Author
Andrés Ortega
Writer, analyst and journalist
Andrés Ortega is an independent writer. He has been twice (1994 to 1996, and 2008 to 2011), director of the Department of Analysis and Studies (Policy Unit) in the President of the Government’s Office (Spain).
He was a long time commentator and editorial writer for El País, the highest-circulation daily newspaper in Spain. He has also served as the paper’s London and Brussels correspondent.
From 2004 to 2008, he was the director of Foreign Policy magazine’s Spanish edition. He is also director of the Observatorio de las Ideas, a publication on ideas’ mining. From 2014 to 2022 he was Senior Research Fellow at Royal Elcano Institute, Spain’s main think tank in international affairs, in charge of technological transformations and global governance. He writes regularly in Política Exterior, Agenda Pública and El Diario.
He holds a degree in political science from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master’s degree in international relations from London School of Economics.
Among his publications are “La imparable marcha de los robots” (2017), “La fuerza de los pocos” (2007) and “La Razón de Europa” (1994). His first novel, “Sin alma” was published in Spain in 2012. He is presently writing another novel.
Articles by Andrés Ortega
That Cold January 20, 2025
Living in a world where Xi and even Putin still stand tall and U.S. and European interests over how to deal with Russia and China differ significantly.
April 17, 2022
The New Cold War Era
How Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine are altering many previously long-held assumptions. Being criminal – and monstrous -- is what Russia’s presumed “greatness” has been reduced to.
March 10, 2022
Why China Weighs in on Ukraine
China’s goal isn’t cuddling up to Russia. It is preventing NATO from interfering in the Indo-Pacific.
February 11, 2022
Facing the Possibility of a Long Pandemic
While scientists cannot predict how Covid-19 will end, the virus has transformed life as we know it and will continue to do so for decades to come.
January 19, 2022
Putin: Master of Hybrid Wars?
All wars are hybrid, but war -- and the notion of hybrid -- have changed.
December 9, 2021
Biden Vs. Xi: The Global Battle for Restoring Domestic Economic Balance
How the fight against inequality at home unites -- and separates -- Biden and Xi Jinping. And who seems to have the upper hand.
November 3, 2021
Wars of the Three Spheres: The West, the East and the Metaverse
Are we really capable of negotiating our collective future?
October 11, 2021
Re-Globalization, With Hiccups
A new era of globalization is dawning, but it is accompanied by serious challenges.
June 3, 2021
Myanmar and the Oppressive Side of the Digital Revolution
Surveillance technology devices from the West and the East have become essential tools for seeing through a coup d’état in the digital age.
March 23, 2021
Immunizing the World: Can We Do It?
Global governance on immunization against COVID 19 has failed quite badly so far. The West will experience a blowback.
February 24, 2021
A Different World for Joe Biden
Four years after Joe Biden concluded his tenure as Vice President of the United States, as U.S. President he encounters a very different world.
December 22, 2020
QAnon: Conspiracy as a Quasi-Religion
QAnon is much more than a marginal phenomenon, as much as most rational people would wish otherwise.
September 30, 2020
India-China: Welcome to the TikTok Wars
We live in an age where apps wars between major nations have geo-technological fallout.
July 26, 2020
Multilateralism Has Lost Its Way
Collective intelligence is needed to build a new multilateralism for the 21st century.
July 8, 2020
Geopolitics After COVID 19: Conflict or Cooperation?
In absolute terms, all states or groups of states around the globe are going to emerge weakened from the 2020 coronavirus crisis.
June 21, 2020
COVID 19: How to Fight the Infodemic Wars
Beyond containing the COVID 19 virus, we must also contain the “infodemic” -- the glut of misinformation from various sources. What does that take?
March 31, 2020
The Deglobalization Virus?
The coronavirus crisis has become the third great globalization shock of this still relatively new century -- after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and the fall of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.
March 18, 2020
Europe´s Sovereignty Fever
There are big questions about the viability of the EU in the era of IT dominating technological innovation as well as in an era dominated once again by geopolitics.
March 8, 2020
The 2010s: The Decade of Disillusion
The decade that has just ended, the 2010s, was marked by the crisis that began in 2007-08, and it was accompanied by the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
January 11, 2020
Europeanism Vs. Euroskepticism
More than any other, these EU elections are a battleground to determine the future direction of the European project.
May 24, 2019
India: A Connected Power
India has achieved massive technological advances which are transforming its society. The current elections are evidence of this.
May 11, 2019
Toward a People-Centered Globalization?
After the Yellow Vests challenged Macron in France, is there a way out of the conundrum for the G20 nations?
December 12, 2018
“Yellow Vests”: The First Rebellion Against the Ecological Transition
Previous rebellions in France were against the markets and globalization. The Yellow Vest rebellion is against a change in our way of life.
December 5, 2018
US: Massaging Unemployment Numbers
Many European countries would like to grow jobs at the same rate as the U.S. A look behind the official U.S. statistics.
October 25, 2018
The Europeanization of the Anti-Europeans
The big prize being eyed by the anti-European and xenophobic parties are the elections to the European Parliament next May.
September 17, 2018
An Outbreak of Ethics in Silicon Valley?
The companies and employees of the firms that are creating AI-based surveillance technologies are no longer on the side-lines.
