Gideon Rachman’s War Is Interested in You: The Breakdown of International Order and the Threat of World War Three

 “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” — Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks.

You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” — Leon Trotsky, 1933

“The twentieth century ended in a global disorder whose origins lay in the very triumph of capitalism.” — Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes*

“The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”

Thucydides

Gideon Rachman’s latest book emerges at a time when a strange mix of alarm and self-justification grips defenders of Western capitalism. The post-Cold War order, once hailed as the “end of history,” has crumbled before them, yet they struggle to explain why. Their analyses swing between moral outrage and geopolitical speculation, addressing symptoms but missing the core issues. Rachman’s “War Is Interested in You” exemplifies this pattern: sincere and anxious, but lacking depth.

The book’s title, inspired by Leon Trotsky, stands out as its most intriguing and revealing aspect. Trotsky’s 1933 warning, made during the period leading to a second imperialist war, was more than a clever saying; it encapsulated Marxist principles. He argued that war is not caused by individual leaders’ madness or diplomatic errors but is an unavoidable result of a global capitalist system whose productive forces have surpassed the boundaries of nation-states and private ownership of the means of production. War, in Trotsky’s view, “interests” humanity because society remains stuck in a social structure that fails to organise its economy rationally. Rachman takes the phrase but ignores the analysis behind it. Consequently, his book hints at disaster but fails to examine its root causes.

Trotsky’s Warning and Its Historical Meaning

To understand the irony of Rachman’s title, one must return to Trotsky’s original context. In War and the Fourth International, Trotsky explained that the coming world war was not the product of Hitler’s psychology or Mussolini’s theatricality. It resulted from the objective contradictions of imperialism: the uneven development of capitalism, the struggle for markets and raw materials, and the inability of competing national bourgeoisies to resolve their conflicts peacefully.

Trotsky’s approach was rooted in Marx’s view of capitalism as a worldwide system driven by the growth of value. Lenin later stated in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, that the concentration of capital, the rise of monopolies, and the division of the world among competing powers made war a structural element rather than an anomaly. The nation-state, initially a facilitator of capitalist development, eventually became an obstacle to productive forces. Consequently, economic growth could occur only through geopolitical conflict. Trotsky’s warning was thus not about morality but a scientific forecast: war would reemerge because the underlying system that causes it remained in place. Rachman’s book, by contrast, treats war as a kind of psychological contagion, a product of “strongmen,” nationalism, and bad leadership. The structural analysis disappears. The historical method evaporates. What remains is a morality play.

Rachman’s main argument revisits his earlier idea from The Age of the Strongman: the collapse of the post-Cold War “rules-based order” is caused by a worldwide surge of dysfunctional leaders—Putin, Xi, Trump, Erdoğan, Modi—whose individual flaws have undermined global stability. This stance is akin to attributing climate change solely to short-term weather patterns.

The promotional material presents the argument using common establishment language. It states that after 1991, the United States “dominated” the world; now, “weakening Western power” creates opportunities for challengers like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Additionally, Trump’s time in office has increased volatility. The underlying message is clear: the world was stable before problematic figures appeared. This is historical idealism of the most superficial kind. It treats geopolitics as a drama of personalities rather than a struggle of social forces. It reduces imperialism to psychology. It replaces political economy with pop sociology.

The decline of American dominance is a structural shift, not just psychological. Factors such as the diminishing US economic lead, China’s rise as a comprehensive industrial competitor, the decline of Bretton Woods institutions, and challenges to neoliberalism have reshaped the global order, making the old imperial framework unsustainable. The “strongmen” are not the root cause but rather the political manifestation of these changes. Rachman’s narrative misplaces causality, turning a capitalist crisis into a crisis of personalities. Imperialism becomes a morality tale, and history becomes a recruitment call.

The Ideologist of a Collapsing Order

Remembering who is speaking is crucial. Rachman isn’t just a critic analysing the international order’s collapse; he’s deeply embedded within it. For twenty years, he’s provided the Financial Times, London’s leading financial publication, with arguments defending the policies that have led to the current geopolitical crises he now observes with concern.

His career path mirrors the ideological influences dominant in the post-Cold War period. After spending fifteen years at The Economist, he became chief foreign affairs columnist at the FT in 2006, positioning himself at the heart of the Anglo-American policy elite. Diplomats, bankers, intelligence officers, and corporate leaders read his columns—the very groups whose choices have driven the global changes he now criticises.

