he year ahead looks to bring with it more focus and attention on Russia’s war in Ukraine, its antecedents, and its future. Indeed, in this book look ahead, there are a raft of excellent upcoming books that explore the complexities of this war and the lessons it holds for the conflicts yet to come.
This year also looks to be a year of continued geopolitical transformation and systemic tensions between authoritarianism and democracy, capitalism and its detractors, climate change and its effects, emerging technology, and more. These trends are reflected in many of the books listed below. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the books to which I’m looking forward this year also reflect my own wonkier interests, not the least of which are the turbulent politics of my adopted home, the United Kingdom.
There were, of course, far too many books to list, but here are some of the books to which I’m most looking forward in the first half of this year. While not necessarily a policy book, I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight the forthcoming arrival (in the second half of the year) of another entry in Mick Herron’s superb Slough House series, “The Secret Hours,” about which I am exceedingly excited.
Here’s looking forward to another year of great reading!
Seema Sirohi | HarperCollins | January 2023
The relationship between India and the United States could well shape the future of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Now a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or “Quad”—a strategic dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—Delhi’s relations with Washington have undergone a sine wave’s worth of ups and downs through the Cold War and into the 21st century. Seema Sirohi, a veteran journalist, offers her view of the transformation of this relationship from one of tension to a halting, but growing, bilateral partnership.
Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Paul Scharre | W.W. Norton & Company | February 2023
Paul Scharre’s “Army of None” is likely the best single volume on the implications and challenges of autonomous warfare, eruditely unpacking myths and misconceptions, and grounding the discussion in reality, not speculative fiction. In “Four Battlegrounds,” Scharre explores how artificial intelligence will challenge our conception of power in the 21st century, and identifies new battlegrounds—data, power, talent, and institutions—the success on which will govern global power.
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
Martin Wolf | Allen Lane | February 2023
Writing at a time when it appears that authoritarianism continues its ascendancy around the world, and democracies continue their decline, Martin Wolf—the Financial Times’ chief economics commentator, offers a rejoinder to arguments that democracy and capitalism are, perhaps, better apart. Wolf’s book looks to be sharply incisive, exploring democratic erosion from a novel perspective—not from the challenges at the ballot box and media alone, but from the nexus of politics and economics.
Peter Frankopan | Bloomsbury | March 2023
Oxford University’s Peter Frankopan has emerged as a superb popular historian. His “Silk Roads” and “New Silk Roads” travel the global economic linkages of the past and the future. In “The Earth Transformed,” Frankopan shifts his historical focus from trade to the environment and the effect of climate change on the world. “The Earth Transformed” looks to be another riveting entry in Frankopan’s catalog, and one hopes it goes beyond Jared Diamond’s similar book, “Collapse.”
Katja Hoyer | Allen Lane | April 2023
Katja Hoyer’s “Blood and Iron” was a riveting portrait of the rise of the German empire, offering a fascinating look at a period of history that is often overlooked in favor of World War I and World War II. In “Beyond the Wall,” Hoyer turns her attention to East Germany, looking to achieve similar success in unpacking the 40-year existence of the communist state, going beyond the West’s often narrow and simplistic understanding, and offering a much richer look at this curious geographic and political development of the Cold War.
White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan
Major General Mick Ryan (ret.) | Casemate | April 2023
Australian major general, Mick Ryan, pens a fictional look at a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, raising a critical question: Is a war for Taiwan winnable? Ryan’s “War Transformed” was a timely exploration of the challenges of building armed forces for the modern era. In the wake of Russia’s expanded invasion of Ukraine, Ryan took to Twitter to pen longform threads on Moscow’s advances and Kyiv’s defenses (and the later inversion of this equation), and what lessons could be drawn from the conflict. “White Sun War” looks to do the same through fiction—what tack Ryan takes will be interesting as this conflict has been thoroughly mined in recent history.
China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord
Philip Snow | Yale University Press | April 2023
In February 2022, just before the opening of the Winter Olympics in China and a few weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and Beijing announced a “no limits” partnership between the two countries. Throughout the war in Ukraine, China’s president, Xi Jinping, has remained a largely unwavering supporter of his counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Yet, this “friendship without limits,” as it has been translated, is just the latest in nearly 400 years of turbulent dynamics between the two countries. Philip Snow unpacks this historical relationship, what it means today, and what it could well mean for the future.
