Home Barons versus empires, the revenge of territories

GEAB 195

The monthly bulletin of LEAP (European Laboratory of Political Anticipation) - 15 May 2025

Barons versus empires, the revenge of territories

SIGNS

While the digital age seems to promise a more integrated, centralized world, we are witnessing a reverse dynamic: a return to feudal logic. Governors, technology barons, federated states and strategic companies are increasingly bypassing centers of power to impose their rules, defend their territories and forge their own alliances.

This month, our “Indices column, in partnership with A l’aube du Futur, highlights this systemic fragmentation through a series of weak signals that reveal and clarify the vision presented in last April’s GEAB: the emergence of a technopolitical neo-feudalism.

Behind the digital monarchs, the return of the local barons

While the power of the kings of technological capitalism (Elon Musk, Peter Thiel…) rests on global digital territories, dukes, counts and barons are strengthening their hold on very physical fiefdoms.

In the feudal context, a lord’s road to power no longer consisted in getting closer to an all-powerful monarch, but in strengthening his control over a fiefdom that belonged to him. Fragmentation, feudalism.

  • Reversing the trend: In the United States, a career as a senator is less attractive than a career as a governor[1]

The ideal career path for an American politician has long been mapped out. Elected to a state legislature, consolidating his position in his native fiefdom by becoming governor, and entering the sacrosanct institution of Washington politics: the Senate. 

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Contents

EDITORIAL The global systemic transition that we have been relentlessly studying for 19 years has taught us that major crises force us to revisit all of history: Bretons Woods, the [...]

ANTICIPATION America takes control of the Western Roman Empire. And that's good news! The United States, no longer defined solely by its WASP identity, stands as the Vatican's largest financial [...]

VISION The Terra Cognita 2089 section is designed to open up a wider time frame for our anticipations. Based on a critical analysis of the long-term strategic documents (Visions) produced [...]

VIEW An article in the GEAB of March, in the form of a vision rather than an anticipation, suggested a sustainable way out of the current Western crisis by transforming [...]

TREND In a world where capital, goods and people circulate easily, a new axis of competition is emerging between the powers of the multipolar world: that of capturing populations with [...]

RECOMMENDATIONS Central theme: as stated last month, the trade tensions created by Donald Trump were indeed negotiating levers. In this context, the UK, China, soon the EU..., are redefining their [...]

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