Tectonic Politics: Global Political Risk in an Age of Transformation

Political risk now affects more markets and countries than ever before and that risk will continue to rise. But traditional methods of managing political risk are no longer legitimate or effective.

Book Updated 29 March 2023
Tectonic Politics book cover

In Tectonic Politics, Nigel Gould-Davies explores the complex, shifting landscape of political risk and how to navigate it. He analyses trends in each form of political risk: the power to destroy, seize, regulate, and tax.

He shows how each of these forms reflects a deeper transformation of the global political economy that is reordering the relationship between power, wealth, and values. In a world where everything is political, the craft of engagement is as important as the science of production and the art of the deal.

The successful company must integrate that craft—the engager’s way of seeing and doing—into strategy and culture.

Drawing on a career in academia, business, and diplomacy, Gould-Davies provides corporate leaders, scholars, and engaged citizens with a groundbreaking study of the fastest-rising political risk today. ‘As tectonic plates shape the earth,’ he writes, ‘so tectonic politics forges its governance.’

The book is published as part of the Insights series.

Praise for Tectonic Politics

All economic activity involves political risks, but few economic actors know how to analyze or address them. Nigel Gould-Davies demonstrates the central importance of politics to national and international business, and provides a guide to analyzing political risk. Business people, journalists, policymakers, and scholars will all learn from reading Tectonic Politics.

Jeffry Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace, Harvard University

About the author

Nigel Gould-Davies was an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House.

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