Over the past few months, I’ve often found myself overwhelmed by the pace and nature of global events. Each day seems to bring something that overturns long-held assumptions—norms I had internalised growing up in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s been disorienting. At times, it feels as if we’ve entered a new nihilistic and transactional world.

It was in this frame of mind that I stumbled upon Prof. Steven Smith’s Open Yale Course on Political Philosophy. The series offered not just a masterful survey of Western political thought, from Socrates to Tocqueville and his contemporaries, but also a welcome opportunity to step back from the churn of headlines and reflect on the enduring debates they echo.

How are economic globalisation and the resurgence of populism and nationalism reshaping the relationship between the individual, the community, and the state? How did earlier thinkers grapple with these tensions, and how are today’s societies addressing them? What does justice mean in our time? Does it inevitably imply a march towards progressivism? How should liberalism engage with patriotism? And to what extent is contemporary nationalism a reaction to the perceived failures of liberal cosmopolitanism?

With these questions in mind, I reached out to Prof. Smith, who graciously agreed to discuss them, along with his views on the current trajectory of American politics.

As always, I hope you enjoy the conversation. Please like, share, and rate the episode. And if you’d like to support the show or the work I do, feel free to reach out to me on manoj@takshashila.org.in.

If you are interested in Prof. Smith’s recent works, do check out his books:

• Modernity and Its Discontents – Making and Unmaking the Bourgeois from Machiavelli to Bellow

• Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes

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.

India’s global profile is rising. By the end of this decade, India will be the world’s third-largest economy. Diplomatically, it is also far more active as a member of key multilateral groupings. Arguably, India’s foreign policy today plays a bigger role in domestic politics than at any time since the Nehru years.

All of this is changing how Indians think about world affairs, leading to an increasing number of young people studying International Relations. In fact, over the past 25 years, there’s been a visible expansion of Indian universities offering IR courses. The discipline itself evolved from the margins of political science to the heart of it.

For decades, IR theory has remained anchored in Western experiences and epistemologies. But does that lens still suffice? Or is there a need to think through new, perhaps more rooted, ways of conceptualising power, order, and change?

In this episode, I speak with Atul Mishra, Associate Professor of International Relations at Shiv Nadar University, in India. Atul is a refreshingly original voice in the world of International Relations. His perspective is incisive, anchored in rigorous theory, yet deeply informed by empirical realities.

Our conversation begins by tracing his personal and intellectual journey before turning to bigger questions: What is theory for? Who is it serving? And does IR theory need to become fragmented accounting for culture and civilisation experiences? In other words, is there a need for an Indic IR or an IR with Chinese characteristics? From there, we take stock of the global order and the state of the idea of liberal democracy. Are the ideas of liberalism passé amid the rising tide of authoritarianism and under the weight of present-day realpolitik?

As always, I hope you enjoy the conversation. Please like, share, and rate the episode. And if you’d like to support the show or the work I do, feel free to reach out to me.

• - Atul’s Substack IR Wire

  - Atul’s Lecture on What is a liberal democracy?

• 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 China, political discourse is ample, yet often elusive. News reports and policy documents are dense with slogans and repetition. Despite this, the system also often speaks through silence. And that silence fuels questions.

What should one look for when trying to understand China’s political language? Can anything be understood from the stodgy language of Party-state media. Can the omission of a phrase from a communiqué be mere coincidence or does it have deeper meaning? This isn’t just about decoding propaganda; it’s about understanding how contestation, consensus, and control take shape in a system that rarely shows its hand.

In this episode of The Great Power Show, I speak to Katja Drinhausen, who heads the Chinese Politics & Society research program at the Mercator Institute of China Studies or MERICS in Germany. Katja is one of the most astute observers of the politics of the Communist Party of China.

I ask her to help us navigate Chinese politispeak, and its implications for China and the world. We also deliberate the concept of ideology. Is it really making a comeback in China? Or is ideology less a driver of policy and more a reflection of it? As Xi Jinping revives the language of struggle, what are we really witnessing?

And finally, we look outward, at how China tells its story to the world. From wolf warrior diplomacy to the push to “tell China’s story well,” we examine the institutions and impulses that shape Beijing’s external messaging. What’s the story China wants the world to believe? And is anyone buying it?

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.

