2024 will be a big year in global politics. A slew of important general elections will be held across the developing world – in India, Pakistan and Indonesia, to name but three.

Wars may continue to rage in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere, driving millions of people deeper into poverty and displacement. Though there is some hope that in at least some of these conflicts, there remains space in which to find political solutions.

But 2024 is set to be a year of high stakes in the West, too. Next summer will see parliamentary elections in the EU, and by the year’s end the US presidential election and a British general election. In fact, it could be the first time in more than 30 years that citizens of the English-speaking world’s two nuclear powers – Britain and America – pick their leaders in the same calendar year.

On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Sulaiman Hakemy discusses what elections and war will mean for the western world’s political outlook in 2024.