Interview: Emma Sky on Chaos

This week in the Interview Series on Chaos, I speak with someone who has studied, taught and has a first hand policy experience of dealing with chaos in some of the most destabilised regions of the world. My dear guest Emma Sky is a prominent name in the geopolitical space and has spent a chunk of her life on ground in the Middle East working on peace and development. Emma is currently the Founding Director of the International Leadership Center at Yale where she also teaches a course on Grand Strategy.

Previously, in her policy life Emma Sky served as political advisor to the Commanding General of U.S. Forces in Iraq; as development advisor to the Commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan; as political advisor to the U.S. Security Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process; and as Governorate Coordinator of Kirkuk for the Coalition Provisional Authority. She also worked in the Palestinian territories for a decade, managing projects to develop Palestinian institutions and to promote co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians. 

There is no better person than Emma Sky to help us understand chaos in these times. Brief, but deeply profound, here is what she has to say:

Q1: How do you explain the Chaos we are witnessing around the world today? What is driving it?

Pax Americana is ending. And we are witnessing the transition from a unipolar world into a multipolar one. As the global hegemon withdraws, certain states are becoming more assertive.

Q2: What do you foresee as an outcome of this Chaos? A New world? More of an old world?

The optimistic scenario is that an equilibrium is reached that represents the new balance of power in the world, with a reinvigorated multilateralism ensuring that the competition between countries takes place within bounds. The pessimistic scenario would see increasing anarchy – a world where might makes right.

Q3: What advice would you give to the policy leaders on how to navigate the chaos to make the most out of it?

Learn from history. I recently hosted Arne Westad, Elihu Professor of History and director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale. He warned of the similarities between the state of affairs in the early 20th century and today. Like Germany and Britain before World War I, China and the United States seem to be locked in a downward spiral, with economic competition, geopolitical anxieties, and deep mistrust fueling the antagonism. But nothing is foreordained. Arne noted that the decisions leaders made then could have prevented war – and that today’s leaders can also do a better job of managing tensions.