Are we entering a new era? In five days’ time, Joe Biden will leave the White House, to be replaced by Donald Trump. Some experts think he brings a whole new century with him.
Trump prepares for power as ‘Sun King’
Absolute power: Donald Trump imagined as King Louis XIV (above). Louis was known as the Sun King because he was the centre of gravity around which all of France revolved. He eventually uttered the famous words: “L’état c’est moi”: I am the state.
Glossary
Alexander Hamilton - One of the founding fathers of the United States. He died in 1804.
Congress - The legislative branch of the American government, where elected representatives vote on which laws should be passed. Congress is made up of two chambers: the Senate, which contains two members from each of the 50 states, and the House of Representatives, which has representatives from 435 smaller districts.
Louis XIV - A 17th-Century French king who expanded the powers of the French monarchy and turned his country into the greatest power in the world. However, by the end of his long, 72-year reign he had squandered much of this advantage.
Nobility - The aristocracy, or the highest social rank.
Jeff Bezos - The founder of Amazon and one of the world's richest people.
Inauguration - The introduction of a new system, or the formal ceremony introducing someone to office (most noticeably the US president).
Mark Zuckerberg - Since founding Facebook as a university student, Zuckerberg has become one of the top ten richest people in the world.
Meta - The new name of the company which owns Facebook and Instagram.
Republican Party - Also known as the Grand Old Party or GOP, it is one of the USA's two major political parties. Its first president was Abraham Lincoln. It sits on the right of the political spectrum.
Elon Musk - A South African-born entrepreneur whose companies have included the online payment service PayPal. He now controls Twitter, renamed 'X'.
Technocratic - A technocrat is a person with political power who is an expert in their field, e.g. economics, rather than a career politician.
Globalisation - The growing interdependence of the world's economies, peoples and cultures.
Oligarchies - A system of government in which a small elite rules.
Far-right - A range of ideologies that emphasise social order, racial purity and the elimination of opponents.
Epochs - Particular periods in history.
Reactionary - Opposed to new political ideas or social change.
Global South - A term increasingly used to describe less-developed countries, most of which are south of a line that separates, on different continents, the USA from Mexico, Europe from Africa, and Russia from central Asia and China.