The advent of high resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulations allows us to now study the dynamics of barred galaxies, such as our own Milky Way, within the full ?CDM cosmological context. I will present what we have learned about the formation history of our galaxy and its inner structures -- such as the bar and the boxy/peanut bulge -- by comparing the chemo-dynamical properties of its inner stellar populations to both isolated/tailored and cosmological simulations. In particular, I will present evidence of the Galaxy's unusually quiescent merger history, and of the almost entirely in-situ formation of its bulge. I will also show how studying the dynamics of barred galaxies in cosmological simulations -- in particular the interaction through dynamical friction of the bar and the dark matter halo -- can help us shed light on the amount of dark matter in massive spiral galaxies. I will discuss these results in light of recent claims in the literature of a 10sigma tension between fast bars and LCDM, and within the context of galaxy formation and evolution in general. The Zoom session for this colloquium will be open-ended to allow further informal discussions, moderated by Dr Fragkoudi's host, Dr Nadine Neumayer (neumayer@mpia.de). zoom access code 69120