Policy Prompt

Why do some empires grow and others collapse? Is collapse inevitable, or can the goalposts move at the rate of experimentation? And is data collection or artificial intelligence the final frontier? Either way, progress isn’t linear; rules and regulations are both the strengths and weaknesses of today’s evolving empires.

We may or may not be seeing a new iteration of the computer revolution. Paul and Vass are joined by Carl Benedikt Frey: economist, author and Dieter Schwarz Associate Professor of AI & Work at the Oxford Internet Institute, in this episode of Policy Prompt. They explore what pushes progress in a nation, how AI differs from previous technological breakthroughs, and how room to grow is dependent on room to experiment.

Mentioned:

Decentralization: Wikipedia

Comparison of the electric vehicle industry in China and the US: ResearchGate

Anti-trust laws: Wikipedia

Exposure: NIST

Harmonization of standards: Wikipedia

Some Simple Economics of AGI: arXiv

Further Reading:

Carl Benedikt Frey bio: Wikipedia

How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations (Princeton University Press, 2025): Princeton University Press

Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our supervising producer is Tim Lewis, with technical production by Henry Daemen and Luke McKee. Show notes are prepared by Rebecca MacIntyre, Libza Manna and Isabel Neufeld, who also handles social media engagement, brand design and episode artwork by Abhilasha Dewan and Sami Chouhdary, with creative direction from Som Tsoi. 

Original music by Joshua Snethlage. 

Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault. 

Be sure to follow us on social media. 

X: @_policyprompt

IG: @cigionline

Listen to new episodes of Policy Prompt on all major podcast platforms. Questions, comments or suggestions? Reach out to CIGI’s Policy Prompt team at info@policyprompt.io

CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE INNOVATION

Power over sports is power over people, power over passion. Worldwide, there is no stronger sports phenomenon than football. So when you see your team, your favourite player, sporting a brand name on their uniform, particularly a brand associated with a world power (such as Arsenal and Real Madrid united by partnerships with Emirates), or with addictive products like gambling, that’s not neutral marketing. You're seeing an outright soft power flex.

Vass Bednar is joined by Joey D’Urso in this timely Policy Prompt episode where they discuss the reality of active geopolitics in the beautiful game. Joey is a journalist with a career focus on football (soccer) and politics, and he’s the author of More Than A Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Money and Power (Seven Dials, 2025).

Mentioned:

Ronald Reagan’s Proclamation 5606, National Women in Sports Day: Reagan Library

Title IX, Richard Nixon’s amendment against the discrimination on the basis of sex in sport: Time

Real Madrid’s long-standing partnership with Emirates: Real Madrid

Arsenal’s partnership with Emirates: Arsenal

Sportswashing: Wikipedia

Premier League clubs banning sports gambling logos from uniforms in 2026–27: The Guardian

Gambling companies circumventing advertising ban: BBC

Saudi Arabia’s 80% stake purchase of Newcastle United F.C. in 2021: Wikipedia

US sanctions Colombia soccer club for crime ties: Insight Crime

Aston Villa supports Acorns, children’s hospice: Acorns

Football teams owned by Red Bull: Wikipedia

Further Reading:

More Than A Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Finance and Power (Seven Dials, 2025): Goodreads

Joey D’Urso bio: North Bank Talent

Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our supervising producer is Tim Lewis, with technical production by Henry Daemen and Luke McKee. Show notes are prepared by Rebecca MacIntyre, Libza Manna and Isabel Neufeld, who also handles social media engagement, brand design and episode artwork by Abhilasha Dewan and Sami Chouhdary, with creative direction from Som Tsoi. 

Original music by Joshua Snethlage. 

Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault. 

Be sure to follow us on social media. 

X: @_policyprompt

IG: @cigionline

Listen to new episodes of Policy Prompt on all major podcast platforms. Questions, comments or suggestions? Reach out to CIGI’s Policy Prompt team at info@policyprompt.io

CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE INNOVATION

Dominance on the global stage doesn’t look the same as it once did, and some nations are only figuring that out as others are rewriting the rules out from under them. Global trade has suffered under tariffs, but not always in the expected ways. China has locked down its emergent technology, but nations around the globe rely on its resources still. The Strait of Hormuz remains a very real structural chokepoint for the whole world, and efforts to leverage power around it have not guaranteed outcomes for anyone. Any tactic in a nation’s plans for navigating these seismic global shifts could have unintended consequences.

This episode features Chad P. Bown and Soumaya Keynes, authors of the recently released How to Win a Trade War (Simon & Schuster, 2026). Chad is the Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and an expert on political economy of international trade policy. Soumaya is an economics columnist at the Financial Times, and she's focused her research on the US economy and the trade policies of Donald Trump’s first presidency. They discuss the modern playing field of trade wars, policies and tactics that are shaping global operations today.

Mentioned:

US imports from China fell in 2025: Peterson Institute for International Economics

Apple pivoting to Indian manufacturers for iPhones: Reuters

Strait of Hormuz crisis: [Wikipedia] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Strait_of_Hormuz_crisis#:~:text=The%20largest%2Dever%20monthly%20increase,of%20the%20world%20oil%20market)

China restricting technology exports: Reuters

China’s rare earth mineral export restrictions: CSIS

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP): Government of Canada

Liberation Day: Wikipedia

Chinese electric vehicles in the EU: CEPA

US tariffs on Canadian aluminum: PWC

Further Reading:

Chad P. Bown biography: Peterson Institute for International Economics

Soumaya Keynes biography: Wikipedia

How to Win a Trade War (Simon & Schuster, 2026): Simon & Schuster

Timeline of US tariffs and their impacts: taxfoundation.org

Credits:

Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our supervising producer is Tim Lewis, with technical production by Henry Daemen and Luke McKee. Show notes are prepared by Rebecca MacIntyre, Libza Manna and Isabel Neufeld, who also handles social media engagement, brand design and episode artwork by Abhilasha Dewan and Sami Chouhdary, with creative direction from Som Tsoi. 

