2025 Lionel Gelber Prize awarded to Sergey Radchenko for To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power

Jury Chair and University Professor Janice Stein reflected "Sergey Radchenko has written a masterpiece. To Run the World made me think differently about the Cold War that took place last century and think differently about what Russia is doing now. Rich in original material, laced with wonderful stories so beautifully told, this is a magisterial history for our times."

The winning title was selected from a shortlist of books which included Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers and the Making of a Superpower by Mary Bridges (Princeton University Press); The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq by Steve Coll (Penguin Random House); The Good Allies: How Canada and the United States Fought Together to Defeat Fascism during the Second World War by Tim Cook (Penguin Random House Canada); and To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement by Benjamin Nathans (Princeton University Press).

The 2025 Lionel Gelber Prize was chosen by Janice Gross Stein (Jury Chair, Toronto), Francis J. Gavin (Washington), Iain Martin (London), John Bew (London) and Nina Srinivasan Rathbun (Toronto). 

The Winner

To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power, Sergey Radchenko (Cambridge University Press)

In this panoramic new history of the conflict that defined the postwar era, Sergey Radchenko provides an unprecedented deep dive into the psychology of the Kremlin's decision-making. He reveals how the Soviet struggle with the United States and China reflected its irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution. This tension drove Soviet policies from Stalin's postwar scramble for territory to Khrushchev's reckless overseas adventurism and nuclear brinksmanship, Brezhnev's jockeying for influence in the third world, and Gorbachev's failed attempts to reinvent Moscow's claims to greatness. Perennial insecurities, delusions of grandeur, and desire for recognition propelled Moscow on a headlong quest for global power, with dire consequences and painful legacies that continue to shape our world.

Sergey Radchenko is Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at SAIS Europe, and Director, Bologna Institute for Policy Research. Radchenko has an international reputation for research on the history of the Cold War. He has written on Sino-Soviet relations, on Soviet and Chinese foreign policies, on atomic diplomacy, and on Cold War crises. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, National Interest, The Moscow Times, and other national and international media.

The Event

The Lionel Gelber Prize ceremony and lecture will take place at 12 p.m. ET on April 9, 2025, presented in a hybrid format by the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.

To register online, visit the Lionel Gelber Prize website.

The Prize

The Lionel Gelber Prize was founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber. A cash prize of $50,000 CAD is awarded to the winner. The award is presented annually by the Lionel Gelber Prize Board and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

Contact: Lani Mae Krantz, lani.krantz@utoronto.ca, (647) 407-4384

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