Ben O’Loughlin has published a new book, One Belt, One Road, One Story? Towards an EU-China Strategic Narrative. The book is with the prestigious Palgrave Studies in European Politics series and co-edited by Alister Miskimmon and Jinghan Zeng. In their previous work on strategic narrative, Ben and Alister have shown that when countries have alignment on how they view the past, present and future, then cooperation becomes possible. In this book they explore whether such alignment exists between the EU and China, two great powers that are seeking to manage world order. Through its Belt and Road Initiative China has expanded its relationships across several continents, while the EU and its member states also have long-standing ties in Africa and Asia. The result is a degree of competition and each pitching a direction for international relations to take — a direction that they hope other countries, companies and organisations will buy into.

This book show how central communication is to international relations. Anybody trying to understand how world order is changing should check out this book.