Is there anything more cut-throat than global politics? Wherever we turn – Europe, Russia, China, Korea, Syria, the Middle East – we are living in a time of global geopolitical power plays. Once an insider to this closed world, Pedro Banos reveals that however it might be smoothed over by the PR of political diplomacy, the world of geopolitics is one of war and conflict by strategic means, where countries have sought dominion and power over their rivals since the dawn of time. How They Rule the World presents this high-stakes game as a series of 22 universal rules on how to act and exert influence in the international sphere. Each principle is contextualized in both classical and modern history, from Bismarck to Kissinger, but also related to the current world of Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping. Philosophically written, Banos has created an utterly gripping manual on the secrets of how strategic power really works.