The Burn Bag Podcast Global (Dis)Order: America and the Future of the International System with Dr. Mira Rapp-Hooper
In this episode of the Burn Bag Podcast, A'ndre Gonawela is joined by Mira Rapp-Hooper, a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director at National Security Council, to break down the structural forces reshaping the global order.
Rapp-Hooper explains how the international system is undergoing a fundamental transition driven not just by political leaders like Donald Trump, but by deeper shifts in global power, technology, and economics. These changes are unfolding as the United States and China compete for influence, while allies and emerging powers chart more independent paths.
In this conversation, Rapp-Hooper explains:
- What the “international order” actually is—and why it’s so hard to define
- Why 2025 may mark the end of the post–Cold War global system
- How China’s rise and the diffusion of power are reshaping geopolitics
- Why U.S.–China competition is structural, but not a new Cold War
- Why there’s no going back to the pre-2016 or pre-2024 foreign policy status quo
- How alliances are evolving beyond military cooperation into tech and supply chains
- What burden sharing actually means—and why it’s often misunderstood
As global tensions rise and the rules of the international system are rewritten in real time, this episode provides a clear framework for understanding where the world is headed—and how the United States fits into it.