2020: A Pivotal Year?

2020: A Pivotal Year?" addresses the impacts of the COVID-19 disruption on global politics and provides assessments of the ripple effects felt throughout Europe and Asia. Authors based in Europe, the United States, and Australia have all contributed to this timely and unique assessment.This is a unique book looking back at the COVID-19 impact and the dynamics of change globally. Topics range from the Macron and Merkel leadership in Europe to reactions and responses to Chinese policies worldwide. We discuss and highlight the challenges and possible ways ahead for liberal democracies worldwide.

"2020: A Pivotal Year?" addresses the impacts of the COVID-19 disruption on global politics and provides assessments of the ripple effects felt throughout Europe and Asia. The book brings together several key essays written during 2020 and in early 2021 from our websites, Second Line of Defense and Defense.info, which focus on geopolitical change and defense modernization. Authors based in Europe, the United States, and Australia have all contributed to this timely and unique assessment. The first section of the book provides a unique look at the impact of COVID-19 on the Western societies, with Professor Kenneth Maxwell focus on the United Kingdom and Pierre Tran on France. We continue our discussion by looking at a wide range of geopolitical dynamics, and more specifically on Europe and Australia. We have brought together a number of our essays on historical developments of interest, spearheaded by the outstanding work of Professor Kenneth Maxwell. We conclude by taking a look forward into 2021.

Dr. Robbin F. Laird is a long-time analyst of global defense issues who has worked in the U.S. Government and several think tanks, including the Center for Naval Analysis and the Institute for Defense Analysis. Dr. Laird is a member of the Board of Contributors of Breaking Defense and publishes there on a regular basis. He is a regular contributor to FrontLine Defence, as well. He is a Research Fellow at the Williams Foundation, Canberra, Australia and has recently published his book on the evolution of Australian defense strategy. He also is a frequent visitor to Europe and has recently co-authored a book on European defense and the two books together provide an overview on the dynamics of change affecting the defense challenges and policies of the Europeans and Australians and thereby provide an overview of the broader changes impacting on the liberal democracies.