Daily Times

While we are all enjoying one of the most popular TV serials of our time, the fantasy fiction drama “Game of Thrones”, some of us can’t help but notice its geo-political relevance to the world we live in. Panoply of mind games, intrigues, stratagems, power struggles, love, and vindications; Game of Thrones (GoT) has truly captivated its audience in a stupor of awe.

With the theory of realism of International Relations at its heart, GoT portrays the world of seven kingdoms as an anarchic system with every group locked in a perpetual struggle to undermine other and establish its own hegemony. This struggle entails bloodshed and is mostly rooted in irredentism or the lust for power. From the Machiavellian conspiracies of Cersei Lannister to claim the Iron throne for the Lannister family, to the rise of Daenerys Targaryen clothed in a liberal agenda, the political resonance of GoT is vividly manifested in the geo-politics and geo-economics of the nations of our world. To that end, every character in GoT is uniquely related to a nation-state in terms of its policies, history, ambitions, pursuit of power and conduct with other nation-states. In addition to that, some characters represent a certain phenomenon or an international institution.

The serial from its very first episode lays emphasis on the imminent threat of the White Walkers coming from the north and portrays this ‘Army of the Dead’ as the single most powerful enemy of the humanity. While the houses are busy fighting for Iron Throne, the threat of the white walkers approaches at their doorsteps. In spite of all the hue and cry in our world, scientists and environmentalists have unanimously declared climate change as an existential threat to the entire human race. White Walkers, the most deadly enemy of humanity in GoT, is in fact a metaphor for the climate changes happening in our planet while the nations are wrestling for their dominancy and busy in developing armaments.

Cersei Lannister, a cunning, ruthless and manipulative queen of the Seven Kingdoms – whose realm is in jeopardy from the rise of Targaryen and John Snow – qualifies easily for The USA of our world. The US led world order and its unipolar status as the sole hegemon of the world is indubitably crumbling with rise of China and resurgence of Russia. Moreover, Cersei’s repudiation of the existence of White Walkers (Climate Change of our world) plays well with Donald Trump’s withdrawal of US from the Paris Climate Accord and his mythical views about climate change.

Elsewhere, the young king in the north, John Snow is striving to gather every support for war against the “Army of the Dead” and is certainly not short of being the Germany under Angelina Merkel of our time. The Brothers of the Night’s Watch, once loyal to Iron Throne, have embraced John Snow as its king and have revolted against the realm.

It is virtually the same as “Europe must take ‘our fate’ into own hands” argument of Angelina Merkel after Trump’s lack of leadership and serious disagreements with European leaders brought forth Merkel as the new champion of Europe, not to mention her fight for the climate change.

Mother of the dragons Daenerys Targaryen famous for her revolutionary rise, historical claims and the biggest infantry (the Unsullied) is along the lines of China under Xi Jinping of our era. The dragon holds a special significance in Chinese culture and symbolism. What is more striking is that as USA withdraws from the Climate Accord, the world look towards China to combat this imminent catastrophe – Daenerys’ battle with the White Walkers. China’s historical claims of the 9 dash line in the South China Sea and Xi’s ambition to revive the ancient Silk Route through One Belt One Road initiative is but a reflection of the irredentist course that Daenerys has taken.

With the theory of realism of International Relations at its heart, Game of Thrones portrays the world of the Seven Kingdoms as an anarchic system with every group locked in a perpetual struggle to undermine other and establish its own hegemony. This is mostly rooted in irredentism or the lust for power, and the political resonance of GoT is vividly manifested in the geo-politics and geo-economics of the nations of our world

Among other characters, Bran Stark – the new three-eyed raven – epitomizes the environmentalists who can foresee the cataclysm of Global Warming and Climate Change; Tywin Lannister symbolized the corporate America which is the real string puller in USA; Dothraki are the rough and tough Russians who are believed to have never crossed the Narrow Sea – Black Sea in our world map; the Iron Bank is the World Bank of our planet that keeps the King’s Landing (USA) dominant in terms of the fiscal matters; the shrewd and pragmatic Tyrion Lannister qualifies well for Turkey under Erdogan who couldn’t prove his value in Westeros (Europe) and thus moves towards the Dragon Stone (Chinese and Russian bloc) to exploit his untapped potential; Lord Varys, the master of whisperers, is in fact Pakistan that has kept its cards very close to its chest and is famous for its covert operations (Operation Cyclone) in the comity of nations; and notorious Petyr Baelish, the Little Finger, is but India under Modi that is punching above its weight, good at manipulation and ambitious to rise from centuries of humiliation.

One of the most interesting characters relevant to our world is that of Theon Greyjoy. He is the ward of Starks but betrays them once the House of Stark starts to crumble, in a quest to rediscover his lost identity but ends up being emasculated. I think you’ve guessed it already; it’s the Great Britain in the post Brexit scenario struggling to cope with a potential hard Brexit.

Our fight against the White Walkers (Climate Change) is a difficult one but not an impossible one. Our planet has had survived the ruinations of past and has risen like a phoenix from its ashes but there is a catch: nations must unite for the cause.

The writer is a political commentator and public speaker having expertise in International affairs. He tweets at @Ahsan_H_Durrani

Published in Daily Times, August 27^th 2017.