The Second Cold War Observatory
The Second Cold War Observatory
Podcast Description
Welcome to The Second Cold War Observatory, where we explore the histories and grounded realities of geopolitical rivalry from the Cold War to the present. We host conversations with academics, policymakers, and activists about how competition affects places, people, and politics around the world to foster more nuanced and open debate on contemporary rivalry. We cover diverse themes from the environment to digital connectivity and finance. Our guests present in-depth research from the institutions and places that become flashpoints of great power rivalry.
This podcast is part of the Second Cold War Observatory, a global collective of scholars committed to understanding how geopolitical and geoeconomic competition influences and is influenced by societies, economies, and ecologies worldwide.
This original podcast series is available on Spotify, Apple, and Buzzsprout.
www.secondcoldwarobservatory.com
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Explores a range of themes such as geopolitical rivalry, economic competition, environment, digital connectivity, and infrastructure, with episode examples including discussions on India's role in the Second Cold War and China's Belt and Road Initiative's impact on global infrastructure.
Welcome to The Second Cold War Observatory, where we explore the histories and grounded realities of geopolitical rivalry from the Cold War to the present. We host conversations with academics, policymakers, and activists about how competition affects places, people, and politics around the world to foster more nuanced and open debate on contemporary rivalry. We cover diverse themes from the environment to digital connectivity and finance. Our guests present in-depth research from the institutions and places that become flashpoints of great power rivalry.
This podcast is part of the Second Cold War Observatory, a global collective of scholars committed to understanding how geopolitical and geoeconomic competition influences and is influenced by societies, economies, and ecologies worldwide.
This original podcast series is available on Spotify, Apple, and Buzzsprout.
www.secondcoldwarobservatory.com
In early 2025, headlines announced that the Trump administration would move to dramatically slash USAID—the United States’ flagship development agency. For many, the move was surprising, even self-defeating: why would a president so focused on countering China weaken one of Washington’s most effective tools of soft power? At the same time, China’s development finance continues to expand, and geopolitical competition over infrastructure intensifies, raising alarm bells across Washington and beyond. To help us make sense of this moment—and the broader politics of foreign aid—we’re joined by Jack Taggart, an expert on global governance and development, who discusses what these cuts mean for U.S. strategy, China’s rise, and the contested terrain of development and aid in today’s world.
BIO:
Jack Taggart is a Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy at Queen’s University Belfast. His research spans international political economy, global governance, and global development, focusing on shifting dynamics in development cooperation, such as the rise of new state and private actors, aid financialization, and development finance transformations. He also examines global governance institutions and the growing role of “multistakeholderism” in areas ranging from economic policy to environmental treaties.
Links:
- The Second Cold War and Demise of the Western Foreign Aid Regime by Jack Taggart, SCWO Dispatch
- How to DOGE USAID by Daniela Gabor in Phenomenal World
- Industrial Policy and Imperial Realignment by Ilias Alami, Tom Chodor, Jack Taggart in Phenomenal World
- Rethinking d/Development by Emma Mawdsley and Jack Taggart in Progress in Human Geography
- Fictions of Financialization by Nick Bernard
- Rendering development investible: the anti-politics machine and the financialisation of development by Jack Taggart and Marcus Power in Progress in Human Geography
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