Is there anything more cut-throat than global politics?

Wherever you turn - Europe, Russia, China, Korea, Syria, the Middle East - we are living in a time of global geopolitical power plays. Once an insider to this closed world, Pedro Baños reveals that however it might be smoothed over by the PR of political diplomacy, the world of geopolitics is one of war and conflict by strategic means, where countries have sought dominion and power over their rivals since the dawn of time. Baños presents this high-stakes game as a series of 27 universal rules on how to act and exert influence in the international sphere. Each principle is contextualised in history both classic and modern, from Bismarck to Kissinger but also related to the current world of Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping. With titles like ‘The Cornered Bear’, ‘Kick Down the Ladder’, ‘Champagne Glasses’, ‘The Madman’, ‘The Donkey’ and ‘The Saddlebags’, How They Rule the World is a practical set of rules for engagement that can be enjoyed by anyone. Written with the philosophic, aphoristic timelessness of a von Bulow, Sun Tzu or Machiavelli, Baños has created an utterly gripping manual on the secrets of how strategic power really works.