Statecraft: The New Rules of Power in a Divided World

· Macmillan · Narrated by Matthew Spencer
Audiobook
Eligible
This book will become available on March 19, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.

About this audiobook

From a leading defence and security analyst, Statecraft will unlock your understanding of how states collaborate, compete and fight in this era of global turmoil.

Why did Russia struggle in the early months of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine?
Why does Israel repeatedly ignore international pressure on Gaza?
Why does the UK spend billions on aircraft carriers that it struggles to support at sea?
How do smaller states shape world events when dwarfed by superpowers?

The world today is gripped by conflict at a scale not seen since the Cold War. Whether in Ukraine, the Middle East or Taiwan, we are in a period of intense power competition. In Statecraft, Dr Jack Watling takes you behind the scenes to meet the world’s power brokers in their wood-panelled offices and the bunkers from which battles are coordinated, and explains the mechanics behind these struggles for supremacy.

Informed by a career spent on the ground in conflict zones, and advising generals and political leaders, Watling examines the crucial dilemmas that states face to get ahead, no matter their size. From economic alliances and global trade to sea power and military technology, Statecraft provides a powerful new framework to understand an increasingly divided world.

About the author

Jack Watling is Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute in London. He works closely with the British, Ukrainian and American military, and advises governments on security and strategy.

He was formerly a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington DC and is the author of The Arms of the Future: Technology and Close Combat in the Twenty-First Century. Originally a journalist, he has contributed to Reuters, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy and The Guardian, among others.

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