The freedom to choose
What makes sovereignty meaningful in practice?
Follow the alternatives an actor can actually use, the costs of changing partners and its influence over the terms of cooperation.
Field guide: Strategic autonomy ↗The Statecraft projectLines of
Lines of
Influence.
Power, dependence
and international society.
The relationships behind political choice. An international project tracing how states and other actors gain room to act—and what those relationships cost, enable and require.
Explore the case studies ↓Who depends on whom,
for what—and who can
change the terms?
A relationship can widen one actor’s choices while narrowing another’s. Lines of Influence follows that tension through trade, energy, technology, finance, security and diplomacy.
Britain is a recurring participant in a wider international story. Smaller states, regional organisations, businesses and affected communities have interests and agency of their own.
The English School of international relations helps frame the questions: how do power, sovereignty, institutions and responsibility shape international society?
The questions that connect the cases
Six lines of inquiry.
Working themes for the project and the proposed first volume. Each starts with a question that evidence can test.
The routes that sustain us
Which connections keep a society functioning?
Trace energy, trade, technology and infrastructure from physical capacity to the political decisions they make possible.
Field guide: Economic statecraft ↗Protection and its price
What makes a promise of protection dependable?
Examine access, readiness and the capacity to deliver, alongside the obligations and choices of those receiving support.
Field guide: Credible commitment ↗Money across borders
When does money become political influence?
Connect investment, lending, assistance and sanctions to particular decisions. Follow the terms, the intermediaries and the alternatives.
Field guide: Economic statecraft ↗The work of diplomacy
How are unequal relationships negotiated?
Look inside coalition-building, institutions and bargaining, then follow an agreement into implementation and the management of disputes.
Field guide: Multilateralism ↗Order, for whom?
Whose interests does an arrangement serve?
Consider the people affected beyond the negotiating room: civilians, communities, workers and those whose voices are missing.
Field guide: Legitimacy ↗Follow the argument through the journal
The case studies.
Explore selected published essays by the questions they share. A case can belong to more than one theme.
9 case studies
Africa
The cost of continuing
How can pressure reach the international networks sustaining a war—and protect the civilians bearing its costs?
1 November 2026
Europe & North America
The freedom to choose together
When can deeper cooperation create usable alternatives and expand political freedom?
1 November 2026
Asia-Pacific
The power to make
What does Taiwan’s place in semiconductor production reveal about technological sovereignty?
31 October 2026
Africa
A seat at the table is only the beginning
How does formal representation become a meaningful voice in the rules governing cooperation?
10 September 2026
Asia-Pacific
The space between great powers
How do regional institutions and smaller states preserve room to manoeuvre between larger powers?
10 September 2026
Global economy
The geography of dependence
What can protecting trade and energy connections achieve—and which vulnerabilities remain?
10 September 2026
Europe
Europe’s promise problem
What turns a political promise of solidarity into credible security and usable capability?
10 September 2026
Middle East
Defence by invitation: Britain’s Saudi air missions and the limits of protection
Which choices and responsibilities accompany operational assistance to a partner?
25 October 2026
Global order
Diplomacy in an age of fragmentation
What work do institutions and diplomatic practice perform after the summit ends?
10 September 2026
A working outline / The longer horizonFrom essays
From essays
to a first volume.
Lines of Influence:
Power, Dependence and International Society
The six lines of inquiry form a provisional structure for an illustrated book. Published essays provide starting cases; comparison, revised chapters and new writing will develop the larger argument.
Follow the developing project ↗- Now
Investigate the relationships
Published essays and sourced visuals build a set of cases across regions.
- Next
Test the connections
Compare the cases, revisit assumptions and identify the evidence still needed.
- Longer term
Develop a connected book
Rework the material into chapters with a sustained argument and new conclusions.
How we follow a line
Our editorial approach ↗An argument open to evidence.
01 / Trace the relationship
Name the actors and the alternatives.
Specify who wants to influence which decision, through what connection and at what cost.
02 / Follow implementation
Look beyond the announcement.
Distinguish access from control, commitments from delivery, and stated intentions from observed effects.
03 / Take other perspectives seriously
Ask who gains—and who bears the costs.
Consider competing explanations and the experiences of those outside the original bargain. New evidence can change the argument.
Keep following the linesThe project grows,
Subscribe to the monthly letter ↗The project grows,
one argument at a time.
The free monthly Statecraft Letter connects our latest analyses and selected briefings, including the developing Lines of Influence project.