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Ian Bremmer      

President of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media; Political Scientist, Author, Entrepreneur & Lecturer

Ian Bremmer is a political scientist who helps business leaders, policy makers, and the general public make sense of the world around them. He is president and founder of Eurasia Group, the world’s leading political risk research and consulting firm, and GZERO Media, a company dedicated to providing intelligent and engaging coverage of international affairs. Bremmer is an independent voice on critical issues around the globe, offering clearheaded insights through speeches, written commentary, and even satirical puppets (really!).

A prolific writer, Bremmer is the author of eleven books, including the New York Times bestsellers, “Us vs Them: The Failure of Globalism” which examines the rise of populism across the world, and his latest book “The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats—and Our Response—Will Change the World” which covers a trio of looming global crises (health emergencies, climate change, and technological revolution) and outlines how these crises create global prosperity and opportunity.

He serves as the foreign affairs columnist and editor at large for Time magazine, and is the host of "GZERO World with Ian Bremmer," which airs weekly on US national public television. Bremmer is also a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and many others globally.

Bremmer also teaches at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and previously was a professor at New York University.

Speech Topics


Geopolitical Recession

Geopolitics is in a bust cycle. The world’s most powerful country—the United States—and its most important relationship—U.S.-China—are beset with profound challenges. Global institutions are increasingly ineffective. The result: a growing vacuum of leadership and coordination. How does this geopolitical recession shape our ability to respond to crises like the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, climate change, and disruptive technologies? How do we get out of it? And what comes after the G-Zero?

Superpower: Three Choices for America's Role in the World

Global policy expert Ian Bremmer calls for a complete rethink of America’s role in tomorrow’s world. In an increasingly volatile international environment, the question has never been more important. Bremmer explores three choices, each with its own benefits and drawbacks:

  • “Independent America” argues that it’s time for Washington to declare independence from the responsibility to solve everyone else’s problems. Instead, America should lead by example by investing in America’s enormous untapped potential; -“Moneyball America” acknowledges that we can’t manage every international challenge but asserts that we must defend U.S. interests wherever they’re threatened. It looks beyond phony arguments about American exceptionalism with a clear-eyed assessment of U.S. strengths and limitations; and, -“Indispensable America” insists that only Washington can promote the values on which global stability increasingly depends in our hyper-connected world. Turning inward would threaten America’s security and prosperity.

China, India and Beyond: The Opportunities and Pitfalls of Asian Growth

China bestrides the world as a colossus, and business leaders can't get enough from the promised riches of Asia. But does unprecedented growth mean that your company will benefit from it? Ian Bremmer, intellectual entrepreneur and President of Eurasia Group, explains the dangers of Asian growth for global investors seeking to build a presence in international markets; for companies seeking to sell their products there; and for the global markets more broadly.

At this speech audiences will learn:

-How to read the political and economic landscape in China, India, and beyond -How geopolitics is creating greater risks—and opportunities—for investors in Asia

The Politics of Global Energy

Oil prices are increasingly susceptible to international politics--for both the world's supply and demand. Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the world's largest political risk consultancy, shares his views on what's in store for the politics of global energy--from spiralling Chinese and Indian growth in consumption to the dangers of future oil export from the Middle East, Russia and the Caspian, and West Africa.

At this speech audiences will learn:

-Why international politics matters to oil investors, financial institutions, and consumers alike

-How to assess the real threats to oil production, and discount the headlines that don't matter

-How a shift in global relations between the US and China will affect the global energy market

The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?

A generation after communism’s collapse, the future of free market capitalism isn't what it used to be. Public wealth, public investment, and public ownership have made a stunning comeback. Certain that command economies are doomed to fail but afraid that truly free markets will spin beyond their control, the political leadership in China, Russia, the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf and other authoritarian states have invented a new system: state capitalism. Each in their own way, they’re using markets to create wealth that can be directed toward the achievement of political goals. Governments now dominate key domestic economic sectors. The oil companies they own control three-quarters of the world’s crude oil reserves. They use state-owned companies to manipulate entire economic sectors and industries. They own enormous investment funds that have become vitally important sources of capital for Western governments and banks weakened by financial crisis. An expert on the impact of politics on market performance, Ian Bremmer illustrates the rise of state capitalism and details its long-term threat to relations among nations and the future of the global economy.

