is not merely a reaction to the intervention in Ukraine; it is building domestic capacities to secure full energy independence. Achieving those goals will take one or two decades and will reshape our growth model. This logic explains mobilizing public funds for green hydrogen, storage and hybridization projects, repowering onshore wind, offshore wind deployment, etc. Those technologies existed at various maturity levels —but today we must accelerate deployment because external geopolitical pressures compel us to do so.
Similarly, Europe’s increased defense spending is not a short-term response but a structural adaptation to the progressive decoupling from the United States. This process will be sustained over decades, and military and technological investment in Europe will have a lasting impact on dual-use technologies, industrial innovation and strategic autonomy, creating new companies and reorganizing entire sectors.
This is Practical Geopolitics™: reading the intent behind funding, not just regulatory frameworks. Those who grasp this logic can anticipate where opportunities will flow in the years ahead.
Our track record
At the very start of the pandemic, in February–March 2020, we understood that the post-COVID cycle would not be a simple rebound but the start of a new phase of structural state intervention. What many saw as a short-term response we interpreted as a fundamental shift: industrial policy was returning as a central instrument of power. That reading allowed our clients to position themselves early, designing projects and strategies that today align with EU priorities —from PERTEs to new green and digital transition funds.
We also anticipated the convergence of defense, industry and technology and how that relationship would redefine market and investment boundaries. The creation of European funds for dual-use innovation and sovereign financing instruments confirms this reading. Several clients reallocated priorities and production lines to place this growth vector at the center of their strategies.
This is practical geopolitics: analyze structure, anticipate direction and act purposefully to deliver value to public and private clients alike.
Think structurally, act strategically
At Geopolitical Insights we regard geopolitics as applied intelligence. We do not believe in separating analysis from execution. Analysis without consequence is sterile; action without structure is blind.
Our method exists to combine both: converting power analysis into strategy, public policy into opportunity, and complexity into advantage. We operate with the conviction that each client decision —an investment, a project, a narrative— is embedded in a broader structure.
Ultimately, that is what it means to think structurally and act strategically and tactically. It is the core of our Practical Geopolitics™ at Geopolitical Insights: see first, think better, and act with intent alongside our clients in a world that never stops.
WHAT IS PRACTICAL GEOPOLITICS™?
Content INDEX
Practical Geopolitics — bridging international system architecture with real-world decisions.
We call this applied reading Practical Geopolitics™: a way of thinking structurally and acting strategically and tactically, connecting tensions in the international system with concrete decisions by citizens, companies, institutions and governments.
Although rooted in theory, it is not abstract theory but a method to navigate an environment changing under pressure.
From political and technological structural realism to strategic practice
Our methodology starts from two premises: i) theories about why and how societies create and adopt new technologies, and ii) theories about how states organize themselves relative to one another.
Regarding how societies create and consume technology, the frame is not that innovation happens in a vacuum —there is always an underlying motivation to maximize power. For example, we did not talk about 5G by chance in 2016–2020; Beijing identified that technology as a field to increase its leverage vis-à-vis Washington and built on academic research dating back to the 1990s.
Technology rarely spreads spontaneously; it responds to prior political dynamics. In short: “new artifacts do have politics.” Periods of intense geopolitical confrontation sharpen ingenuity and mobilize public funds to deploy preexisting (or ad hoc) technologies that serve defined geopolitical objectives —whether to win a military confrontation, control a market, or end dependence on foreign natural gas.
Regarding relations among states, our methodology draws on structural realism or neorealism (Kenneth Waltz): the international order tends toward balance among powers rather than consensus. States act according to their relative positions within an anarchic system; structure conditions behavior and limits options.
This dual theoretical framework is the “secret sauce” of Geopolitical Insights.
When macro becomes micro
Practical Geopolitics™ connects scales: reading the system’s architecture and translating it into movement; anticipating how international tensions shape incentives, risks and opportunities and helping companies and institutions align strategy with geopolitical and regulatory priorities of their political community (in our case, the European Union).
In an environment where industrial policy is an extension of foreign policy, the advantage lies in understanding how strategic direction becomes ground for opportunity.
Trade wars, export controls and public investment funds are not isolated incidents but manifestations of a broader structural transformation: the reconfiguration of the global political order.
The European Union exemplifies this. One might see no common thread between the Green Deal, the Chips Act, the Net Zero Industry Act, the Critical Raw Materials Act or the NextGenerationEU funds. But within our framework, they are different political and economic instruments targeting the same objective: making the Union a strategic actor capable of responding to global pressures with its own means.
For example, Brussels’ push to reduce dependence on Russian gas is not merely a reaction to the intervention in Ukraine; it is building domestic capacities to secure full energy independence. Achieving those goals will take one or two decades and will reshape our growth model. This logic explains mobilizing public funds for green hydrogen, storage and hybridization projects, repowering onshore wind, offshore wind deployment, etc. Those technologies existed at various maturity levels —but today we must accelerate deployment because external geopolitical pressures compel us to do so.
Similarly, Europe’s increased defense spending is not a short-term response but a structural adaptation to the progressive decoupling from the United States. This process will be sustained over decades, and military and technological investment in Europe will have a lasting impact on dual-use technologies, industrial innovation and strategic autonomy, creating new companies and reorganizing entire sectors.
This is Practical Geopolitics™: reading the intent behind funding, not just regulatory frameworks. Those who grasp this logic can anticipate where opportunities will flow in the years ahead.
Our track record
At the very start of the pandemic, in February–March 2020, we understood that the post-COVID cycle would not be a simple rebound but the start of a new phase of structural state intervention. What many saw as a short-term response we interpreted as a fundamental shift: industrial policy was returning as a central instrument of power. That reading allowed our clients to position themselves early, designing projects and strategies that today align with EU priorities —from PERTEs to new green and digital transition funds.
We also anticipated the convergence of defense, industry and technology and how that relationship would redefine market and investment boundaries. The creation of European funds for dual-use innovation and sovereign financing instruments confirms this reading. Several clients reallocated priorities and production lines to place this growth vector at the center of their strategies.
This is practical geopolitics: analyze structure, anticipate direction and act purposefully to deliver value to public and private clients alike.
Think structurally, act strategically
At Geopolitical Insights we regard geopolitics as applied intelligence. We do not believe in separating analysis from execution. Analysis without consequence is sterile; action without structure is blind.
Our method exists to combine both: converting power analysis into strategy, public policy into opportunity, and complexity into advantage. We operate with the conviction that each client decision —an investment, a project, a narrative— is embedded in a broader structure.
Ultimately, that is what it means to think structurally and act strategically and tactically. It is the core of our Practical Geopolitics™ at Geopolitical Insights: see first, think better, and act with intent alongside our clients in a world that never stops.