Ahh cool. I ask because Seveneves has a much rosier (overly so in my opinion) end game, in terms of world powers cooperating and most of humanity also doing so, despite knowing for certain that almost everyone will die.
[Spoliers!] ###########
It's been a while since I've read the book, but if I recall correctly nukes are used against Venezuela when they disagree with launching supplies to the Ark project. There are further hints of looming conflict (e.g. Ivy's fiance mentioning the nuclear sub he was in was on high alert).
I also believe there were numerous delays of supplies and disagreements even within NASA / the U.S. space program. Not too certain of all the world powers cooperating, although admittedly their cooperation on the Ark project at all may seem odd, but doesn't seem out of place with the status quo and how world powers "get along" in regards to the ISS?
It definitely is better than GP's book, where the powers that be completely fail to work together - in Seveneves, the Ark project actually succeeds!
There is definitely some conflict, I just don't think there was enough of it. Part of it may just be the fact that there's not much focus on what's happening on the ground, so we just don't hear about how it's being dealt with.
I was most conflicted about how normal people would deal with it. Eg I would expect mass riots and looting, very little of which happens according to the book - only in Venezuela apparently. And the nukes are used on their military, about a few days before everyone is going to die anyways, so I don't really see it as that big of a deal - nukes just don't mean as much in such a scenario.
I'm also surprised at there being only a single Ark project - I'd have thought at least one nation, say China, would want to strike out on their own.
It doesn't mention it in the linked article, but I also remember hearing that the idea that people get very violent can cause serious issues as resources go into military-police rather than relief efforts.
It makes sense when you think about it evolutionary. The groups that fell apart when the going got tough were not the ones that survived!
[1] http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/31/how-disasters-bring-ou...
Now it could end up being like war-time economies which boom due to high demand for military goods, in this case for all the work needed to build a space colony. But in a war, at least people can hope to live on.