After the unravelling: Confronting the new world order

The post–Cold War international order hasn't collapsed from a single shock. It's been deliberately unwound. Thomas Wright, a former Senior Director for Strategic Planning in President Biden's National Security Council, argues that China, Russia, and the United States have each adopted foreign policies that broke the foundational restraints holding the system together. By historical measures, what's emerged has the hallmarks of a pre-war environment. Drawing on his time inside the White House, Dr Wright diagnoses how we got here and what may come next. From Xi Jinping's strategy of asymmetric economic dominance, to Putin's war of conquest in Europe, to Trump's redefinition of American alliances as transactional arrangements. This event was hosted by Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program, in Melbourne on Wednesday 6 May 2026. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify , YouTube and Apple . Follow the Lowy Institute on our website , X , Instagram or LinkedIn.

You can listen to After the unravelling: Confronting the new world order online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

After the unravelling: Confronting the new world order is an episode from The Lowy Institute by Lowy Institute.

This episode is 60:09 long.

This episode was published on May 7, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Lowy Institute when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.