Geopolitics and Global Risks

Addressing today and tomorrow’s international challenges increasingly requires innovative and holistic approaches. Business and government leaders must deliver results in a context of geopolitical complexity and uncertainty, characterized by political polarization, intensifying trade rivalries, persistent international crises and conflicts, mounting global climate challenges, and growing citizen distrust in public institutions. At the same time, the rapid emergence of new technologies is reshaping geo-economic and geopolitical dynamics and transforming how organizations operate in the international arena.

Mastering the art of geopolitical analysis and anticipating future international trends and risks is more critical than ever for effective and innovative decision-making and leadership. However, many executives and public leaders lack the time and resources to develop the key competencies required to keep pace with an exponentially changing world.

The IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs and Global Policy Center’s Geopolitics and Global Risks Program is designed to support senior and mid-career professionals from international organizations, public institutions and the corporate sector who are committed to leading through disruption. By combining expertise from both the public and private sectors, the program equips participants to anticipate disruptive risks, strengthen strategic foresight, enhance risk prevention and management, and make sound decisions in increasingly complex environments.

The IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs Global Policy Center's ‘Geopolitics and Global Risks’ program will enable you to develop the core analytical and decision-making capabilities required to successfully address today’s global political and economic challenges. Additionally, you will acquire the strategic foresight skills needed to prevent unforeseen disruptions to your organization’s operations. Sessions will be led by experts from academia, the public sector, and the private sector, all of whom have decades of experience in geopolitical analysis, strategic foresight, and risk assessment.

This module delves into the examination of global and regional geopolitical challenges.

Participants will explore the shifting power dynamics in the international arena, key global and regional challenges and conflicts, and emerging threats that shape the current geopolitical landscape.

Through expert-led sessions and case studies, this module provides a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and interdependencies influencing global stability and security.

The sessions will explore various thematic dimensions of global geopolitics (technology, trade, energy and climate, security, democracy/global governance) and apply them to relevant global or regional contexts (transatlantic relations, US/China/EU rivalry, Global South and MENA perspectives, and emerging powers).

This module concentrates on developing effective corporate and public affairs strategies in situations of geopolitical fragmentation and rising economic and political insecurity.

Participants will acquire advanced techniques to anticipate, decide upon, and manage complex geopolitical and geo-economic challenges.

Private visit to El Prado Museum

This module focuses on strategic anticipation. The goal of the module is that participants become consumers, producers and translators of strategic foresight.

Strategic foresight is a prime tool to anticipate change and to help shape the future. In a three-part module that combines learning, debate and hands-on foresight exercises, participants will first be introduced to the basics of ‘futures analysis’ and strategic foresight: What it is and what it is not? How it differs from forecasting? Which are the key methodologies? And why and how is it used in policymaking? In the following steps, participants will dive further into key methods and techniques that allow to anticipate, monitor, prevent, and mitigate potential risks arising from global geopolitical and geoeconomic dynamics.

After a participatory discussion on the state of the world and key global trends and risks shaping the participant’s regions, the module proposes a ‘foresight toolkit sandbox’ where participants will experiment a select number of anticipatory tools that can include, e.g., drivers of change and critical uncertainties, horizon scanning of emerging risks and wild cards, scenario building and ‘what if?’ scenarios, and SWOT analysis.

In a final part, using the foresight products co-created in the sandbox, participants will first learn how to ‘translate’ foresight into policies and strategies, and, finally, will reflect on ways to integrate and adopt foresight and anticipation in their organizations and daily work.