Before the container ship crisis in the Suez Canal, Grace spoke with Laleh Khalili, Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London, and author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula.

They discussed the fascinating architecture and infrastructure that underpins the backbone of capitalism—global shipping—and what it tells us about state power, corporate sovereignty, and imperialism – as well as how those networks are adapting to China’s increasingly assertive economic expansion.

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