Rachman’s stance on Ukraine is exemplary. While realist scholars like John Mearsheimer warned that NATO’s eastward expansion could provoke Russia, Rachman condemned them as Kremlin allies. He firmly believed the war stemmed solely from Russian aggression, disregarding three decades of US and NATO policies. He even argued that, although Russia “specialises in outright lies,” the US only “specialises in hypocrisy”—a point likely to amuse anyone familiar with the falsehoods used to justify the Iraq War.

As the conflict intensified, Rachman consistently asserted that the war should persist until Ukraine gains the upper hand, unintentionally supporting a proxy war that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of workers on both sides. The World Socialist Web Site noted that he functions as an indirect defender of NATO—though perhaps “unwitting” is too lenient. Now, this same individual appears to caution the public that the world risks sliding into a third world war. It’s hard not to see the absurdity of an arsonist issuing fire safety advice.

Rachman’s book highlights a broader intellectual crisis among the Western ruling class. The dominant post-1991 ideology—comprising liberal internationalism, neoliberal economics, and American unipolarity—has disintegrated, yet its supporters struggle to explain why. Their analyses are lacking three key elements: markets, production, finance, and class relations. Instead, the world economy is portrayed merely as scenery for geopolitical conflicts, not as the driving force behind them.

Rachman seldom uses the term “imperialism,” probably only for rhetorical effect, as it doesn’t fit with his worldview. He perceives the United States as a benevolent hegemon rather than an imperial power. NATO is seen as a defensive alliance rather than a vehicle of Western dominance. China isn’t viewed as a rival capitalist state, but as an authoritarian challenger. Similarly, Russia is not considered a declining imperial power but rather a rogue actor. Rachman’s analysis omits the working class, peasantry, and oppressed nations. He argues that leaders, not masses, shape history; elites, not classes, shape politics; and states, not social forces, shape war. This approach results in an analysis that fails to explain the world because it cannot truly see it.

Rachman suggests a familiar remedy: increased Western leadership, stricter alliance discipline, greater investment in the rules-based system, and renewed confidence in the imperial institutions whose ongoing crises have led to the wars he describes. The book advocates restoring the previous status quo—a world where American dominance remains uncontested, and the liberal order can return to normal functioning.

This longstanding deadlock in bourgeois liberalism lets it identify symptoms clearly—Rachman, intelligent and well-connected to political and intelligence elites, offers many anecdotal details. Still, it struggles to trace these issues to their origins. Doing so would mean criticising the capitalist system and the imperial powers Rachman has committed his career to defending. The book replaces political economy with psychology, class interest with personality, and the objective laws of capitalist development with “strongmen”. It offers a diagnosis that ultimately fails to diagnose, a warning that cannot truly warn, and a lament that struggles to grasp what it laments.

To truly grasp Rachman’s worldview, one must revisit the Marxist analysis he overlooks. The current crisis isn’t merely due to poor leadership or nationalist issues; rather, it results from four interconnected contradictions. After World War II, the United States became the leading global power in industry, finance, and military strength, with unparalleled influence over global GDP, international finance, and military reach. However, this dominance has weakened over time as capitalism has evolved. The rise of China, the reindustrialisation of East Asia, and the financialisation of the US economy have collectively created a global landscape where American supremacy is no longer sustainable.

China’s transformation from a marginal economy to a major global industrial power is one of the most significant changes of the past fifty years. Its integration into the international market has made it a fierce competitor, challenging US dominance at its core. This shift has sparked increasing conflicts across economic, technological, and military spheres. The neoliberal approach—favouring privatisation, deregulation, financialisation, and globalisation—has reached its breaking point. It has caused extreme inequality, political unrest, and economic instability. The 2008 financial crisis revealed the flaws of financialised capitalism; the pandemic worsened them, and the geopolitical tensions of the 2020s have accelerated these trends.

The illusion of a unipolar world after the Cold War has disappeared. The world is now again split among rival imperial powers. The United States, China, Russia, the European Union, and regional players like India and Turkey are vying for influence, markets, and strategic positions. Consequently, war is not just a possibility but a persistent feature of the global landscape. Rachman’s book falls short because it fails to recognise capitalism as a systemic force.

The tragedy—and irony—is that Rachman’s title inadvertently points to the only meaningful solution to the crisis he discusses. Trotsky did not tell his readers to rely on better politicians or a return to a balance of power. Instead, he argued that war is unavoidable as long as humanity’s productive forces are confined within competing capitalist nation-states. The only entity capable of stopping a new world war is the international working class, organised independently of all national bourgeoisies and fighting for a socialist reorganisation of society globally.

