​

What happens when the rules governing the world we have taken for granted begin to change?
 

For centuries, Western powers have shaped the systems through which the modern world operates. From international trade and finance to technology, communications and the rules governing relations between states, Western ideas and institutions have become so deeply embedded in everyday life that we rarely notice them.
 

But that world is changing. China is acquiring the power not simply to challenge America's global leadership, but to reshape the systems themselves. The contest between China and the West is therefore about something much bigger than military strength, economic dominance or the future of Taiwan. It is about who will determine how the world works.
 

After the West traces the rise of the Western-led international order, explains how China has learned to master and increasingly challenge it, and explores what a more China-shaped world might look like.

Crucially, this is not simply a story about governments and great powers. The consequences could reach into almost every aspect of ordinary life: the jobs people do, the prices they pay, the technologies they use, the information they receive and the freedoms they enjoy.
 

Drawing on history, original geopolitical research and more than two decades of experience in government, technology and international affairs, Sam Olsen examines the economic, technological and political forces driving this transformation. From artificial intelligence and industrial competition to global trade, strategic dependencies and the future of democracy, he reveals how changes that appear remote from everyday life could fundamentally reshape it.
 

Yet China's eventual dominance is far from inevitable. The future will also depend on how Western countries respond, how other powers position themselves and whether a new international order can emerge that preserves prosperity, security and individual freedom.
 

After the West is an exploration of one of the defining questions of our time: what comes after the world the West built, and what will it mean for all of us?
 

​
 

For publishing rights, media interviews and other enquiries, please contact my agent Tom Killingbeck at A.M. Heath.