Talking Geopolitics with Helen Thompson: The Weirdness of American Power

Past Present Future

D&HR Media Ltd

History, Politics, News, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.7 • 747 Ratings

🗓️ 25 January 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The first of a two-part conversation in which David talks to Helen Thompson about how to understand the extraordinary and unlikely power of the United States, from its origins to its current incarnation. How strange would it once have seemed to live in a world dominated by a state from the Western hemisphere? When did the US overcome its natural disadvantages to achieve superpower potential? What does the rest of the world get wrong about how American power actually operates? And what might come next? A reminder that the second part of David’s conversation with Glen Rangwala about the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein is available now on PPF+. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ today https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next Time: The Weirdness of American Power Part 2 – Trump and the Future Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sophie Tom and the kids are standing by the luggage carousel, waiting for Sophie's bag.
0:03.9	Looks like she's going to be wearing Tom's clothes for a week, but she's not worried.
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0:16.9	Search HSBC Premier, HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. Apply with £100,000 annual income or £100,000 savings or investments with HSBC UK or Premier status abroad, covered provided by Aviva Insurance Limited. H. Restrictions and limitations apply. Abby's just woken up. It's 731 and she's forgotten to ring the doctor. There's no point ringing now. She needs to get to work.
0:38.4	But she's not worried.
0:44.8	She's got an HSBC Premier bank account with access to digital GP appointments, plus two second opinions a year should she need them.
0:47.0	Everything's Premier when your bank account is.
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0:59.4	Apply with £100,000 annual income or £100,000 savings or investments with HSBC UK or Premier Status Broad.
1:10.0	Hello, my name's David Rundsenman and this is past-present future, the History of Ideas podcast.
1:16.7	Today I'm going to be talking geopolitics with the political economist, writer and commentator, Helen Thompson.
1:24.6	There is a lot of geopolitics about, you may have noticed, from Greenland to Venezuela,
1:30.5	from Taiwan to Ukraine. And we are going to be talking about how unlikely, how unusual, how weird
1:37.4	it is to live in a world so dominated by the United States. Where does American power come from? What makes it so distinctive?
1:48.0	And what is the direction of travel?
1:56.6	Hello, when people talk about the United States as an exceptional nation, American power is exceptional.
2:03.6	It's always a value judgment of some kind or another. American exceptionalism is an argument
2:08.5	about is America special? Is it different because it instantiates certain values? Is it exceptionally
2:14.8	wicked? There are definitely some people who think that the United States
	...

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