While the US remains the sole reigning super power, the rise of China adds complexity to the current world order. Geostrategic conflict is inevitable, but mutual economic interdependence can help manage that conflict and keep it from spiralling out of control.
As the largest country in the world, Russia’s might past and present has an inherent link to its geopolitics. But since the decline of the Soviet Union, Moscow’s eyes are constantly straying beyond the national borders. In Russia, expansion is often regarded as a means of self-defence.
Contributors and members of the editorial team select their personal picks of 2021.
The influenza pandemic behaved much like the conflict itself – picking out the young and fit before their time. Read by Leighton Pugh.
The Victorians saw Plato’s Republic as an indispensable guide to reform of the public sphere – we should follow their lead. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Niccolo Machiavelli, Renaissance statesman and political theorist, saw factional politics as essential to the prosperity of the Roman Empire and his native Florence. Are today’s partisan divisions as beneficial? Read by Leighton Pugh.
Karl Marx was wrong about revolutions – in practice, they beget Caesars and Napoleons. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Social upheaval has often been a catalyst for artistic change – the Renaissance was no exception. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Empty city London had its harbingers in literature and history. How will it emerge from its isolation? Read by Leighton Pugh.
Despite globalisation, the nation state retains its privileged position in world politics. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Beijing wants to foster a world where Chinese standards replace those of the post-1945 US-led system. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Mattias Hessérus in conversation with Jonathan Dimbleby on the strategic decision that cost Hitler the war.
The tension between independence and compliance is everywhere in society – but in medicine, reason must come before rules. Read by Leighton Pugh.
This period of turbulence could turn today’s twenty-somethings into the leaders of a new liberal revolution. Read by Leighton Pugh.
As a result of President Erdogan’s embrace of two interlinked geopolitical concepts, ‘Strategic Depth’ and ‘Blue Homeland’, Turkey faces international isolation. Read by Leighton Pugh.
To argue that Margaret Thatcher attacked the post-war dream is to caricature, not illuminate, her importance to British history. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Thucydides saw plague as an opportunity to improve the health of society. But history shows that pandemics have a way of disrupting medical and social progress. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Mattias Hessérus is in conversation with Niall Ferguson on how pandemics, and other disasters, shape human history.
Amid the tumult of the 1970s, it appeared the traditional country house had gone into irreversible decline – but it was too early to write it off. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Iain Martin is joined by Adrian Wooldridge and Daniel Markovits to discuss the crisis of opportunity and self-reinforcing elites.
The Covid-19 crisis has accentuated all the geopolitical fault lines of the past decade. Read by Leighton Pugh.
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