In this event hosted by the Centre for Grand Strategy, Dr Samir Puri introduces his latest book 'Westlessness: The Great Global Rebalancing', placing the book's themes in the context of the emerging strategic discourses of the 21^st century.

Speaker: Dr Samir Puri, author and Visiting Lecturer in the Department of War Studies
Chair: Andrew Ehrhardt, Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy (AJI) Postdoctoral Fellow at SAIS Johns Hopkins, and a Visiting Fellow with the Centre for Grand Strategy at King’s College London. 

In 'Westlessness', former UK diplomat Dr Samir Puri vividly demonstrates how in demographic, economic, military and cultural terms, we are hurtling into a far more diverse global future. Many of our certainties about the present, built on centuries of massive Western global impact, are increasingly fragile. Untold wealth is moving from the West to the East, as nations like India and Indonesia are set to reach new heights of growth and confidence. And China continues its ascent to the peak of the economic mountain – but are cracks appearing? And will the Western world, under the aegis of US global military, economic, technological and cultural power, give up its privileged position willingly? 

The talk will be followed by a Q&A with Dr Puri. After the Q&A, guests are invited to enjoy tea, coffee and light refreshments.

About the speaker

Dr Samir Puri is a writer, academic and former UK civil servant. He previously worked for the Foreign Office (2009-15) including a year seconded to a ceasefire monitoring mission in Ukraine. He was subsequently a lecturer in War Studies at King’s (2015-18), during which time he also served as an advisor to the Commonwealth Secretariat and to the Ministry of Defence’s think-tank DCDC. His most recent role was Senior Fellow at IISS-Asia based in Singapore. He is currently a Visiting Lecturer at King's and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House's 'UK in the World' programme. 'Westlessness: The Great Global Rebalancing' (2024) is his fifth book.

You can listen to Dr Samir Puri discuss 'Westlessness: The Great Global Rebalancing' on the War Studies Podcast via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Soundcloud.

About the Centre for Grand Strategy

The Centre for Grand Strategy at King's College London seeks to bring a greater degree of historical and strategic expertise to statecraft, diplomacy and foreign policy. Through a series of research projects, external engagement activities and a number of undergraduate and executive education teaching programmes, the Centre focuses on “knowledge transfer”: bringing top-class academic expertise to bear on the policy-making process and the public debate about foreign policy.