What Rhymes With Now?

Global order and disorder with Ayse Zarakol

Ayşe Zarakol is Professor of International Relations at the University of Cambridge and a Politics Fellow at Emmanuel College. She is the author of Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders, which argues that the sovereign, universalist world orders we associate with the modern West have older precedents in the great Eastern empires — and that understanding how those orders rose and fell tells us something about how our own might end. In this conversation we discuss the history of large scale political orders, periods of disorder, and the future of the current Western world order in the 21st century. Ayse argues that the 17th century has many lessons that could be relevant for us in the 21st century,

Andy Beckett Bonus Clip

An additional clip from Patrick's discussion with Andy Beckett. 16/04/2026

How our beliefs shape society with Ryan Avent

Why does Western civilization feel lost? What are the underlying beliefs behind our society, and how did they emerge? How will social media and AI impact the way we live? What can we do about it? I’m speaking about all of this with Ryan Avent, author of the new book, In Good Faith: How the Nature of Belief Shapes the Fate of Societies.

The future of dollar dominance with Paul Blustein

How did the dollar become the dominant global currency? What impact does that have on the US and the global economy? How might this change with the emergence of new global powers, geopolitical uncertainty and technological innovation? To find out more, I spoke with the author Paul Blustein about his latest book King Dollar.

Britain, England, and the Anglo Saxons with Nicholas J. Higham

Why is Great Britain divided into England, Scotland and Wales? The answer lies nearly two thousand years ago, in the collapse of Roman rule and the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons — a story of migration, cultural replacement and identity that resonates with debates we're having today. Patrick speaks with historian Nicholas J. Higham, author of the new book How England Began: From Roman Britain to the Anglo-Saxons [https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-england-began/nicholas-j-higham/9780300254921],  about what happens when a civilian society loses the military power that protected it, how an incoming culture can reshape a country within generations (or not), and what it actually means to be from somewhere.