Every kind of regime and how each one works and ends: monarchies, democracies and their designs, authoritarian and totalitarian states, hybrid regimes, theocracies, juntas, technocracies, federations and the regions that want out of them, and the economic and political ideologies underneath them. Brought to October: Hungary's new government and its two-thirds majority, Iran's succession in wartime, Venezuela after Maduro's capture, the coup belt's latest attempts, the youth uprisings from Dhaka to Antananarivo, Quebec's sovereigntist victory, and the campaigns before Brazil's runoff, Israel's election, and the American midterms. Where the field argues, from whether the United States is backsliding and whether China has returned to totalitarianism to whether populism threatens democracy and whether democracy causes growth, each side makes its case before the evidence. Two worked examples: one country's vote under four electoral systems, and the four tests that decide whether a coup survives. Opens with the leaders of 74 states, with their ages, years in office, and ratings, and a Who's Who.
Collection 7 — Power & Government
How states are run, who holds the power, and how it is checked.
The whole federal machine as it stands in October 2026: the Constitution's design and the checks the 2025-26 presidency tested, every department with its money, people, and record, the independent agencies after the Supreme Court ended most of their protection from removal, the federal workforce and its new at-will schedule, Congress and the budget, the courts and their 2025-26 term, the states, the military and the security agencies, and the Federal Reserve under a new chair. Brought to October: the cabinet's 2026 turnover, the funding lapses and pocket rescissions, the tariff and citizenship rulings, the Fed's September rate increase, the redistricting war, and the midterm campaigns as they stand before November 3. Where the institutions are argued over, from whether a department can be closed without Congress to whether the Court policed the presidency or deferred to it, each side makes its case before the evidence. Two worked examples: what a household's taxes buy, and what a percentage point of interest costs. Opens with the officeholders, with their ages, years in office, and Senate votes, and a Who's Who.
How wars are fought and paid for, as they stand in October 2026: a record $2.9 trillion of world military spending, the drone age and its cost exchange, the interceptor arithmetic of the Iran war, the nuclear order after New START's expiry, the arms industry and trade, the forces of the United States, China, Russia, a rearming Europe, and the middle powers, the new technologies, and the economics underneath. Brought to October: the Iran war from February's strikes to the stalled talks of October 11, the front in Ukraine, which barely moved in 2026, and Russia's 2027 budget, the fiscal 2027 request and Golden Dome, China's emptied military commission, NATO's 5% pledge after Ankara, and Israel's October 27 election. Four worked examples, from the drone exchange to a Taiwan blockade's first month.
Who hires soldiers, what they pay with, and who bears the cost, from Renaissance Italy to 2026: the condottieri and Machiavelli's warning, and a legal definition so narrow that almost no one meets it; Executive Outcomes and the corporate turn of the 1990s; America's contractor wars, from Blackwater at Nisour Square to the Abu Ghraib verdict; the Wagner Group from Syria to Mali, its march on Moscow, and the Russian state's takeover as Africa Corps; Turkey's Syrian fighters and the Gulf's Colombian veterans; and the freelancers hired in Congo and Haiti. Where the subject argues with itself, over whether hired armies win and whether they make abuses easier to deny, each side's case comes before the course's reading. Nine worked examples, from three soldiers run through the law's six tests to Moscow's price against a poor state's budget. Opens with a Who's Who.
How the People's Republic is actually run, as of October 2026: the principle that the Party leads everything, its pyramid and its departments, Xi and the commissions he chairs, the state and its legislature, the provinces and counties after the land boom, the security state and the discipline system, the army and the purges that emptied its high command, the economy's supply-led model, the law and the periphery from Xinjiang to Hong Kong, the social contract, and foreign policy from the summits with Washington to Taiwan. Brought to October: the Fourth Plenum and the 15th Five-Year Plan, the expulsions that left three Politburo seats and five of the military commission's seven empty, the Busan truce extended to January, the year's summits with Trump, and the Fifth Plenum due on October 26-29. Where the system is argued over, from whether Xi's centralization is a remedy or a risk to whether China seeks to displace the American-led order, each side makes its case before the evidence. Three worked examples: reading a plenum communiqué, a county's budget, and how a slogan becomes a campaign. Opens with the officeholders, with their ages and years in office, and a Who's Who.
A country of 10.3 million at the end of a three-year war, as it stands in October 2026 and written before the Knesset election of October 27: the founding and 1948's two names, the political system and the coalition arithmetic, Netanyahu and his trial, the society's tribes and the draft, the security state and the fight over the October 7 inquiry, Gaza and the West Bank with both sides' cases made, the northern front, the Iran war, the economy that boomed through the fighting, and the world's changed view. Brought to October: the campaign after Gantz's withdrawal and Trump's endorsement, the Palestinian elections postponed to 2027, Lebanon's framework and the UN force's last months, and the Bank of Israel's October 21 decision. Where the subject argues, from the draft to the war's conduct, each side's case comes before the evidence and the course's reading. Two worked examples: the coalition arithmetic and the war's bill.
How votes become power in the United States, as it stands in October 2026 and written before the November 3 midterms: who votes, how a ballot is cast, counted, and certified, why 2025-26 redrew districts mid-decade, the Senate's and the Electoral College's arithmetic, primaries, money, polls, the midterm map, what other democracies do instead, and the reforms. Brought to October: the Supreme Court's 2026 rulings on mail ballots, citizenship screening, the Voting Rights Act, and party spending; the voter-roll fights; the redistricting war and the questions on the November 3 ballot; the record money and the industry committees; and the polls, forecasts, and races as of October 22. Where the subject argues, from proof of citizenship to the census count, each side's case comes before the evidence and the course's reading. Four worked examples, from one 60-40 state drawn three ways to Britain's 2024 result under three systems.** **