Podcast: The State of the World in 2024 with Ian Bremmer

Ian Bremmer on stage at GZERO Summit in Japan | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: the podcast

Listen: The world is grappling with intense political and humanitarian challenges—raging wars, surging nationalism, and a warming climate, to name a few. Yet, we also stand at the brinkof some of the most transformative opportunities in human history. So how do we make sense of the future and what’s next? Ian Bremmer breaks it all down in a special edition of the GZERO World Podcast: The 2024 State of the World.

Each year, Ian examines the biggest political moments (and movements) and shares an honest assessment of where we are… and where we’re going. Most worrying? Leadership, or rather, the glaring lack of it. Nowhere is this clearer than in ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, where everyone claims to want peace, but no one is both willing and able to make it happen. But it’s not all bleak.There are plenty of reasons for optimism. Ian Bremmer discusses the good, the bad, and where we all go from here in his 2024 State of the World, delivered live at the GZERO Summit in Tokyo, Japan.

Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

More from GZERO Media

In a first-of-its-kind deal, Nvidia and AMD will hand 15% of revenues from AI chip sales to China over to the US government in exchange for export licenses.

Riley Callanan

In a first-of-its-kind deal, Nvidia and AMD will hand 15% of revenues from AI chip sales to China over to the US government in exchange for export licenses.

Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, gives a statement after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked Finance Minister Christian Lindner, before a session of the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, in Berlin, Germany, November 7, 2024.
Reuters/Liesa Johannssen

Friedrich Merz’s first 100 days as chancellor of Germany have marked an assertive shift in the country’s role on the European and global stage.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with Judiciary Officials in Tehran, Iran, on July 16, 2025.
Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

Twelve days of war earlier this summer demonstrated that Iran has little capacity to defend its cities or its nuclear facilities from Israeli and US strikes. But it still likely retains some uranium supplies, so it has options.