By: John Hulsman

Dr. John C. Hulsman is Senior Columnist at City AM, and Founder and Managing Partner of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a global political risk consulting firm. More of John’s work is available on his substack

French ex-Generals war-mongering will help push mainstream politicians into Macron’s arms

April 29, 2021

Unlike most of the developed world, France moves through history not via the serenity of political evolution, but rather through the dramatic lurch of revolution, as the country continues to eye-catchingly over-correct its political failings. The last time this happened was in the heady days of 1958, when an army revolt against the chaotic, parliamentary-dominated [...]
Fighting Russian and Chinese disinformation requires a cohesive strategy from Western governments

April 8, 2021

Given the world of the internet and multiple platforms, there is undoubtedly more content out there than at any other time in the history of man. Unfortunately, and predictably, along with this news explosion, the very unhealthy scourge of state-sponsored disinformation–with the West’s authoritarian foes trying to take advantage of this editorially unregulated Wild West [...]
Defending the rulebook: Overcoming America’s Darkest Day

January 7, 2021

This is a time for elemental thoughts. Following one of the darkest days in the history of the American Republic, when an armed mob set in motion by Donald Trump marched on the capitol, ransacking it, and pressured lawmakers to overturn the 2020 election results (words I never, ever thought I’d write), it is time [...]
Where we are in terms of political risk in 2021

December 31, 2020

Happy New Year to City A.M. readers! Writing a regular newspaper column is a lot like dancing: it takes two to tango. Suffice it to say, while I’ve kept the flame alive these past enervating lockdown months via ceaseless articles detailing the bottomless gloom of 2020, I’m delighted that 2021 may generally bring more positive [...]
The tragedy of America’s foreign policy establishment

December 25, 2020

Anthony Blinken was a cut above the rest personally. Well-educated, good-looking, quietly ironical (and quite funny), absorbed in the work at hand, and keenly intelligent, Tony seemed to be in it for the Republic, rather than himself — a rarity in a town built on often unearned self-promotion. Read more: Joe Biden could favour Ireland [...]
When it comes to China, Europe is no longer America’s sidekick

December 23, 2020

The largely unnoticed downgrading of US-EU ties is so important. Taken entirely for granted by a Trump administration uninterested in the high art of alliance management, when the US sheriff sets out to corral new rival China, it will do so without Europe unambiguously coming along as part of the posse. A recent series of [...]
Best of 2020: Europe hurtles into decline, almost unnoticed

December 21, 2020

As the year winds down, City A.M. is looking back at the columns that tell the story of our year. For a Europe that has made managing rather than solving economic crises into an art form, the time for paying the piper is fast approaching. The continent’s long-stagnating economy is perched at the edge of [...]
The End of the Affair: The EU and UK have very different foreign policy destinies

December 21, 2020

As the year draws to an end, City A.M. is looking back at the columns that illuminated the world around us. In The End of the Affair (1951), Graham Greene — to my mind the most underrated novelist of the twentieth century — perfectly encapsulates the chaotic feelings lying behind romantic breakup and emotional calamity. [...]
India will be the big winner of this new world order

December 19, 2020

Delhi benefits from the structural fact that though we presently live in an era epitomised by superpower bipolarity, it is a very different type of two-power standoff than was the Cold War. From 1945–1991, America and the Soviet Union so dominated the international scene that they easily lined up much of the rest of the [...]
Beyond Brexit, the EU is circling the drain

December 14, 2020

The astronomer and prolific author Carl Sagan put it perfectly about the merits of analytical logic — what I often refer to as my superpower — when he said: “For me, it is far better to grasp the universe as it really is, rather than to persist in delusions, however satisfying and reassuring.” I am [...]

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