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Strategic narratives shaping global affairs
19 positions · 22 actors
A strategic narrative is the story a state, a government or a movement tells about a dispute: what is at stake, who is responsible, what should follow. Narratives are not facts and not our view. They are the claims that recur in an actor's own statements and in the outlets that carry them, and this page exists to show them side by side.
Each entry below is a position: one claim, attributed to the actor that voices it, with the disputes it appears in and the outlets that promote it. Where two actors argue the same dispute, their positions face each other on that dispute's page. A position page explains the claim, the reasoning the position offers and what the recent events show.
Tags group positions by what they are about (security, trade, sovereignty and so on) and by the worldview they rest on. A tag is a reading aid, not a verdict.
The positions are written and merged by hand, each from claims that recur in an actor's statements. Events are matched to them by keyword rules with a model check. The counts and timelines come from the headlines gathered since January 2026, and a claim enters the list only once it has recurred long enough to deserve an entry.
The best place to see a narrative is the actor's own channel. For the four largest voices on this page:
Reading them side by side is the quickest way to see where the stories part.
Global trade and integration create interdependence; simultaneously, economic dependencies create vulnerabilities requiring protection. Economic Order →
China is a strategic competitor; firmness, derisking and export controls justified
Pressure on the governments in Caracas and Havana is justified
External mediation and mineral deals are finally stabilising the Great Lakes
US imperial/hegemonic coercion of smaller sovereign states
Sanctions on Russia are ineffective and backfire on the West
Arctic resource development and shipping are normal opportunity
US imperial/hegemonic coercion of smaller sovereign states
Sanctions/pressure are conditional; the Global South asserts buyer autonomy
A multipolar order is the legitimate alternative to US hegemony
China's trade/tech measures are lawful and normal; the US is the aggressor
Arctic resource development and shipping are normal opportunity
Tariffs and trade coercion are self-harming economic disruption
The Arab world's embrace of the new Syria is legitimate, and Israeli strikes violate its sovereignty
External mediation and mineral deals are finally stabilising the Great Lakes
US imperial/hegemonic coercion of smaller sovereign states
Tariffs and trade coercion are self-harming economic disruption
Sanctions/pressure are conditional; the Global South asserts buyer autonomy
US imperial/hegemonic coercion of smaller sovereign states
Tariffs and trade coercion are self-harming economic disruption
Sanctions/pressure are conditional; the Global South asserts buyer autonomy