August 4, 2018
Trade Wars and the Clash of Perceptions
Trump sees China as a wealthy country with many poor people, while China sees itself as a poor country with wealthy people.
June 21, 2018
Trump and the Dangerous Politics of Humiliation
Donald Trump’s foreign policy of humiliation is liable to have dire consequences, not least for the interests of the U.S. itself.
May 21, 2018
Steven Pinker: Promoting a New Global Optimism
In showing that the world has never been less violent, cognitive scientist Steven Pinker is at the forefront of the new outbreak of global optimism.
May 13, 2018
The Decline of the West
This summer will mark the centenary of the appearance of the first volume of Oswald Spengler’s influential The Decline of the West.
April 17, 2018
The (Silent) Revolution of Muslim Women
Since 2000, 50 million women in predominantly-Muslim countries have entered the labor market.
April 2, 2018
Facebook and the Global Battle to Sway Minds
Can we protect our societies against "psychographic advertising" – manipulative technologies that stifle democracy?
March 30, 2018
Europe Knows Where It Doesn’t Want to Go
As Germany and Italy decide the shape of their future governments, the EU is making slow progress. It is abandoning lofty schemes and determined to focus on people’s real problems.
March 2, 2018
The Narrowing Gap Between Nuclear and Conventional Weapons
Is Russia in breach of the 1986 INF Treaty on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, agreed by Reagan and Gorbachev? This would be dangerous.
February 21, 2018
Disinformation Campaigns and Public Mistrust
Disinformation needs to be tackled by a troika – individual members of the public, the social media companies and governments.
December 9, 2017
Social Media in China: The Great Distraction
Worried about social media helping to create popular movements, China runs an elaborate system of censorship and manipulation.
October 18, 2017
Will There Be a Kurdish State?
Terrorism, oil, the crisis in Iraq, the Syrian civil war and geopolitics all weigh against the birth of a new Kurdish state.
October 4, 2017
Maduroism and the Destruction of Venezuela
Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Revolution” has been an even more pronounced failure under Maduro than under Chavez.
October 2, 2017
The Destabilizing Effect of Cheap Oil
The fall in the value of oil has far reaching knock-on effects.
July 5, 2017
Back to the Global Vertical
With the decline of the middle classes, social classes are back on the global agenda. That is politically dangerous.
June 18, 2017
California Yes, United States No
How Trump matters less in a world of sub-country level governance.
June 15, 2017
The Tale of the Two Spains
The financial crisis has split Spain into two: a Spain that works and one that doesn't.
November 12, 2012
That Cold January 20, 2025
April 17, 2022
The New Cold War Era
March 10, 2022
Why China Weighs in on Ukraine
February 11, 2022
Facing the Possibility of a Long Pandemic
January 19, 2022
Putin: Master of Hybrid Wars?
December 9, 2021
Biden Vs. Xi: The Global Battle for Restoring Domestic Economic Balance
November 3, 2021
Wars of the Three Spheres: The West, the East and the Metaverse
October 11, 2021
Re-Globalization, With Hiccups
June 3, 2021
Myanmar and the Oppressive Side of the Digital Revolution
March 23, 2021
Immunizing the World: Can We Do It?
February 24, 2021
A Different World for Joe Biden
December 22, 2020
QAnon: Conspiracy as a Quasi-Religion
September 30, 2020
India-China: Welcome to the TikTok Wars
July 26, 2020
Multilateralism Has Lost Its Way
July 8, 2020
Geopolitics After COVID 19: Conflict or Cooperation?
June 21, 2020
COVID 19: How to Fight the Infodemic Wars
March 31, 2020
The Deglobalization Virus?
March 18, 2020
Europe´s Sovereignty Fever
March 8, 2020
The 2010s: The Decade of Disillusion
January 11, 2020
Europeanism Vs. Euroskepticism
May 24, 2019
India: A Connected Power
May 11, 2019
Toward a People-Centered Globalization?
December 12, 2018
“Yellow Vests”: The First Rebellion Against the Ecological Transition
December 5, 2018
US: Massaging Unemployment Numbers
October 25, 2018
The Europeanization of the Anti-Europeans
September 17, 2018
An Outbreak of Ethics in Silicon Valley?
August 4, 2018
Trade Wars and the Clash of Perceptions
June 21, 2018
Trump and the Dangerous Politics of Humiliation
May 21, 2018
Steven Pinker: Promoting a New Global Optimism
May 13, 2018
The Decline of the West
April 17, 2018
The (Silent) Revolution of Muslim Women
April 2, 2018
Facebook and the Global Battle to Sway Minds
March 30, 2018
Europe Knows Where It Doesn’t Want to Go
March 2, 2018
The Narrowing Gap Between Nuclear and Conventional Weapons
February 21, 2018
Disinformation Campaigns and Public Mistrust
December 9, 2017
Social Media in China: The Great Distraction
October 18, 2017
Will There Be a Kurdish State?
October 4, 2017
Maduroism and the Destruction of Venezuela
October 2, 2017
The Destabilizing Effect of Cheap Oil
July 5, 2017
Back to the Global Vertical
June 18, 2017
California Yes, United States No
June 15, 2017
The Tale of the Two Spains
November 12, 2012