The Second Cold War Observatory28 Elo 2025

The end of aid? US, China, and the future of development

In early 2025, headlines announced that the Trump administration would move to dramatically slash USAID—the United States’ flagship development agency. For many, the move was surprising, even self-defeating: why would a president so focused on countering China weaken one of Washington’s most effective tools of soft power? At the same time, China’s development finance continues to expand, and geopolitical competition over infrastructure intensifies, raising alarm bells across Washington and beyond. To help us make sense of this moment—and the broader politics of foreign aid—we’re joined by Jack Taggart, an expert on global governance and development, who discusses what these cuts mean for U.S. strategy, China’s rise, and the contested terrain of development and aid in today’s world. BIO: Jack Taggart is a Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy at Queen’s University Belfast. His research spans international political economy, global governance, and global development, focusing on shifting dynamics in development cooperation, such as the rise of new state and private actors, aid financialization, and development finance transformations. He also examines global governance institutions and the growing role of “multistakeholderism” in areas ranging from economic policy to environmental treaties. Links: The Second Cold War and Demise of the Western Foreign Aid Regime by Jack Taggart, SCWO Dispatch How to DOGE USAID by Daniela Gabor in Phenomenal World Industrial Policy and Imperial Realignment by Ilias Alami, Tom Chodor, Jack Taggart in Phenomenal World Rethinking d/Development by Emma Mawdsley and Jack Taggart in Progress in Human Geography Fictions of Financialization by Nick Bernard Rendering development investible: the anti-politics machine and the financialisation of development by Jack Taggart and Marcus Power in Progress in Human Geography Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Infrastructure, Nickel, and the Politics of Polyalignment in Indonesia

Indonesia is often framed as a key arena of China-Japan-US competition in the Second Cold War. In this episode, we talk with Trissia Wijaya about her book on the political economy of Chinese and Japan...

24 Kesä 43min

Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic with Mia Bennett

Nowhere is the dual threat of climate change and geopolitical contest felt more strongly than in the Arctic. Sea ice is declining rapidly, wildfires are burning, and permafrost is thawing. All the whi...

11 Huhti 43min

Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism with Thea Riofrancos

Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentall...

6 Tammi 1h 13min

Weila Gong, "Implementing a Low-Carbon Future: Climate Leadership in Chinese Cities" (Oxford UP, 2025)

This episode explores what China’s subnational climate experiments tell us about the possibilities and limits of climate leadership in an era of intensified geopolitics. We discuss how China’s domesti...

24 Joulu 202542min

Seeing China’s Belt and Road with Ed Schatz and Rachel Silvey

EPISODE SUMMARY: What becomes visible when you shift the lens away from Beijing to how China’s Belt and Road projects unfold on the ground? Seeing China’s Belt and Road, edited by Edward Schatz and R...

9 Heinä 202552min

Judicial Territory: Law, Capital, and the Expansion of American Empire with Shaina Potts

In this episode, we sit down with Shaina Potts, author of Judicial Territory: Law, Capital, and the Expansion of American Empire (Duke University Press, 2024)—a groundbreaking book that reveals how U....

20 Kesä 202545min

Catching the China-Europe Express: Logistics, Local Agency & Eurasian Geopolitics in the Polish Borderlands

In this episode, we focus on the often-overlooked geographies of Eurasian connectivity with Dr. Wojciech Kębłowski, whose research brings attention to the Polish border towns of Małaszewicze and Narev...

4 Touko 202556min