External Forces and Trends
Political and Geopolitical Primer
IN-PERSON BREAKFAST, LONDON
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This event is open to all PARC members with an interest in the political and geopolitical factors creating calculable risk and impacting our scenario planning of the world in which we run our organisations.
WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?
Businesses can no longer take geopolitical stability as a given. The shift away from the globalisation of trade continues, and there is increasing risk arising from the more adversarial nature of the political and economic interactions between countries. Consequently, the world in which our businesses operate will continue to be impacted by unplanned geopolitical developments.
2024 was a record year for changes of government, adding to the level of volatility as changing in-country agendas impact on already strained economies. As has been referenced in many previous PARC events, the world order continues to evolve.
This session will deliver an informative and challenging overview of what potential developments we should keep in mind throughout 2025. It will focus on the areas of risk that could have an impact on our supply chains, business operations and the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues in different territories. It will consolidate and add perspective to what we are already aware of, drawing attention to areas that may require a risk assessment or further exploration as to their potential impact on our global businesses.
We certainly can’t rely on the status-quo and this session is designed to support our understanding of the dynamics that could have implications for our organisation’s business models and therefore our performance and reward strategies.
EVENT CONTENT
We will assess the national interests of rival superpowers and their potential outcome on economic and geopolitical tensions. We will assess territorial disputes, technological risk, the extent of progress on climate transition and the ongoing growth of support for populist and protectionist politics. Our speaker will provide insight to help us understand and clarify the rapidly changing world order.
ANYTHING ELSE?
We are delighted to be supporting the publication of Dr. Aziz’ new book, the sequel to her previous Future World Order.
In her first book, Maha predicted the world will be defined by a unique global legitimacy crisis in the 2020s, as we challenge the ideas that drove the post-Cold War era.
In the second book of this trilogy, A Global Spring, she offers more predictions for how our geopolitics, politics, economies and societies will evolve – but in a post-pandemic era shaped by tech, climate and war.
LOCATION
Fora Broadwick, 33 Broadwick Street, London W1F 0DQ
SPEAKER
Dr. Maha Hosain Aziz
Professor, Author, Speaker and Cartoonist in Global Risk and Future Trends
Dr Maha Hosain Aziz is a professor, author and speaker in global risk and future trends based at NYU’s MA International Relations Programme, leading the annual global prediction project with crowdsourced consultancy Wikistrat; she is a risk expert on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council, co-chair in policy at think tank Digital Economist and senior advisor at Enlighten Advisory. She has written a trilogy of books: award-winning bestseller Future World Order (2020), Global Spring (2025) and 10 Shock Events By 2030 (2025). She also created award-winning VR/AR political comic book The Global Kid (2021), drew the award-winning original (2016) and is working on Evolution (2025) – a comic book about global extremism partly created by generative AI. She is a global citizen with Pakistani Muslim roots who grew up in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and the US, studying at Brown (BA), Columbia (MA) and the LSE (MSc, PhD).