Rachman’s book offers no such insights. It is essentially a collection of establishment fears, authored by someone whose career has involved defending the very imperial policies that have pushed the world to the edge. While war may indeed concern us all, fighting it effectively demands understanding and political strength—neither of which this book delivers.

The Ideology of a Dying Order

War Is Interested in You isn’t a serious critique of the global crisis; instead, it symbolises it. It illustrates the intellectual fatigue of a ruling elite that can no longer explain the world they built. Written by someone who helped construct the very system now collapsing, it is a lament. Its significance lies more in its expressions of anxiety than in its arguments. It exposes a ruling class that senses impending disaster but cannot grasp its root causes. Like a fever dream, it is intense, fearful, and completely unable to diagnose the crisis.

Trotsky’s warning is just as relevant now as it was in 1933. War remains largely driven by interests, but only the international working class, equipped with a Marxist worldview and organised for socialist change, can prevent it. Rachman’s book lacks this understanding and therefore lacks that power. It is a plea to restore an order that cannot be rebuilt, authored by someone who fails to understand why.

Primary Sources: Gideon Rachman’s Works

• Rachman, Gideon. War Is Interested in You: The Breakdown of International Order and the Threat of World War Three. Vintage Publishing, 2026. 336 pp. ISBN 9781529969825. (Publisher summary, bibliographic details, and promotional framing)
• Rachman, Gideon. The Age of the Strongman: How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy around the World. Various editions, 2022–2024. (Referenced for thematic continuity and Rachman’s “strongman” thesis)
• Rachman, Gideon. Easternisation: War and Peace in the Asian Century. Vintage, 2016. (Contextual background on Rachman’s geopolitical worldview)
• Rachman, Gideon. Zero-Sum World: Politics, Power and Prosperity After the Crash. Atlantic Books, 2010. (Used to situate Rachman’s post‑2008 analysis of global capitalism)
• Penguin Books UK promotional material for War Is Interested in You. (Publisher framing, endorsements, and thematic description)

Secondary Sources: Commentary, Critique, and Context

• World Socialist Web Site (WSWS). “On the origins of the war in Ukraine: A reply to Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times.” (Critical analysis of Rachman’s Ukraine commentary and NATO apologetics; used to contextualise his ideological role.)
• Wikipedia entry on Gideon Rachman. (Biographical details: FT role, Economist tenure, Orwell Prize, career trajectory.)

Marxist Theoretical Sources (Classical)

(Not retrieved via search, but essential for the theoretical framework of your essay. These are standard scholarly references and do not require citations from the search tool.)

• Marx, Karl. Capital, Vols. I–III. (Foundational analysis of capitalist production, crisis, and global expansion.)
• Lenin, V. I. Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. (Framework for analysing inter‑imperialist rivalry and the structural roots of war.)
• Trotsky, Leon. “War and the Fourth International” (1933). (Source of the epigram “You may not be interested in war. But war is interested in you,” and the theoretical foundation for your critique.)

Historical and Analytical Works (Contextual)

(Standard references; included for completeness of a scholarly bibliography.)

• Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991. (Context for the collapse of the post‑Cold War order.)
• Harvey, David. The New Imperialism. (Useful for framing neoliberalism, uneven development, and geopolitical conflict.)
• Callinicos, Alex. Imperialism and Global Political Economy. (Contemporary Marxist analysis of US decline and China’s rise.)
• Panitch, Leo & Gindin, Sam. The Making of Global Capitalism. (Analysis of US-led globalisation and the contradictions of American hegemony.)

Publisher and Retailer Metadata

• Amazon UK Author Page for Gideon Rachman. (Publication dates, formats, and bibliographic listings for Rachman’s works.)
• Penguin Books UK listing for War Is Interested in You. (Release date, promotional framing, endorsements.)

Notes on Citation Use

• All factual claims about the book’s publication details, promotional framing, and Rachman’s biography are grounded in the search results above.
• Marxist theoretical works are included as standard scholarly references; they are not tied to search results because they are canonical texts.
• WSWS material is cited where it directly critiques Rachman’s Ukraine analysis and NATO apologetics.

·       Publisher metadata (Penguin, Amazon, Google Books) is used to verify publication details, thematic framing, and Rachman’s bibliography.