Never has the past been so present. In our supposedly memoryless world, history is constantly being invoked: Russia annexes the place of its baptism, China justifies its rights over its neighbourhood by referring to ancient maps, Turkey is inspired by its imperial past, Hungary grants passports to former subjects of the Empire and, in the West, migrants are seen as the new Barbarians.

For Bruno Tertrais, the rebuilt and mythified past is avenging itself on the false promises of liberalism and socialism. Old passions are resurfacing. People are protesting against the dilution of identities in the great bath of globalization. The religion of progress has lived, swept away by nationalism and fanaticism. However, the more the past is exploited, the greater the risk of conflict.

A book to understand the world that awaits us.

Bruno Tertrais is a geopolitical specialist and deputy director of the Foundation for Strategic Research. In 2011, he received the Vauban prize for his work as a whole. In 2016, his book The President and the Bomb. Jupiter at the Elysée, co-written with Jean Guisnel, received the Brienne Prize for Geopolitical Book of the Year.