Helen Thompson, a Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge, dives deep into the intricate relationship between energy resources and global geopolitics. She discusses how the recent conflicts in the Middle East, especially the tensions between Israel and Iran, reshape energy dynamics and influence international relations. The conversation highlights the implications of a multipolar world on resource conflicts and the delicate balance of power. Thompson also shares insights on how global awareness and preparedness are essential for navigating future crises amid rising geopolitical uncertainties.

Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge, discusses European energy, the Federal Reserve, financial repression, and rising geopolitical tensions. Topics include wind and solar power, nuclear energy, the strong American monetary power, implications of sovereign debt, financial repression and capital controls, the future of money, U.S.-China relations, and conflicts in the Middle East.

Political economist Helen Thompson discusses the rise and fall of the gold standard, its instability, and the transition to fiat money. Topics include why gold was chosen, the source of instability, and the impact of quantitative easing. Explore the evolution of the gold standard, political shifts in the 1930s, and the challenges of moving away from commodity-backed currency.

In Episode 318 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with political and financial historians Edward Chancellor, Russell Napier, and Helen Thompson. All three have appeared individually on the podcast before and joined Demetri ahead of his latest Genius community dinner in London to discuss the changing nature of the international economic and political order. Many of the material changes we are experiencing today are driven by the reversal of multi-decade trends in demographics, globalization, and low-cost, carbon-based energy sources. The ripple effects of these changes on inflation, risk rates, wealth & income distribution, national security, and the ruling legitimacy of national governments are already starting to materialize. Learning to navigate these changes is crucial if you want to remain ahead of the curve. Today’s conversation is meant to help you do just that. The episode’s second hour begins with a discussion about the energy transition and its geostrategic consequences for resource-rich countries like the US and Russia, for countries that are heavily dependent on energy imports like those in the European Union, and for China, which is investing enormous sums of money into renewables and other, non-carbon-based sources of energy. The panel also discusses the possibility of a rapprochement between the US, Europe, and Russia, avenues for peace between the US and China, and some of the industries and sectors that are positioned to benefit, as well as those that you will want to avoid in this new economic and political paradigm. You can subscribe to our premium content and gain access to our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports (or Key Takeaways) at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page. If you still have questions, feel free to email info@hiddenforces.io, and Demetri or someone else from our team will get right back to you. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 06/29/2023

As the UK and other countries around the world grapple with a bleak economic forecast and the creeping effects of climate change, the debate over economic growth and its role in our economies has come into sharp focus.In part one of this live event journalist Kamal Ahmed, was joined by three influential economists, Kate Raworth, Helen Thompson, and Bim Afolami to discuss if we can indeed have prosperity without growth.Part two and three of this event are available ad free, for subscribers now. And for our listeners who don’t subscribe part 2 will be available in our next episode. This conversation took place in May 2023 and is part of Intelligence Squared’s live debate partnership with the Southbank Centre.We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency . Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Episode 257 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Helen Thompson, author and Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge. Thompson’s current research concentrates on the political economy of energy and the long history of the democratic, economic, and geopolitical disruptions of the twenty-first century, which she explores magisterially in her new book “Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century.”  For those of us who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, the nature of the world as we knew it to be only seemed to be getting better and better. The price of energy and the cost of capital kept getting cheaper, the world kept getting safer and more interconnected, and liberal democracy and free-market capitalism were seen as inevitable outcomes of the end of history. Today, all of that feels like it was almost a dream. The last two decades have brought a powerful tide of geopolitical, economic, and democratic shocks onto the world. Their fallout has led central banks to create over twenty-five trillion dollars of new money, brought about a new age of geopolitical competition, destabilized the Middle East, ruptured the European Union, and exposed old political fault lines in the United States--fault lines that seem to challenge even those of the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s when the specter of nuclear war and the trauma of violent riots and political assassinations cast a long shadow over the future of the Republic. This conversation between Helen Thompson and Demetri Kofinas endeavors to draw a line of continuity between those turbulent years and the present political moment as we try to imagine how a future situated in the long arch of human history with all its political challenges, economic imperatives, and destructive wars might unfold. It recounts three histories. One about geopolitics, one about the world economy, and one about western democracies, and explains how in the years of political disorder prior to the pandemic, the disruption in each became part of one big story, much of which originates in problems generated by fossil-fuel energies and our efforts to control them. And it explains why, as the green transition takes place, the longstanding predicaments that energy invariably shapes will remain firmly in place. You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 07/06/2022

John Gray, a renowned philosopher known for his critique of liberalism, joins Helen Thompson, a Cambridge professor and author of "Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century." They delve into the implications of Donald Trump's re-election for liberal democracy, discussing historical and modern views on tyranny and the risks of anarchy. Gray connects contemporary global conflicts to philosophical questions, while Thompson weighs in on the challenges of maintaining democratic ideals amidst rising authoritarianism.

For our penultimate episode, David talks to Helen about her new book Disorder: Hard Times in the Twenty-First Century. It’s a conversation about many of the themes Helen has explored on Talking Politics over the years, from the energy transition to the perils of QE, from the travails of the Eurozone to the crisis of democracy, from China to America, from the past to the present to the future. In this book, she brings all these themes together to help make sense of the world we’re in.Talking Points: Suez is often seen as a crisis of British imperial hubris. But it’s also about energy.The US wanted Western European countries to import oil from the Middle East.But the US at the time was not a military power in the region.So the US essentially became a guarantor of Western European energy security, but implementation was dependent on British imperial power in the region.When Eisenhower pulled the plug on Suez, Europe panicked. The aftermath was hugely consequential.France turned to Algeria, but that went badly.Europe also embraced nuclear power to pursue energy self-sufficiency.And finally, this precipitated a turn to Soviet oil and gas and the construction of pipelines between Soviet territories and Western Europe.The shale boom was a double-edged sword: it also destabilized the alliance with Saudi Arabia and increased competition between the US and Russia.Meanwhile, Chinese demand has been increasing. The US today imports much less oil from the Persian Gulf, but the US Navy still provides energy security in the region, even though most of that oil goes to China and Japan. QE created a wholly new situation in the Eurozone.Everyone in the Eurozone game essentially understands that if QE is going to continue, there will be constraints around what can happen in Italian domestic politics.The current prime minister of Italy is the former president of the ECB.One of the risks of democracy is democratic excess. But democracies can also experience aristocratic excess.In US elections, people need a lot of money to compete. This means that there is not really an outlet for genuine democratic demands.Mentioned in this Episode:Helen’s book, DisorderJames Macdonald, A Free Nation Deep in DebtFurther Learning: More on Nord Stream 2 Helen, on how the rich captured modern democraciesHelen on Ukraine for the New StatesmanWhy the Ukraine crisis is a modern crisisAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking

Political economist Helen Thompson and Nate Hagens discuss the complex history of energy and geopolitics, exploring topics such as the geopolitical implications of energy resources, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, shifting relationships with Saudi Arabia, and the potential consequences of Israel's eviction of Palestinian populations. They also touch on the role of energy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the transition to green energy aspirations.

This episode is part two of our live event on economic growth. In May 2023, journalist Kamal Ahmed, was joined by three influential economists, Kate Raworth, Helen Thompson, and Bim Afolami to discuss if we can indeed have prosperity without growth.Part three of this event is available ad free, for subscribers now. This conversation is part of Intelligence Squared’s live debate partnership with the Southbank Centre.We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency . Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices