Helen Thompson, professor of political economy: A new era of global power politics

The Interview · Jan 28, 2026 · 22m

“Regardless of whether it's Trump or anybody else in the White House, we should expect something quite significant to be going on in terms of the United States’ relationship with the rest of the world.”

Amol Rajan speaks to Helen Thompson, professor of political economy at Cambridge University, about a new era of global power play.

In this conversation, she traces the roots of the re-birth of US expansionism back to the 19th century, and America’s early presidents. She also explains how the dynamics of geopolitics are tied to the control of resources, in particular oil.

Professor Thompson is…