How did the First World War reshape the way we think about politics, economics, empire, and democracy? In this episode of the Review of Democracy podcast, we speak with Duncan Kelly, Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge, about his book Worlds of Wartime: The First World War and the Reconstruction of Modern Politics, published by Oxford University Press. Kelly’s book explores the First World War as one of the defining moments in the reconstruction of modern political and economic thought. Moving across Europe, the United States, Ireland, India, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, it examines how intellectuals, public figures, revolutionaries, and political thinkers tried to understand a world transformed by war. The discussion highlights how debates about empire, geopolitics, federalism, global capitalism, national self-determination, and democracy were far more interconnected than is often assumed.
The episode also introduces some of the central ideas of the book, including Kelly’s proposal for a “modernist intellectual history” of political and economic ideas, the role of “idea makers” beyond elite politicians and military leaders, and the problem of the “closed world” that shaped geopolitical and economic thinking during and after the conflict. It also asks why the First World War’s intellectual legacies still matter today, especially for understanding the limits and possibilities of modern democratic politics. At its core, the conversation shows that the First World War was not only a military or diplomatic rupture. It was also a moment when the political and economic futures of the modern world were imagined, contested, and reconstructed, with consequences that continue to shape our present.
The interview was conducted by Alexandra Kardos. Lilit Hakobyan edited the audio file.