What happens when a global order loses its story? In today’s world, it’s not just borders and alliances that are shifting. What’s also shifting are the shared narratives that held them together. The American-led order, once animated by the promise of liberal universalism, is now fraying at the edges. But this isn’t just a moment of geopolitical transition. It’s something deeper. There’s a crisis of meaning and purpose of power.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the United States itself. From isolationist reflexes to post-truth politics, the idea of America is being rewritten. And as the US redefines itself, the world must confront the fallout. But then, it’s not just the US alone. Even China, Europe, Russia and countries like India are in the process of shaping new identities.

To make sense of all this, On this episode of The Great Power Show, I speak with Bruno Maçães, former Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs and one of the most original geopolitical thinkers of our time. We explore what he calls the “moments of disorder” that mark the end of old world orders, and the birth of new ones. We talk about America’s evolving sense of self, Europe’s disillusionment, and the nature of power in a multipolar world.

All of this of course is also happening at a moment when technology is changing the very essence of geopolitical competition. Maçães believes that the old geopolitics of land and sovereignty is being replaced today by a new struggle over digital architectures and artificial worlds. This provocative thesis contends that geo-political contestation today implies building virtual systems and forcing others to live inside them. From cinematic politics to civilisational divergences and technological revolutions, this is a conversation about the deep structure of change.

As always, I hope you enjoy the conversation. Please like, share, and rate the episode. And if you’d like to support the show or the work I do, feel free to reach out.

Books by Maçães:

• The Dawn of Eurasia: On the Trail of the New World Order (2018)

• Belt and Road: A Chinese World Order (2019)

• History Has Begun: The Birth of a New America (2020)

• Geopolitics for the End Time: From the Pandemic to the Climate Crisis (2021)

• World Builders: Technology and the New Geopolitics (2025)

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.

Technology has always been a force multiplier in geopolitics. But today, it’s much more than that. It’s a source of power, a trigger for conflict, and a key arena in the contest for global leadership. Nowhere is this clearer than in the intensifying rivalry between the US and China.

From tariffs to export controls, from AI regulations to investment screening, the two powers are locked in a battle, not just over who leads in technology, but over what technological leadership should look like. This contest is reshaping globalisation, redrawing alliances, and rewriting the rules of innovation.

But what exactly are the goals behind Washington’s strategy? How does Beijing see it? And what do these shifts mean for countries that find themselves caught in between?

On this episode of The Great Power Show, I speak with Ryan Fedasiuk, former Advisor for Bilateral Affairs at the U.S. Department of State’s China House and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Ryan brings a unique and thoughtful perspective to these questions, having worked at the intersection of technology and diplomacy.

We explore the evolving thinking in the US around technology competition…from Liberation Day to Geneva and London. We also look back at the policies adopted by the Biden administration, and unpack the logic behind industrial policy in both China and the US.

• Ryan’s Substack: Emerging Cracks in the China Tech Consensus

• CSET Report: Harnessed Lightning How the Chinese Military is Adopting Artificial Intelligence

As always, I hope you enjoy the conversation. Please like, share, and rate the episode. And if you’d like to support the show or the work I do, feel free to reach out.

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 politics today, communication is power. It shapes public opinion, manages crises, drives diplomacy, and fuels ideological battles. The ability to craft, control, and circulate messages is central to how power works, and how it’s challenged.

The news media is right at the heart of this. Nowhere is that more evident than in India. The country’s media ecosystem is huge, and often chaotic. But beneath the noise, deeper shifts are underway. Journalism in India is being reshaped by changing political dynamics, new technologies, and a battle for trust.

On this episode of The Great Power Show, I speak with veteran journalist Sachin Kalbag about how Indian media is responding to these changes. Sachin has held top editorial positions across some of India’s biggest newsrooms. He’s also reported from Washington, D.C. as a foreign correspondent. So he brings a rare and wide-ranging perspective to this conversation.

We unpack the good, the bad, and the ugly trends in Indian journalism. We talk about the evolving relationships between journalists, politicians, and civil servants. We also look outward, at the global media landscape. Why is journalism no longer seen as neutral, anywhere in the world? And does a country like India need its own credible, globally visible media platforms?

As always, I hope you enjoy the conversation. Please like and share the episode, and take a moment to rate the podcast. And if you’d like to support the show or the work I do, feel free to 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.

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.