The New Cold War

How the Contest Between the US and China Will Shape Our Century with Sir Robin Niblett

Sir Robin Niblett will join us to discuss the topic of his recent book.

We have entered a new Cold War. The contest between America and China is global and unbridgeable, and it encompasses all major instruments of statecraft – economic, political and military. It has its tinder box: Taiwan. And both protagonists are working hard to draw allies to their side from across the world.

We stand at its beginning. But this Cold War is nothing like the conflict between the Soviet Union and the West which defined the second half of the twentieth century. We need new ideas to navigate its risks and avoid a globally devastating hot war. In this urgent and necessary book, Robin Niblett argues that only by looking back can we learn the lessons to guide us through this new reality: he goes through the ten ways in which the New Cold War is different and offers five rules for navigating its onset.

How we manage this contest will determine not only whether there is still space for international cooperation to deal with our many global challenges, from the climate emergency to the technological revolution, but also who will lead the twenty-first century and, quite simply, the course of all our futures.

Sir Robin Niblett is an expert in international relations. He is former director (2007-22) and a Distinguished Fellow of Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs).  He also holds the position of Distinguished Fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute and Senior Adviser to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).

Date: Monday 23 September
Time: Doors from 19.00, talk starts 19.30
Where: Salisbury Museum Lecture Hall
Tickets: £20