Great Power Games: From Western Decline to Eastern Ascent

by Vikram Sood

Great Power Games is an authoritative account of the world order in flux, from the ashes of the Second World War to the fractured present. For decades, the United States and its Western allies shaped the global system through treaties, institutions and a carefully constructed rules-based order. That edifice now shows deep cracks. Hot wars rage on multiple fronts, the West is riven by internal turmoil, and America, under the disruptive presidency of Donald Trump, has abandoned the very frameworks it once created.

In this gripping narrative, Vikram Sood, former chief of the R&AW, reveals how nations pursue power. Behind the handshakes and communiqués lie covert operations, espionage, proxy wars, disinformation campaigns and economic coercion. From the Cold War’s shadow battles to the unipolar arrogance of post-Soviet America, he charts how the West rose, and how it is now faltering. He traces how the Cold War divided the world into camps, how the Soviet Union fell, how America reigned in unipolar arrogance, and how a new balance of power is now emerging.

Today, as China asserts itself with economic and military might and India positions itself as a pivotal actor, the old powers – the US and Russia – remain locked in dangerous contests of ambition. The result is a volatile, multipolar world where the rules are being rewritten in real time.

Incisive, unsettling and panoramic in scope, Great Power Games is both a history of global geopolitics and a warning about the turbulent future we are entering.

336 pages, Hardcover

Published December 25, 2025

Reviews

[Myinstabookblog · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Empires do not rise or die overnight, or even in a decade. Sometimes it takes generations. The American Empire has been the cleverest of all its predecessors. It ran its empire by remote control. It is inevitable that an empire that has risen will fall, eventually; change is eternal and there could be different reasons for this. A great deal also depends on perceptions about the empire, regardless of its wealth and power.
Credibility, dependability and intentions matter. Once these perceptions plunge, a return journey is very difficult.”
- Vikram Sood ✍️
- Great Power Games 📖
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The quote above from the book explains pretty much a lot about the changing nature of power, which almost every country or political faction craves. Today world is in a transition phase where a dominant world power is losing its grip over dominance it had and other small nations are rising in their role and stature on the international stage, in this book Ex R&AW head turned author Vikram Sood ji explores the history, philosophy and future of power in the world politics, how America ruled the world for almost two centuries to present and how the dragon 🐉 is almost ready to take its place. With his in depth analysis, experience and knowledge of events of geopolitics - Mr. Sood gives readers a viewpoint into the current events and a possible shift in change from a unipolar to multipolar world.
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Author dedicates a big part of the book to explain the History of American rise, how it almost picked the power where the British imperialism left, its way of working is no different from the predecessor. The American ruled the world with every trick possible, author discusses how big four (Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, Jay Gould) helped US rise financially, the oil, banking and industrial sectors brought America immense wealth which ultimately brought power, agencies like CIA, NED and USAID helped it strengthen the international front. In the name of Aid or strengthening democracies all over the world, the US staged coups, regime changes and political instabilities in countries that didn’t fit in their narrative. American hypocrisy was to the extent that it even supported mafia, terrorist organisations and dictators to meet its agenda. Also the big three companies (Blackrock, Vanguard and State street) ensured that it controls the world’s financial health and market for US.
With help of money, espionage, military power and assumed cultural superiority the Americans dominated the 20th century, waged battles on foreign soils and eliminated any possible competition especially from Germany and Soviet Union. First three chapters solely focus on America and its dirty deeds.
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“𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒕, 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 — 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 - 𝒘𝒆'𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔.. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚'𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 ... 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐.” - Karl Rove (Bush’s Strategist)
Assumed “American Exceptionalism” hurt its dominance the most, author shares that after rising in power America only focuses on its military strength, mad in power and blind to Chinese growing influence America put its hand in almost everything, it conducted 41 coups between 1898 to 1994, it had 800 military bases all over the world and a war at almost every front. These unnecessary wars to profit weapon industry, blind arrogance and growing discontent among general American masses played a role in its loosening grip, on the contrary China and Russia silently made progress especially China.
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Working on the philosophy of “Hide your strength, Bide your time” China made a meteoric rise. Almost every data in economic field suggests how China made manifold progress in every sector. America which initially helped China to rival with Russia now stands second in everything- first being the very inferior power it assumed to use against Russia. Today American corporate interests are so deep in Chinese territory that they can’t even afford to offend China on minor issues, recently there was a news that Apple iPhone banned its two Gay app from Apple store due to Chinese pressures. Such is the influence and dominance of China in corporate world today that companies like Apple kneel to its command. China is playing the very game US played in last century, but I think it’s more vicious, its military might, expansionist mindset, corporate dominance, espionage and debt trap policies are dangerous and a bad omen for the world of future.
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In the middle sections of the book author talks about rise of China, dissent of America and the Game Russia playing right now. Author discusses the impact of religions and religious wars, rise of Islam in Europe, military operations in Gaza and Ukraine, and different conflicts world facing today. Today’s world is not only in a transition of power but also a bowl of mess, on almost every front there are tensions rising. The two biggest religious ideologies are at conflict on world stage. Final two chapters discuss role and place of Bharat in context of present day scenario.
Bharat 🐘-
Author seems optimistic about present day Bharat and its progress, still we need to be cautious on every step we take forward. The biggest enemy to Indian interests, according to author, is not China or Pakistan, it’s America. It has betrayed Bharat in the past conflicts and has no permanent friendship with any country. Self proclaimed protector of democracy— America- has toppled more democratically elected governments than anyone, it works with mafia and terror organisations, it likes dictatorship and supports instability in countries that don’t fit in its agenda. It’s America we need to be alert from. Author discusses Pahalgam attack and Indian response to it— op. Sindoor. History of the region and present day reforms by the current regime of Bharat. Author supports CAA, Op. Sindoor and present day government stands on multiple issues. When India today’s is surrounded by the covert and overt enemies outside like China, Pakistan and America (through its NGOs and agencies) author says that India needs to be beware of “enemies within” too. Powers like America and China don’t want an Indian rise, we need to tred every step with caution.
“China wants a unipolar Asia and a multipolar world, America wants a unipolar world and multipolar Asia and India wants a multipolar Asia and multipolar world.”

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Final thoughts -

It’s not easy to encapsulate entire present day geopolitical events under 350 pages, if you see the book this way then you find it an exemplary work. Still there are many fronts where book could have been better, big chunk of the book focuses on US alone, a smaller on China, then it jumps in multiple issues which creates a small mess, to cover everything you need to let go something, still I’d like to say book gives an overview to every possible aspect. The part that focuses on Bharat could have been more in depth. You get a new understanding of how power works, how US dominated, China getting huge and role of Bharat including other events like wars in Ukraine and Gaza, rise of Islam in Europe, trade, regime changes and many more interesting issues, the best part is that the book is not out yet, it is going to be released on 25 December so book is fresh on current events up until September 2025. If you’re into geopolitics and want to know the state of worldly affairs of today time this book is a must read for you.

[Aashrit · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're interested in learning about the state of India Russia, US, China relations then it has information.

And it has information about US influence operations and banking as well.

If you already know about those things, you won't get much from the book, and it could be more cohesive in prose.

[Navdeep Pundhir · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on Geopolitics, ever, up there with Clash of Civilisations. This books must be made a compulsory read across all our policy making institutions, including foreign policy and security apparatus. Vikram Sood has done a great service to the nation by penning this classic.
Captivating, enchanting, deep, all at once! Five Stars hands down