Serhii Plokhy | Allen Lane | May 2023
Serhii Plokhy has consistently been one of the most insightful and thoughtful voices on Ukraine and its place in history. In his forthcoming book “The Russo-Ukrainian War” Plokhy looks to place the current war in its broader historical context, but also how Ukraine fits within Russia’s conception of itself. It will be interesting to see what angle Plokhy takes and if he charts new ground, or merely presents much of what has already been argued in a new light, and in the wake of how Russia’s war has helped forge a new Ukrainian national identity—perhaps the greatest legacy of Putin’s “special military operation.”
Jade McGlynn | Polity | May 2023
On her Twitter account, Russia analyst Jade McGlynn consistently highlights a fascinating undertone of the war, though one not fully appreciated by the West: the extent to which the Russians themselves support the war and how it is seen from Russia. In “Russia’s War,” McGlynn looks to explore this alternative world of propaganda that permeates Russian society and those that either buy into it as true believers, or merely accept it out of expediency. Understanding how Russians view the war from their perspective is critical to making smart policy now and in the future.
Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth
Ian Garner | Hurst | May 2023
Support for Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, and his invasion of Ukraine did not develop in a vacuum. As Dr. Ian Garner shows in his book “Z Generation,” this support came about from the diligent cultivation of the youth of Russia and instilling of a specific interpretation of Russian culture, values, and history. What this means for the future could well be alarming, as Garner argues. Both his and McGlynn’s books look to present another side of the war in Ukraine, one that is largely under-reported in Western media, but which is invaluable to understanding how the conflict may well progress.
The Conservative Party after Brexit: Turmoil and Transformation
Tim Bale | Polity | May 2023
Some years ago, I was meeting with the director of a leading American think tank. In the course of the conversation, I let slip that I found the internal machinations of both the United Kingdom’s Labour and Conservative parties fascinating. He promptly branded that statement, and me by extension, one of the nerdiest things he had encountered. Given 2022’s turmoil in British politics, it’s unsurprising that this subject is of greater interest. The UK and the Conservative Party managed to have four prime ministers in the last five years. Professor Tim Bale explores the Tory Party’s turbulent recent history and likely future (almost certainly heading for a drubbing at the hands of Labour in the next general election), in his forthcoming book.
The Ruble: A Political History
Ekaterina Pravilova | Oxford University Press | June 2023
The story of a currency is as much the story and history of the country that uses the store of value in question. Ekaterina Pravilova explores Russia’s ruble and its role over the course of the country’s turbulent history. She argues that to truly understand the country’s economic development, political and cultural factors must be considered alongside the financial variables. How both the ruble and Russia’s economy fare in the long-term wake of the war in Ukraine remains to be seen, but the auguries are far from optimistic.
Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict between Russia and the West
Maximilian Hess | Hurst | June 2023
The West’s economic response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 severed nearly three decades of economic connectivity nearly overnight. From wide-ranging business and personal sanctions to technology embargoes and the suspension of oil and gas sales, the West managed to suspend parochial financial interests in support of Kyiv. Maximilian Hess argues that the foundations for this program of action were laid in 2014, in response to the annexation of Crimea. In this timely book, Hess explores what happened eight years ago, how Russia responded, and what lessons this conflict has for future economic warfare.
Fighting for Life: The Twelve Battles that Made Our NHS, and the Struggle for Its Future
Isabel Hardman | Penguin Books | June 2023
The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) is both heralded and derided in equal measures. For its supporters, it is a model of the delivery of health care on a national scale. For its detractors, it is an example of a government bureaucracy run amok. Today, the NHS is experiencing serious strains and significant shortfalls from a combination of government underinvestment, stagnating or shrinking budgets, and increased demands. In time for the 75th anniversary of the NHS, Isabel Hardman looks at the service from the inside-out, and explores its future, one which will almost certainly have lessons for health care networks around the world.
The Small States Club: How Small Smart States Can Save the World
Armen Sarkissian | Hurst | November 2023
The former president of Armenia explores how comparably tiny political entities punch well above their weight on the international stage, arguing that smallness is a strength. Indeed, smaller scales allow greater responsiveness, ability to experiment and innovate, and measure political changes more rapidly than their larger, more ponderous counterparts. There are, of course, downsides to smallness, not the least of which are navigating an international stage that is designed for and benefits larger states. Sarkissian’s book is said to be part-memoir and part-homage to Armenia, a country very much on my list of places to visit in the coming years.
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15 Books to Look Forward to in 2023
Photo by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov via Unsplash.
