Disunited Nations

The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World

By: Peter Zeihan

Narrated by: Peter Zeihan, Roy Worley

Should we stop caring about fading regional powers like China, Russia, Germany, and Iran? Will the collapse of international cooperation push France, Turkey, Japan, and Saudi Arabia to the top of international concerns?

Most countries and companies are not prepared for the world Peter Zeihan says we’re already living in. For decades, America’s allies have depended on its might for their economic and physical security. But as a new age of American isolationism dawns, the results will surprise everyone.

In Disunited Nations, geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan presents a series of counterintuitive arguments about the future of a world where trade agreements are coming apart and international institutions are losing their power. Germany will decline as the most powerful country in Europe, with France taking its place. Every country should prepare for the collapse of China, not North Korea. We are already seeing, as Zeihan predicts, a shift in outlook on the Middle East: it is no longer Iran that is the region’s most dangerous threat, but Saudi Arabia.

The world has gotten so accustomed to the “normal” of an American-dominated order that we have all forgotten the historical norm: several smaller, competing powers and economic systems throughout Europe and Asia. America isn’t the only nation stepping back from the international system. From Brazil to Great Britain to Russia, leaders are deciding that even if plenty of countries lose in the growing disunited chaos, their nations will benefit. The world isn’t falling apart - it’s being pushed apart. The countries and businesses prepared for this new every-country-for-itself ethic are those that will prevail; those shackled to the status quo will find themselves lost in the new world disorder.

Smart, interesting, and essential listening, Disunited Nations is a sure-to-be-controversial guidebook that analyzes the emerging shifts and resulting problems that will arise in the next two decades. We are entering a period of chaos, and no political or corporate leader can ignore Zeihan’s insights or his message if they want to survive and thrive in this uncertain new time.

©2020 Peter Zeihan (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Analysis that must be accepted or refuted

Thorough geopolitical analysis that might flip what you think, or have been told to think, about the future on its head.

Great book

All of Zeihan’s books are great. I waited for this one to come out, and it completely met my expectations.....

Decent overall

Decent analysis overall. Was going to give 3 stars: minus one star for some cringeworthy lines like “payback’s a b*%#*” — and minus another one for some sweeping generalizations every now and then.

However, the author gained a star back for his hilarious and accurate description of a few of the countries he covered. His disdain for those governments was as poetic as it was unflinching.

Ok until he gets to the Latin countries

It was good until the reader decided to show off his latin pronunciations. At that point my attention was broken and I was constantly distracted by foreign pronunciation. It made it difficult to absorb the actual information.

Best Available

Easily the best resource for understanding the current international order and why geography still matters.

Prescient

I found his thesis strangely reassuring. Yes, the world's a mess, and no, it's not going to get better, but we'll survive.

Quite prescient of recent events

Russia invades Ukraine. Europe pledges to rearm. China seeks to economically strong arm its neighbors into signing a functional “co-prosperity sphere” agreement that will allow them to invade Taiwan. Inflation, oil shocks, and a coming global food shortage. Find out why in a book written years before these events. When I read it the first time, I didn’t want to believe it. Listening to it now, well, I can only hope some crucial people will come to their senses. But they won’t, because they are bent on their choices, and the US will find it doesn’t have to do much to just say “screw it” and disengage from the problem of trying to keep everyone off each other’s throats, something we were not terribly good at in the first place.

Comprehensive world view

Peter Zeihan breaks down the geopolitical scene like none other, good read. I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to know what's going on in the geopolitical world we live in today and have in the past

Original and engaging

I can’t get enough of Zeihan. I’ve been listening to this book over and over for a month. Siting for more books.

fascinating and entertaining

ideas that one really ought to expose oneself to. delivers an analysis and set of predictions for the coming decades that will be interesting to observe.