With Trump back in office and multilateralism under threat, we could be looking at a new world order - with Small Island Developing States at risk of being caught in the middle.
National Harbour, MD, USA.
Image credit:Donald Trump speaks at event in National Harbor, MD, USA. ~ Image license:Jonah Elkowitz/Shutterstock
President Trump’s return to the White House in 2025 represents an inflection point for global politics. But the destabilising geopolitical upheaval generated by Trumpism 2.0 is potentially as much a symptom of decaying multilateral norms as it is the cause.
In this episode, Emily and Matt ask whether the post-1945 order is really unravelling, what this means for small island developing states, and how they might seek to navigate these increasingly choppy waters.
William Waqavakatoga from Fiji offers a Pacific perspective on geopolitical shifts in “Island Voices”. Joanne Wallis and Jack Corbett, Australian academics working on international security and small-island politics, help us make sense of what is going on for our “Explainer”. We are then joined by Ambassador Ali Mohamed of the Maldives, Andy Knight, a Barbadian academic living in Canada, and Xiaotong Zhang, a Chinese academic living in Kazakhstan, to hear how these processes are playing out differently in the Indian Ocean, Caribbean and Pacific in “The Big Picture”. Finally, Matt and Emily ask whether SIDS are now potentially at risk of a pernicious new form of recolonisation in “No Stupid Questions”.
Featuring:
Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Senior Research Fellow at ODI
Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield
William Waqavakatoga | Doctoral Candidate at the University of Adelaide
Joanne Wallis | Professor of International Security at the University of Adelaide
Jack Corbett | RESI Director and Professor of Politics at Monash University
Ali Naseer Mohamed | Permanent Representative of Maldives to the United Nations
W. Andy Knight | Professor of International Relations at University of Alberta
Xiaotong Zhang | Professor of International Relations at KIMEP University
Resources:
RESI Book | Sustaining Development in Small Islands: Climate Change, Geopolitical Security and the Permissive Liberal Order
RESI Paper | Geopolitical competition, bilateral aid, and the collective interests of Small Island Developing States
William’s University of Adelaide Profile | William Waqavakatoga
Joanne’s University of Adelaide Profile | Professor Joanne Wallis
William and Joanne’s recent paper | Ordering the Islands? Pacific Responses to China's Strategic Narratives
Joanne’s recent book | Power and Influence in the Pacific Islands Understanding Statecraftiness
Jack’s Monash University Profile | Professor Jack Corbett
Ali Naseer on recent Carnegie Council Podcast | Small States, Mutual Respect and the Future of the Multilateral System
Andy’s University of Alberta Profile | Professor W. Andy Knight
Andy’s recent Caribbean op-ed | Economic threats loom for Caribbean nations in Trump 2.0
Xiaotong’s KIMEP University Profile | Professor Xiaotong Zhang
Xiaotong’s recent books | New Economic Statecraft: China, the US and EU (2024) and China’s Modern Economic Statecraft: A Wealth-Power Dialectic (2025)
UK Parliamentary Report | Geopolitical Competition in the International System
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