January 7, 2023
From books exploring the complexities of Russia’s war in Ukraine to the global geopolitical transformations taking place, Diplomatic Courier’s book reviewer Joshua Huminski outlines 15 books he is most looking forward to reading in 2023.
T
he year ahead looks to bring with it more focus and attention on Russia’s war in Ukraine, its antecedents, and its future. Indeed, in this book look ahead, there are a raft of excellent upcoming books that explore the complexities of this war and the lessons it holds for the conflicts yet to come.
This year also looks to be a year of continued geopolitical transformation and systemic tensions between authoritarianism and democracy, capitalism and its detractors, climate change and its effects, emerging technology, and more. These trends are reflected in many of the books listed below. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the books to which I’m looking forward this year also reflect my own wonkier interests, not the least of which are the turbulent politics of my adopted home, the United Kingdom.
There were, of course, far too many books to list, but here are some of the books to which I’m most looking forward in the first half of this year. While not necessarily a policy book, I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight the forthcoming arrival (in the second half of the year) of another entry in Mick Herron’s superb Slough House series, “The Secret Hours,” about which I am exceedingly excited.
Here’s looking forward to another year of great reading!
Seema Sirohi | HarperCollins | January 2023
The relationship between India and the United States could well shape the future of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Now a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or “Quad”—a strategic dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—Delhi’s relations with Washington have undergone a sine wave’s worth of ups and downs through the Cold War and into the 21st century. Seema Sirohi, a veteran journalist, offers her view of the transformation of this relationship from one of tension to a halting, but growing, bilateral partnership.
Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Paul Scharre | W.W. Norton & Company | February 2023
Paul Scharre’s “Army of None” is likely the best single volume on the implications and challenges of autonomous warfare, eruditely unpacking myths and misconceptions, and grounding the discussion in reality, not speculative fiction. In “Four Battlegrounds,” Scharre explores how artificial intelligence will challenge our conception of power in the 21st century, and identifies new battlegrounds—data, power, talent, and institutions—the success on which will govern global power.
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
Martin Wolf | Allen Lane | February 2023
Writing at a time when it appears that authoritarianism continues its ascendancy around the world, and democracies continue their decline, Martin Wolf—the Financial Times’ chief economics commentator, offers a rejoinder to arguments that democracy and capitalism are, perhaps, better apart. Wolf’s book looks to be sharply incisive, exploring democratic erosion from a novel perspective—not from the challenges at the ballot box and media alone, but from the nexus of politics and economics.
Peter Frankopan | Bloomsbury | March 2023
Oxford University’s Peter Frankopan has emerged as a superb popular historian. His “Silk Roads” and “New Silk Roads” travel the global economic linkages of the past and the future. In “The Earth Transformed,” Frankopan shifts his historical focus from trade to the environment and the effect of climate change on the world. “The Earth Transformed” looks to be another riveting entry in Frankopan’s catalog, and one hopes it goes beyond Jared Diamond’s similar book, “Collapse.”
Katja Hoyer | Allen Lane | April 2023
Katja Hoyer’s “Blood and Iron” was a riveting portrait of the rise of the German empire, offering a fascinating look at a period of history that is often overlooked in favor of World War I and World War II. In “Beyond the Wall,” Hoyer turns her attention to East Germany, looking to achieve similar success in unpacking the 40-year existence of the communist state, going beyond the West’s often narrow and simplistic understanding, and offering a much richer look at this curious geographic and political development of the Cold War.
White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan
Major General Mick Ryan (ret.) | Casemate | April 2023
Australian major general, Mick Ryan, pens a fictional look at a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, raising a critical question: Is a war for Taiwan winnable? Ryan’s “War Transformed” was a timely exploration of the challenges of building armed forces for the modern era. In the wake of Russia’s expanded invasion of Ukraine, Ryan took to Twitter to pen longform threads on Moscow’s advances and Kyiv’s defenses (and the later inversion of this equation), and what lessons could be drawn from the conflict. “White Sun War” looks to do the same through fiction—what tack Ryan takes will be interesting as this conflict has been thoroughly mined in recent history.
China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord
Philip Snow | Yale University Press | April 2023
In February 2022, just before the opening of the Winter Olympics in China and a few weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and Beijing announced a “no limits” partnership between the two countries. Throughout the war in Ukraine, China’s president, Xi Jinping, has remained a largely unwavering supporter of his counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Yet, this “friendship without limits,” as it has been translated, is just the latest in nearly 400 years of turbulent dynamics between the two countries. Philip Snow unpacks this historical relationship, what it means today, and what it could well mean for the future.
