The Rhodes Center Podcast with Mark Blyth

On this episode (recorded spring 2026), Mark Blyth talks with Aditi Sahasrabuddhe, an assistant professor of political science at Brown University, about her book, “Bankers’ Trust: How Social Relations Avert Global Financial Collapse.” They discuss how interpersonal relationships among central bankers have played a role in stabilizing our global financial system from the 1920s to 2008, and how this challenges long-held beliefs about how central banks and global finance work.

Learn more about and purchase “Bankers’ Trust: How Social Relations Avert Global Financial Collapse”

On this episode, Mark talks with Brendan Greeley, a journalist and former U.S. economics editor at the Financial Times, about his new book “The Almighty Dollar, 500 Years of the World's Most Powerful Money.” In it, Greeley makes the case that the American dollar is not (and never has been) quite as…American…as one might assume; from its very beginning, it’s had deep global ties, and no single government has ever been in full control of it. Mark and Brendan discuss what this more nuanced understanding of the dollar reveals about how the U.S. economy operates, and how it might help us think about the future of the “almighty dollar.”

Learn more about and purchase “The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World's Most Powerful Money”

Transcript coming soon to our website

On this episode Mark Blyth talks with Cornelia Woll, a professor of international political economy at the Hertie School Berlin and author of the recent book “Corporate Crime and Punishment: The Politics of Negotiated Justice in Global Markets.” They discuss how economic law enforcement and geopolitics have become increasingly intertwined, and how this has complicated efforts to make sure corporations behave in a just (and legal) manner.

Learn more about and purchase “Corporate Crime and Punishment: The Politics of Negotiated Justice in Global Markets”

On this episode, Mark Blyth talks with Erik Peinert, an assistant professor of political science at Boston University, about his new book “Monopoly Politics: Competition and Learning and the Evolution of Policy Regimes.” In the book, Erik draws extensively on archives in the US and France to explain why, when, and how those two countries have chosen to fight monopoly power over the course of the 20th century, and explores what their stories can teach us about increasing market concentration in the US and around the world today.

Learn more about and purchase “Monopoly Politics: Competition and Learning and the Evolution of Policy Regimes”.

Not so long ago, it appeared to many observers that economic globalization, political liberalization and geopolitical stability were an unstoppable trio. They supported each other and created an economic and political environment that countries around the world couldn’t help but want to be a part of.

Some called it “the great moderation,” some, “the end of history.” Whatever name you want to give it, it seemed like it was here to stay.

Which, of course, it wasn't.

Today, according to this episode’s guest, instability in all three of these realms — economics, domestic politics and geopolitics — is creating just the opposite: a vicious cycle of economic and political disorder, which we seem ill-equipped to get ourselves out of.

Eswar Prasad, is a professor of Trade Policy and Economics at Cornell University, and author of the new book “The Doom Loop: Why the World Economic Order Is Spiraling into Disorder.” In this episode, he speaks with Mark Blyth and Brown University Assistant Professor of Political Science Aditi Sahasrabuddhe about the “doom loop” — what caused it, why it’s so hard to stop, and what it means for the future of our global order.

Learn more about and purchase “The Doom Loop: Why the World Economic Order Is Spiraling into Disorder.”

The global rise of authoritarianism today is a puzzle: democracies were supposed to be immune to such impulses, but the current political landscape of countries as diverse as India, Hungary, and the United States show that they’re not.

Why are we seeing a resurgence of authoritarianism? And why did it take so many experts by surprise?

In this episode, Mark Blyth looks for answers to these questions with Alexander Cooley and Alex Dukalskis, authors of the new book Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics. In the book, they explore how authoritarian countries today project their ideologies around the world, and why their strategies may look eerily familiar to anyone who has studied the spread of western liberalism in the 1990s and 2000s.

Guests on the episode:

1. Alexander Cooley is a professor of political science at Barnard College.
2. Alex Dukalskis is an associate professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin.

Learn more about and purchase Dictating the Agenda The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics

In December, the Rhodes Center hosted Sven Beckert, the Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University, to discuss his new book “Capitalism: A Global History.”

The title may sound dry, but in the hands of Sven, it is anything but. In it, he takes readers on a globe-trotting, centuries-spanning tour of the economic system we call “capitalism.” In doing so, he challenges many long-held assumptions about capitalism that readers might have - about its origins, its evolution, and how it has shaped our world.

On this episode, professor of American History at Brown University and Rhodes Center affiliate Seth Rockman sat down with Beckert for a discussion about the book, and about how it can help us to better understand capitalism’s past, present, and future.

Learn more about and purchase “Capitalism: A Global History”

For as long as this thing we call “capitalism” has existed, it has had its fair share of critics. (You’ve heard more than a few of them on this very podcast.)

On this episode, Mark talks with someone whose new book makes clear that when it comes to understanding this globe-spanning economic system - where it came from, how it’s shaped our world, and where it’s going – those critics might be some of our best guides.

John Cassidy is a staff writer at The New Yorker covering politics and economics, and his new book, “Capitalism and Its Critics: A History from the Industrial Revolution to AI,” tells the story of capitalism in a way you haven’t heard before.

Learn more about and purchase “Capitalism and Its Critics: A History from the Industrial Revolution to AI”

Lithium is an essential ingredient of most modern electronics. It helps to power our phones, our laptops, and increasingly EVs and other key parts of the green transition.

As Thea Riofrancos, a political scientist, environmentalist, and author of the new book “Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism,” explains to Mark on this episode, the story of lithium — how it's mined, how it’s refined, and how it makes its way around the world — isn’t just a business story. It's a story of geopolitics and power.

On this episode, Mark and Thea discuss the surprising story of lithium extraction, how the race to electrify our energy supply is reshaping the global economy, and what it all means for the future of our planet.

Learn more about and purchase Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism

Watch Mark and Thea’s discussion at the Watson School

This is the second part of a two-part series featuring Leah Downey, a political economist at King’s College London and author of the new book “Our Money: Monetary Policy as if Democracy Matters.”

Mark Blyth and Leah discuss what has happened at the Federal Reserve since they first talked about Leah’s book in May, what Leah’s book has to say about it, and what it all means for the future of central banks in the US and beyond.

Learn more about and purchase “Our Money: Monetary Policy as if Democracy Matters.”