Original music by Joshua Snethlage. 

Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault. 

Be sure to follow us on social media. 

X: @_policyprompt

IG: @cigionline

Listen to new episodes of Policy Prompt on all major podcast platforms. Questions, comments or suggestions? Reach out to CIGI’s Policy Prompt team at info@policyprompt.io

CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE INNOVATION

AI governance is not a one-note issue. It spans geopolitics, science, philosophy, sociology, and as it grows and impacts more aspects of human governance and decision making, so does its span. Unlike the Space Race, there’s little reason for international actors to limit collaboration, given the intangible nature of this progress and its broad reach into so many aspects of our lives across the globe. What stags are we missing by limiting ourselves to hunting rabbits?

Paul and Vass are joined by Boris Babic and Brian Wong of the University of Hong Kong to discuss the intersection of governance, philosophy, physics and more to tackle today’s beast of AI. Touching on both responsibilities and freedoms of governments and private actors, they open a window to a world in which AI advancements are shared and grown, not kept under lock and key to wither without sunlight.

Mentioned:

Supranational organizations: archive.unescwa.org/supranational-organizations

“Raising the lobster”: sinicapodcast.com/p/raising-the-lobster-phrase-of-the

Iris Marion Young: cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-habermas-lexicon/iris-marion-young

OpenClaw AI: openclaw.ai/

The Space Race: wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race

NeurIPS: neurips.cc/

NeurIPS US-sanctioned contributors ban (and reversal): reuters.com/world/china/china-boycotts-top-ai-conference-after-ban-papers-us-sanctioned-entities-2026-03-27/

Stag Hunt in game theory: wikipedia.org/wiki/Stag_hunt

Nash equilibrium: wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium

Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum: youtube.com/watch?v=sFBkNX1-cbg

Brussels strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in energy: data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/WK-16692-2025-INIT/en/pdf

Kenya Artificial Intelligence Strategy: ict.go.ke/sites/default/files/2025-03/Kenya

The Three-Body Problem, novel by Liu Cixin: wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel)

Further Reading:

Boris Babic: borisbabic.com/

Brian Wong: cccw.hku.hk/team/brian-wong/

Credits:

Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our supervising producer is Tim Lewis, with technical production by Henry Daemen and Luke McKee. Show notes are prepared by Rebecca MacIntyre, Libza Manna and Isabel Neufeld, who also handles social media engagement, brand design and episode artwork by Abhilasha Dewan and Sami Chouhdary, with creative direction from Som Tsoi. 

Original music by Joshua Snethlage. 

Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault. 

Be sure to follow us on social media. 

X: @_policyprompt

IG: @cigionline

Listen to new episodes of Policy Prompt on all major podcast platforms. Questions, comments or suggestions? Reach out to CIGI’s Policy Prompt team at info@policyprompt.io

CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE INNOVATION

It’s easy to forget that everything in our lives that’s not strictly natural has been manufactured. That manufacturing incorporates elements from around the world, elements that had been designed, harvested, synthesized, shipped, assembled, shipped again to meet you. This system is remarkably efficient and ridiculously cheap, but that’s come at a cost. Our highly convenient world stands on toothpick-thin struts. How can we design it better?

In this episode of Policy Prompt, Paul and Vass are joined by Tim Minshall, inaugural Dr John C Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge, Head of the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), Head of the IfM’s Centre for Technology Management and a Fellow of Churchill Co. Together, they explore the reality of today’s manufacturing, the fragility of the supply chains we take for granted, and how a better world can be manufactured.

Mentioned:

Friction-maxxing: wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction-maxxing

Institute for manufacturing: ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/

COVID-19 toilet paper crisis: statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/7899-great-toilet-paper-scare-2020

Mercantilism: wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism

Supply chains: wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain

2021 blockage of the Suez Canal: wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Suez_Canal_obstruction

Magic Eye pictures: wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Eye

Critical minerals: wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_raw_materials

Decarbonization: news.climate.columbia.edu/2022/04/22/what-is-decarbonization-and-how-do-we-make-it-happen/

Liberation Day and tariffs: wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_Day_tariffs

USMCA review in 2026: csis.org/analysis/usmca-review-2026

Redundancy: wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundancy

Further Reading:

Tim Minshall bio: ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/people/thwm100/

How Things Are Made: A Journey Through the Hidden World of Manufacturing (Ecco, 2025) by Tim Minshall: indigo.ca/en-ca/how-things-are-made-a-journey-through-the-hidden-world-of-manufacturing/9780063434653.html

Your Life Is Manufactured: How We Make Things, Why It Matters and How We Can Do It Better (Faber & Faber, 2025) by Tim Minshall, shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize in 2025: royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/science-book-prize/books/2025/your-life-is-manufactured/

Credits:

Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our supervising producer is Tim Lewis, with technical production by Henry Daemen and Luke McKee. Show notes are prepared by Rebecca MacIntyre, Libza Manna and Isabel Neufeld, who also handles social media engagement, brand design and episode artwork by Abhilasha Dewan and Sami Chouhdary, with creative direction from Som Tsoi. 

Original music by Joshua Snethlage. 

Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault. 

Be sure to follow us on social media. 

X: @_policyprompt

IG: @cigionline

Listen to new episodes of Policy Prompt on all major podcast platforms. Questions, comments or suggestions? Reach out to CIGI’s Policy Prompt team at info@policyprompt.io

CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE INNOVATION