Serhii Plokhy | Allen Lane | May 2023
Serhii Plokhy has consistently been one of the most insightful and thoughtful voices on Ukraine and its place in history. In his forthcoming book “The Russo-Ukrainian War” Plokhy looks to place the current war in its broader historical context, but also how Ukraine fits within Russia’s conception of itself. It will be interesting to see what angle Plokhy takes and if he charts new ground, or merely presents much of what has already been argued in a new light, and in the wake of how Russia’s war has helped forge a new Ukrainian national identity—perhaps the greatest legacy of Putin’s “special military operation.”
Jade McGlynn | Polity | May 2023
On her Twitter account, Russia analyst Jade McGlynn consistently highlights a fascinating undertone of the war, though one not fully appreciated by the West: the extent to which the Russians themselves support the war and how it is seen from Russia. In “Russia’s War,” McGlynn looks to explore this alternative world of propaganda that permeates Russian society and those that either buy into it as true believers, or merely accept it out of expediency. Understanding how Russians view the war from their perspective is critical to making smart policy now and in the future.
Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth
Ian Garner | Hurst | May 2023
Support for Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, and his invasion of Ukraine did not develop in a vacuum. As Dr. Ian Garner shows in his book “Z Generation,” this support came about from the diligent cultivation of the youth of Russia and instilling of a specific interpretation of Russian culture, values, and history. What this means for the future could well be alarming, as Garner argues. Both his and McGlynn’s books look to present another side of the war in Ukraine, one that is largely under-reported in Western media, but which is invaluable to understanding how the conflict may well progress.
The Conservative Party after Brexit: Turmoil and Transformation
Tim Bale | Polity | May 2023
Some years ago, I was meeting with the director of a leading American think tank. In the course of the conversation, I let slip that I found the internal machinations of both the United Kingdom’s Labour and Conservative parties fascinating. He promptly branded that statement, and me by extension, one of the nerdiest things he had encountered. Given 2022’s turmoil in British politics, it’s unsurprising that this subject is of greater interest. The UK and the Conservative Party managed to have four prime ministers in the last five years. Professor Tim Bale explores the Tory Party’s turbulent recent history and likely future (almost certainly heading for a drubbing at the hands of Labour in the next general election), in his forthcoming book.
The Ruble: A Political History
Ekaterina Pravilova | Oxford University Press | June 2023
The story of a currency is as much the story and history of the country that uses the store of value in question. Ekaterina Pravilova explores Russia’s ruble and its role over the course of the country’s turbulent history. She argues that to truly understand the country’s economic development, political and cultural factors must be considered alongside the financial variables. How both the ruble and Russia’s economy fare in the long-term wake of the war in Ukraine remains to be seen, but the auguries are far from optimistic.
Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict between Russia and the West
Maximilian Hess | Hurst | June 2023
The West’s economic response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 severed nearly three decades of economic connectivity nearly overnight. From wide-ranging business and personal sanctions to technology embargoes and the suspension of oil and gas sales, the West managed to suspend parochial financial interests in support of Kyiv. Maximilian Hess argues that the foundations for this program of action were laid in 2014, in response to the annexation of Crimea. In this timely book, Hess explores what happened eight years ago, how Russia responded, and what lessons this conflict has for future economic warfare.
Fighting for Life: The Twelve Battles that Made Our NHS, and the Struggle for Its Future
Isabel Hardman | Penguin Books | June 2023
The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) is both heralded and derided in equal measures. For its supporters, it is a model of the delivery of health care on a national scale. For its detractors, it is an example of a government bureaucracy run amok. Today, the NHS is experiencing serious strains and significant shortfalls from a combination of government underinvestment, stagnating or shrinking budgets, and increased demands. In time for the 75th anniversary of the NHS, Isabel Hardman looks at the service from the inside-out, and explores its future, one which will almost certainly have lessons for health care networks around the world.
The Small States Club: How Small Smart States Can Save the World
Armen Sarkissian | Hurst | November 2023
The former president of Armenia explores how comparably tiny political entities punch well above their weight on the international stage, arguing that smallness is a strength. Indeed, smaller scales allow greater responsiveness, ability to experiment and innovate, and measure political changes more rapidly than their larger, more ponderous counterparts. There are, of course, downsides to smallness, not the least of which are navigating an international stage that is designed for and benefits larger states. Sarkissian’s book is said to be part-memoir and part-homage to Armenia, a country very much on my list of places to visit in the coming years.
