2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis

For a book published in 2021 and preceding the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis is remarkably topical and prescient. It forecasts a future where great power ambition and a sense of infallibility of a superpower lure it towards utilising ‘compellence’ as a strategy towards attaining its goal of world domination, leading to predictable consequences. This conflict, interestingly, does not throw up the expected winners or losers; it on the contrary, leads to the establishment of a new world order, which comes close to embodying the Cold War phrase, ‘Nuclear Armageddon’.