The Great Power Show

After a meeting between senior officials on the weekend on May 10th, China and the US have formally announced a 90-day truce in their trade war. Both sides have since drawn back some of the excessive tariffs that were imposed in early April. They’ve committed to establish a new mechanism for dialogue and keep talks going. The White House has called this a “historic deal”; Beijing has been much more cautious in its language. So where’s all this going?On this episode of The Great Power Show, geopolitical analyst Yanmei Xie unpacks the essential aspects of Sino-US economic competition. She has previously worked with Gavekal Research, and as a journalist in Washington covering US national politics. Yanmei believes that decoupling between China and the US is an inevitable trend. She argues that Beijing believes that Washington is engaged in a strategy of “grand trade encirclement”; so decoupling will only intensify regardless of talks.Beyond the US-China trade war, our conversation delves into how Xi Jinping’s policies are reshaping China’s economic development model. And what’s the model of China’s "venture capital state" which is directing strategic investment, building industrial ecosystems, and taking calculated risks to dominate future technologies.Zooming out, we ask: Why is manufacturing back at the center of global strategy? Is it a product of a failure of imagination of future economies? Or is it simply about the realities of configuring national power in an age of geopolitical strife?I hope you enjoy this conversation. Please make sure to like and share the episode. If you would like to support the show or the work I do, please do reach out to me.About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

As great power rivalry deepens, old assumptions are crumbling and the rules of the international order are up for renegotiation. This moment demands a more clear-eyed realism—one that sees the world not as we wish it to be, but as it is. Today, the US-China rivalry is reshaping the global order, while the institutions meant to stabilize the world seem increasingly brittle. Europe is lagging behind, Russia is resurgent, and the Indo-Pacific is a theater of shadow conflict. Middle powers are hedging as they try to avoid choosing sides. How do we make sense of all this?In this episode of The Great Power Show, I speak to former Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan, who is among the world’s most incisive geopolitical thinkers. We discuss the return of great power politics, the failure of diplomacy to keep up with structural shifts in power, and why Southeast Asia’s experience navigating external pressures holds broader lessons for the world.From American unpredictability to China’s coercive diplomacy, from the trappings of multipolarity to the dangers of moral grandstanding, this conversation challenges comfortable assumptions, and asks what it really takes to survive and thrive in a world where competition, not cooperation, is the natural state of affairs.I hope you enjoy this conversation. Please make sure to like and share the episode. If you would like to support the show or the I do, please do reach out to me.About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

French President Emmanuel Macron has rapidly emerged as Europe’s most important national leader. France is not only one of the biggest economies in the EU, but is also the bloc’s only nuclear weapons power. With war in Ukraine continuing, frictions with China persistent and deep fissures between Europe and the US under Donald Trump, France is once again trying to redefine its role—both within Europe and on the world stage.Paris sees itself not just as a middle power, but as a shaper of order, a proponent of strategic autonomy and a multipolar world. But what exactly guides French foreign policy? How does France perceive threats and opportunities, and how is power distributed across its institutions and leadership?In this episode of The Great Power Show, I speak to Philippe Le Corre, Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis and a Senior Advisor on Geopolitics to Asia Society France.The conversation focuses on France’s foreign policy worldview, from its foundational principles to its evolving posture on Ukraine, the EU, and its partnerships with the US, UK, and Germany. We then zoom out to examine France’s global strategy: how it views the Indo-Pacific, China, India, and the shifting international order.Read Philippe’s latest publication: A New Triangle: The Interplay Between China and EU-India RelationsAbout: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

April 2, 2025, may go down as a turning point in global economic history. On this day, US President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping new tariff plan that rattled markets. The week thereafter was a bit of a rollercoaster. Trump offered much of the rest of the world a 90-day reprieve, but with China, a full-fledged trade and tariff war is brewing. US tariffs on Chinese imports today are 145%. Chinese tariffs on American imports are 125%. This contest could mark the end—or at least a major transformation—of the era of economic globalisation as we’ve known it for over three decades. The liberal trade order that has driven prosperity since World War II is under serious strain. The logic of economics is increasingly giving way to political and geopolitical calculations. While globalisation may not be entirely dead, it is certainly being redefined.In this episode of The Great Power Show, I speak to my colleague, Anupam Manur—an economist and strong proponent of free markets—to unpack this moment. Anupam is Professor of Economics at Takshashila. He is also the author of ‘We The Citizens’.Together, we explore the core logic of globalisation, the role of tariffs, and the deeper forces reshaping global trade—from shifting supply chains to the renewed focus on manufacturing. Are we preparing for the future, or retreating into the past?About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

