
Looking Into 2026: The Year That Could Be
A decade after Brexit and Donald Trump’s first election to the US presidency, states are increasingly isolated from one another. Yet even without cause for optimism, one can – and must – muster hope.
Author profile

Lea Ypi is Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University. Her books include Indignity: A Life Reimagined (2025) and Free: Coming of Age at the End of History (Penguin, 2022), which won the 2022 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize.

A decade after Brexit and Donald Trump’s first election to the US presidency, states are increasingly isolated from one another. Yet even without cause for optimism, one can – and must – muster hope.

With the UK facing one of the most important elections in decades, the focus should be on the clear programmatic differences between the main parties, rather than weekly polling outcomes.

The political forces most hostile to European integration are also the only ones to have formulated a common vision for Europe.