The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats–and Our Response–Will Change the World

Summary

Well-known political scientist Ian Bremmer draws lessons from the greatest crises of the last century—including the pandemic—to show how best to handle the four great crises we will face over the next decade.

Two years after the worst global health crisis in a century, the world is still struggling to regain its footing. And yet the pandemic has also served as both a wake-up call and roadmap for the limited cooperation needed to navigate the challenges ahead.

In this revelatory book, Bremmer lays out a series of coming crises—US-China confrontation, future health emergencies, climate change, and the AI revolution. To survive and solve these complex problems, we must learn the lessons the pandemic can teach us, work intelligently together on issues that threaten every nation, and share responsibility for the dangers that loom over all of us.

Drawing on the lessons of the past century, Bremmer argues effectively that we need a crisis big enough to frighten us into building a new international system that is built for today’s—and tomorrow’s—purpose. Bremmer tell us what governments, corporations, and individuals can do to ensure that all the destruction of recent years will have been “creative destruction” and that COVID can show us how to set a new course toward a more peaceful and prosperous future. It will take vision, stamina, and a leap of faith, but if we take practical action now, we can build a better world.