The Age of Unpeace

Compulsively readable, Mark Leonard's globe-trotting book not only offers us a fascinating and disturbing panorama, it redefines realism for an age of massive and toxic connectivity. Rather than fleeing into anachronistic visions of grand architecture and Cold War rhetoric, it demands that we face our actual problem. An essential course in geopolitical self-help. -- Adam Tooze, author of <i>Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World</i> There was a time when we all naively thought that a networked world would be awesome. But, as Mark Leonard argues in The Age of Unpeace, 'The connections that knit the world together are also driving it apart. It is not that the Internet and globalization have led to a war of all against all; more that the distinction between war and peace has broken down. 'Connectivity conflicts' are the signature style of the new 'unpeace', an old Anglo-Saxon word that, as Leonard persuasively argues, nicely describes our new era of financial sanctions, trade wars, infowars and cyberwars. Leonard, once a true believer in the European project, is that rare thing: a public intellectual willing to question his own assumptions and come up with fresh - and often surprising - ideas. If you want to understand the geopolitical significance of Grindr, the gay hook-up app, or the historical consequences of Sun Yatsen's Hawaiian childhood, look no further. -- Niall Ferguson, author of <i>The Square and the Tower</i> and <i>DOOM: The Politics of Catastrophe</i> We now understand that we live and must live between the duelling utopias of unrestricted globalization and national sovereignty. The task is to make the best of our connections, and here Mark Leonard offers a creative and clarifying way forward. -- Timothy Snyder, author of <i>On Tyranny</i> One of Mark Leonard's great strengths is his sensitivity to the zeitgeist. This book is no exception. Rather than rejecting or ignoring the growing rebellion against connectivity, he accepts it and seeks to find ways of responding to it. The result is a highly readable book packed full of insights and ideas about what needs to be done. -- Martin Jacques, author of <i>When China Rules The World</i> Mark Leonard has done something extraordinary: written a powerful and persuasive analysis of our 'age of unpeace', in which the three 'empires of connectivity' that define our time-China, the US and Europe-are competing for hegemony by exploiting the very connectedness that ties our world together. This is one of those rare books that defines the terms of our conversation about our times. -- Michael Ignatieff, President and Rector, Central European University