Geopolitics & Governance
Geopolitical Power Dynamics
How states, leaders, and institutions gain, maintain, and lose power. From authoritarian consolidation to international influence.
Reading order: Each explainer stands alone but builds your understanding of how power operates at different scales.
What This Collection Covers
This collection examines power structures in international and domestic politics: how they're built, how they're maintained, and how they collapse.
Why Read This Collection
Understanding power dynamics helps you:
- Predict political behavior and outcomes
- Evaluate news coverage with structural context
- Recognize patterns across different regimes and eras
- Understand why certain policies succeed or fail
Recommended Reading Order
- Maduro's State Capture — A detailed case study of how authoritarian leaders consolidate power through institutional control
Key Mental Models
After reading this collection, you'll understand:
- State capture as a systematic process
- Institutional decay and authoritarian consolidation
- The mechanics of power concentration
- Why democratic norms erode gradually, not suddenly
Explainers in This Collection
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VerifiedStableUpdated JAN 6, 20268 MIN
USA–Venezuela: How a Superpower Captured a Sitting President
The physical extraction of a sitting head of state by a foreign power—framed as a law enforcement action rather than an act of war—is a distinct and rare projection of power.