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The picture of a lone figure, plastic bags in hand, standing in front of a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square in China in 1989 has become an iconic image of resistance to overpowering might. As Russian tanks have crossed into Ukraine, individuals have put themselves in similar positions to halt the advance. But what about in Russia itself. Arkady Ostrovksy is Russia and eastern Europe editor for The Economist. He tells Tom Sutcliffe about the thousands who have been arrested protesting against the war, and President Putin’s measures to quash any dissent. In Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939-45, Halik Kochanski has written a sweeping history of occupation and resistance. She uncovers extraordinary tales of ordinary people who carried out exceptional acts of defiance against Nazi Germany. But she also challenges the heroic myths that surround underground resistance, and asks painful questions about why people didn’t resist, and equally what was actually achieved by those that did. Nathan Law was one of the student leaders whose week-long class boycott against China’s increasing interference in Hong Kong led to the 79-day Umbrella Movement protest in 2014. In Freedom: How We Lose It And How We Fight Back he argues for the importance of standing up to authoritarianism around the world, despite the dangers. He left Hong Kong as the Chinese government enacted wide-ranging security laws, and has since been granted political asylum in Britain.Producer: Katy HickmanImage: People participate in a Unity March to show solidarity and patriotic spirit over the escalating tensions with Russia on February 12, 2022 in Kiev, Ukraine.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine images of war in Europe dominate the news, and questions rage about the political failure to both prevent and end the atrocities. Amol Rajan discusses the political forces that have allowed the West to flourish and the cracks that are beginning to widen. Developed in the wake of European wars of religion and nationalism, Liberalism was designed as a system to govern diverse societies, with a strong emphasis on the rights of individuals, equality and the rule of law. In Liberalism and Its Discontents Francis Fukuyama argues for a return to its classical form but shows how attacks from both the left and right have left it in a state of crisis.Europe’s dependence on Russian oil is central to Helen Thompson’s book, Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century. She looks back at the historical origins of today’s overlapping geopolitical, economic and political failures.Shifts in the global balance of power in the 19th century between Old Europe and the New World of American Imperialism are at the heart of Edward Shawcross’s extraordinary tale. He describes the ignoble end of a Habsburg Archduke, aided by Napoleon III, who crossed the world to become The Last Emperor of Mexico.Producer: Katy HickmanImage credit: Francis Fukuyama – © Djurdja Padejski

In May Wales will hold local elections to elect members of all twenty-two local authorities. Richard Wyn Jones, professor of Welsh politics, examines the issues facing the country. He tells Helen Lewis how nationalism plays an important role in politics in Wales, but that its national identity is a complex mix of Welsh, English and British. What does it meant to be Welsh today? And what of the future of Wales? These are the questions posed in a series of essays, Welsh [Plural]. The poet Hanan Issa is one of the co-editors, and is looking to get beyond the stereotype images of castles, coal and choirs, and understand the full rich diversity of Welsh identities.The historian Dr Marion Loeffler explores how pivotal works of art and literature have helped shape Wales. In a landmark BBC series, Art That Made Us (on BBC2 in April) she looks back to the 7th century poem Y Gododdin and the painter Penry Williams’ depiction of Cyfarthfa Ironworks Interior at Night, 1825. Wales’s industrial landscape is at the centre of Richard King’s oral history, Brittle With Relics, which focuses on the huge changes that took place during the second half of the 20th century. The story of the effects of deindustrialisation, loss of employment and social cohesion, as well as the fight for a voice, language and identity, is told through the people who lived through it.Producer: Katy HickmanImage credit: BBC ClearStory - Artist and Performer Sean Parry with a byddar drum