Robert D. Kaplan

Special event during the NATO Summit

On June 24 and 25, The Hague will be the stage for the NATO summit with 45 heads of state and more than 8,500 ministers, journalists, and other participants.

This is a perfect moment for the Crossing Border Festival and Het Nationale Theater to organize an in-depth discussion on current geopolitical developments on the evening of Wednesday, June 25, at the Koninklijke Schouwburg.

The guest is the renowned American journalist and political writer Robert D. Kaplan. He will be interviewed about his new book Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis in which he explores how we have ended up in this seemingly permanent crisis – and what future awaits us. Kaplan looks to the past and literature, including T.S. Eliot's poem from which the title is derived, to interpret the contemporary geopolitical situation. He particularly draws a comparison with the Weimar Republic, which faced a series of crises that had global repercussions.
Around this interview, short performances can be seen featuring, among others, the award-winning actress Yela de Koning.

Robert D. Kaplan is the author of more than twenty books on foreign policy and travel, including "The Revenge of Geography" and "Monsoon," which have been translated worldwide. Additionally, he wrote about foreign policy for The Atlantic for over thirty years. He is the chair of the Geopolitics Department at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and has been named one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers twice.

There will be a book signing session afterward. His books (Dutch/English) will be available for purchase at the event.

About WASTE LAND
The world is grappling with a catastrophic combination of wars, climate change, rival superpowers, rapid technological developments, and countless other challenges. In Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis, Robert D. Kaplan explores how we have ended up in this seemingly permanent crisis – and what future awaits us.

Kaplan turns his gaze to the past and literature, including T.S. Eliot's poem from which the title is derived, to elucidate the contemporary geopolitical situation. Where Eliot wrote about the decline of civilizations in the aftermath of World War I, Kaplan argues that the world has been characterized by a form of self-obsession since the end of the Cold War, which could signify the fall of the West. He particularly draws a comparison with the Weimar Republic, which faced a series of crises that had repercussions on the global stage. Even now, the problems of the twenty-first century – such as recession, mass migration, and power conflicts – seem to ensure that every regional disaster can trigger a global crisis. Just like in Weimar, the situation threatens to spiral out of control unless our leaders rise up and halt the downward spiral.