At this presentation audiences will learn about: -The rise of state capitalism -Why it exists and how it works -The threat to free market capitalism

Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-ZERO World

At a time when so many challenges transcend borders, the need for international leadership has never been greater. Leaders have the leverage to coordinate multinational responses to transnational problems and the wealth and power to persuade other governments to take actions they wouldn’t otherwise take. They pick up the checks that others can’t afford and provide services no one else will pay for. But in years to come, there will be no global leadership, because there is now no single country or bloc of countries with the political and economic muscle to drive an international agenda. America is struggling to pay its bills, Europe is busy trying to save the eurozone, and emerging powers are wrestling with too many complex challenges at home to accept risks and burdens abroad. A world without leaders will undermine our ability over the next decade to keep the peace in Asia and the Middle East, to grow the global economy, to reverse the impact of climate change, to feed growing populations, and to protect the most basic of all necessities—air, food, and water. Its effects will be felt in every region of the world, even in cyberspace.

Ian Bremmer, an expert on international politics and its impact on global markets, will detail the following:

-The impact of a world without leadership on international politics and the global economy -Next challenges facing the United States, Europe and China -Asia’s evolving balance of power -The future of the Middle East -Winners and losers in a world without leaders -Crisis points- from food security to cyberspace -The global balance of power most likely to emerge from a G-Zero world

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Managing Risk in an Unstable World

To navigate globalization's choppy waters, every business leader analyzes economic risk when considering overseas investments or looking at market exposure. But do you look beyond reassuring data about per-capita income or economic growth--to assess the political risk of doing business in specific countries? If not, you may get blindsided when political forces shape markets in unexpected ways--from populist measures in advance of an election cycle to social unrest in many of the top emerging markets performers.

Related speech topics:

  • How to spot political risk on the horizon and balance it against economic opportunities—and what it means for your global investments
  • How to understand the opportunities, and dangers, of dramatic Chinese growth
  • What are the trends around global terror, proliferation, and shifting geopolitics, and how it impacts global markets
  • The Politics of Global Energy:
  • How a “post-peak oil” scenario will threaten petro-states’ economies and core stability
  • How changing energy markets will shift the US’ global interests

The Fat Tail: The Power of Political Knowledge for Strategic Investing

The fallout from the still-unfolding global financial crisis provides several perfect examples of "fat tail" risk, those that flow from the low-probability, high-impact events that generate upheaval more often than we think. An understanding of the political dynamics generated by the financial crisis helps us forecast market risks, why politics matters more than ever for market performance, why the world's wealthiest countries have begun to behave like emerging market states, and what all this means for investors and companies.

Related speech topics:

  • The risks that flow from low-probability, high-impact events like the global financial crisis
  • Why politics matter more for the performance of markets and for issues ranging from defaults to nationalization to regulatory reforms
  • Why developed states are behaving more like emerging markets
  • The shift from New York, Shanghai, and Mumbai to Washington, Beijing, and Delhi—and the risks that this trend creates

The Rise of the Different: Why the Global Order Doesn’t Work--and What We Can Do About It

Today, the American-led global order faces a fundamental challenge. It is not, however, the rise of the “rest.” It’s the rise of the “different.” Rising emerging market nations are inherently less stable. What does this mean for the global order?

Related speech topics:

  • Geopolitical conflict at large, from Euro-crisis and US elections to Arab Spring and Asian power politics
  • The best bets for US-led initiatives going forward
  • The future of US-China relations
  • The shifting balance between security and economics
  • New investment strategies and the power of resilience
  • China, India & Beyond: the opportunities and pitfalls of Asian Growth

The New Abnormal: Who are the Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World?

We have entered a period of heightened geopolitical and market volatility, what Ian Bremmer calls the “New Abnormal.” In the past few years, we’ve seen a financial crisis, a global recession, the Eurozone crisis, and the Arab Spring. All of this comes against the backdrop of a G-Zero world—an environment where no country or group of countries is willing and able to sustainably set the international agenda. This lack of global leadership will ensure that the ride gets even bumpier before the turbulence subsides. This world without leaders will undermine our ability over the next decade to keep the peace in Asia and the Middle East, to grow the global economy, to reverse the impact of climate change, to feed growing populations, and to protect the most basic of all necessities—air, food, and water. Its effects will be felt in every region of the world, even in cyberspace.

Related speech topics:

  • How the US energy revolution will add to the uncertainty by giving the US less incentive to remain involved in the Middle East and by creating new sets of economic winners and losers
  • How to understand what comes next for the global economy, and why the key variable to watch is the state of US-Chinese relations
  • Next challenges facing the United States, Europe and China
  • Asia’s evolving balance of power
  • The future of the Middle East
  • Winners and losers in a world without leaders
  • Crisis points -- from food security to cyberspace
  • The global balance of power most likely to emerge from a G-Zero world

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