In August 1971, Richard Nixon suspended the dollar’s convertibility with gold. At the time, the US was facing major economic challenges, including inflation and a growing trade deficit. Nixon’s decision devalued the dollar and caused chaos in global markets.In December, Treasury Secretary John Connally met with upset foreign ministers from allied countries. He offered little succor, telling them that “The dollar is our currency, but it’s your problem”. The remark reflected Connally’s confidence in American economic power and the US currency—something that’s evident even today.So what is it that makes the dollar so powerful, and sticky? To understand this, in this The Great Power Show, Manoj Kewalramani, Chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme, at the Takshashila Institution, speaks to author and futurist Emmanuel Daniel.Emmanuel is the founder of the research, publication and consulting house, TAB Global. He is also the author of “The Great Transition – the personalization of finance is here” published in September 2022.The conversation unpacks the politics of the global financial system, focusing on the strength of the dollar, the internationalization of the RMB, the potential for a BRICS currency and the role of cryptocurrencies in the future of global finance.About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

Ever since January 20, 2025, there’s been intense debate over whether the Trump administration is bringing an end to the post-World War II world order. But is that really the case? And if so, what might emerge in its place?In this episode of The Great Power Show, Manoj Kewalramani, Chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme at the Takshashila Institution speaks to Manjari Chatterjee Miller.Prof. Miller is a prolific author and thinker. She is a Professor and Munk Chair in Global India at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She’s also a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.Our conversation unpacks the ingredients that make an order and the impact of American, Chinese and Indian policies on the world order.Follow Prof. Miller on LinkedinThe Most Dangerous Game - Prof. Miller in Foreign AffairsWhy Nations Rise: Narratives and the Path to Great Power - Manjari Chatterjee Miller.After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order after Major Wars - John IkenberryAbout: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

Donald Trump’s first month in office has been nothing short of a whirlwind. Amid dramatic shifts in American politics and unconventional foreign policy moves, one big question looms: Is the US retreating from the world stage, or is it trying to create a new ideological balance of power?In this episode of The Great Power Show, Manoj Kewalramani speaks to Paul Poast, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Together, they unpack these urgent questions, exploring what political science theory can reveal about today's rapidly changing world, and examine whether it offers any clues to Trump's grand strategy.About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

The Global South is back in vogue as an important geopolitical player. Increasingly, there is greater discourse within Washington and Beijing about courting countries from the developing world. But how do these two powers compete across the Global South? Is it inevitable that they will be engaged in a zero-sum game or are there areas and sectors where cooperation is possible?In this episode of The Great Power Show, Manoj Kewalramani speaks to Dr. Dawn Murphy, Associate Professor, National Security Strategy, at the National War College in Washington DC. Dr Murphy discusses China’s changing approach to the Global South, with a particular focus on the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. This is also the theme of her excellent book: China’s Rise in the Global South: The Middle East, Africa, and Beijing’s Alternative World Order.The conversation begins with a focus on key concepts before discussing Dr. Murphy’s rather helpful framework for thinking through China-US competition. In doing so, she eschews the language of China either being status quoist or revisionist. Rather, she examines Chinese actions as either norm-convergent or norm-divergent and whether they are competitive or cooperative when looked at from an American interests perspective. This lends for some interesting and counterintuitive conclusions.About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

For most Indians, deep in their psyche is embedded a belief that a global role for India is part of its tryst with destiny. The roots of this international vision can be traced back to ancient history — among empires and rulers that emerged from the land that is modern India to those that came to make it their home. Even today, the echoes of this past reverberate in the international affairs of the modern Indian republic. So how have the leaders of modern India conceptualised the country’s place in the world? How have their views of power and order evolved? More significantly, what opportunities and challenges does the current distribution of power globally present for India. In this episode of The Great Power Show, Manoj Kewalramani speaks to Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director of ORF America, and author of the excellent new book Vishwa Shastra: India and the World. Jaishankar argues that the world today reflects aspects of unipolarity, bipolarity, and multipolarity at the same time. Such an environment calls for a realist vision of India’s approach to the world, he contends, arguing that historical evidence shows that whenever interest was subordinated to values in Indian foreign policy, it has served the country poorly. Within this context, he outlines a vision for India’s engagement with the US, China and world at large. About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.

As Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term as president, American politics and foreign policy are undergoing profound upheaval. A reassessment of the nation's global interests and international engagement is underway. This growing dissatisfaction with the world order was starkly articulated by Trump’s Secretary of State nominee, Marco Rubio, during his Senate confirmation hearing. Rubio remarked, “The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us.” In this episode of The Great Power Show, Manoj Kewalramani speaks to Edward Luttwak, renowned military strategist, historian, and geopolitical analyst, about this turn in American foreign and security policies. In his inimitable style, Luttwak argues that the American political system is one in which one is driving a cart with the horses at the back and all one is doing is trying to avoid being overrun by your own horses. He contends that American foreign policy today is in a correction phase after the excesses that began with the 2003 war in Iraq. About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.