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Part 2: Global Balance of Power

How nations rise, compete, and decline — from colonial empires to modern China.

13 articles
Part 2

China Has Many Of The Characteristics Of An Emerging Colonial Power. How Does It Compare Historically?

History Future Now had dinner a few years back with two Kenyans of Indian origin. Indian-Kenyans make up less than 1% of the country’s 43 million people, but apparently account for 70-80% of the count

Read article → 9 min · 2 charts · Audio
Part 2

Crisis: Or An Explanation On The Origins Of The Decline Of The West

Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus was written in 1592 and was based on an earlier German work about Dr Faustus, a talented German scholar at Wittenburg University who was frustrated by the lim

Read article → 38 min · 3 charts · Audio
Part 2

Europe Rearms: Why The Continent That Invented Total War Is Spending €800 Billion On Defence

In 1932, Germany spent less than 1% of GDP on its military. By 1939, that figure was 23%. The transformation took just seven years. Today, Europe is embarking on the fastest rearmament since the Cold

Read article → 18 min · 3 charts · Audio
Part 2

Forging Peace: From Centuries of War to Ukraine's Future

For centuries, war has been a brutal constant in human affairs, with nations locked in cycles of conquest and revenge that have left countless lives shattered. Yet even from the ashes of the most deva

Read article → 12 min · Audio
Part 2

Hinkley Point Decision Is Really About China And Brexit

Much ink has been spilled about why Prime Minister May’s new Conservative government should not have approved the £18bn Hinkley Point nuclear power station that is to be built by EDF, from France, wit

Read article → 10 min · 2 charts
Part 2

Rome Vs. Persia And The Transfer Of Strategic Technologies To China

China is a master at forcing western companies to hand over critical intellectual property in exchange for short term access to the Chinese market. History Future Now asks what are the lessons that ca

Read article → 5 min
Part 2

The North African Threat And Mediterranean Reunification

North Africa does not appear to be a military and political threat to the European Union. Why should it? In the last few years most of its countries have been convulsed by revolutions and are in disar

Read article → 17 min · 5 charts
Part 2

The Rise of the West Was Based on Luck. That Has Run Out.

Many Westerners fret about the relative decline of the West. For over 500 years, since the successful conquest of the Americas by Atlantic Ocean facing power, influence and culture.

Read article → 23 min · 3 charts
Part 2

The War in Ukraine: Escalation, Miscalculation, and the Path to Peace

The war in Ukraine, which began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, has brought the world to a dangerous crossroads. As the fighting continues, with devastating consequences for the people of Ukr

Read article → 20 min
Part 2

The West’s romance with Free Trade is ending. Why?

Donald Trump is marching the US into a trade war with China. Markets are rattled. China is rattled. American companies are rattled. After 100 years of promoting free trade as a way of enriching everyo

Read article → 9 min
Part 2

What Happens When China Becomes The Largest Economy In The World?

According to the OECD , China is due to overtake the US economy as the largest in the world in three years. By 2030 it predicts that China will account for 25% of the world’s economy. That is impressi

Read article → 5 min
Part 2

Why China Could Invade Taiwan – And Get Away With It

The story of how the Republic of China became Taiwan and its relationship with mainland China is fascinating. How many people in the West know that Taiwan was once a Dutch colony and that it only beca

Read article → 6 min · 2 charts
Part 2

Why Do We Need The Military? Securing Energy Supplies And Trade Routes

History Future Now examines our military expenditure and asks two basic questions: first, what is the purpose of the military? And second, if we did things differently would we need to spend so much o

Read article → 11 min · 2 charts