‘We’re living through unprecedented times’ seems to be the slogan of the past decade now, which is a grim reality. But, when facing the international space, it’s difficult to argue. The rampant chaos that has been seen through international relations since Brexit and Donald Trump’s first election as US President seems to be reaching an apex.

Between the recent incursion into Venezuela, overtures towards Greenland and Iran – the former directly calling into question the 80-year sanctity of NATO – American imperialism is taking on a dimension we’ve never seen before. This comes with a backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine War entering its fifth year, a potential European reorientation towards China as the behemoth still threatens Taiwan with force, and the genocide in Gaza showing the international law to be a sham.

Joining our director, Neal Lawson, to talk about this are two international experts:

• Mary Kaldor is Professor Emeritus of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict Research Programme at the LSE. She has pioneered the concepts of new wars and global civil society. Her elaboration of the real-world implementation of human security has directly influenced European and national governments. She is the author of numerous works including New and Old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era, International Law and New Wars, and Global Security Cultures (2018).
• Nick Dearden has been the director of Global Justice Now since 2013, and a campaigner against corporate globalisation and for global economic justice for over 20 years. He was a leading voice in the UK and European movement against the now‑abandoned EU‑US trade deal (TTIP), and subsequently against the US-UK trade deal, about which he wrote a short book, Trade Secrets. Nick started his career at War on Want, and went on to be corporates campaign manager at Amnesty International UK, and then director of Jubilee Debt Campaign (now Debt Justice), where he built strong relationships with campaigners in the global south. His book, Pharmanomics: How Big Pharma Destroys Global Health, was published by Verso in 2023.

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