Gideon Rachman Keynote Speaker

Gideon Rachman translates his extensive travels and his remarkable access to world leaders into an insider’s view of global events. He speaks authoritatively about politics, economics and globalisation as they apply to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and more.

At the FT, Gideon writes a weekly column on international politics as well as feature articles. He has reported for the FT from all over the world. Before joining the FT in 2006, he worked for The Economist for 15 years in a range of jobs, including as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Bangkok and Washington and as business editor.

His FT Podcast ‘ The Rachman Review’ is amassing new listeners weekly – it was awarded as ‘International Podcast of the Year’ in 2025 by the annual Political Podcast Awards.

Gideon Rachman is the author of The Age of the Strongman: How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy around the World (April 2022), now translated into 14 languages, in which he finds global coherence in the rise of new nationalism, leadership cults and hostility to liberal democracy; his prior book, Easternisation: War and Peace in the Asian Century, illustrated how the growing wealth of Asian nations is transforming the international balance of power and was described as a “masterly account” by The Sunday Times and “superb” by The Daily Telegraph, with Paul Kennedy of Yale noting it was a work political leaders should read and reflect on; his latest book is War Is Interested in You: The Breakdown of International Order and the Threat of World War Three (2026), which examines the growing instability in global politics and the rising risk of major international conflict.

His book, Zero-Sum World,  predicted the current trade war between the US and China. It was published under the title Zero-Sum Future in the US in 2011. The New York Times called it “perhaps the best one-volume account now available of the huge post-communist spread of personal freedom and economic prosperity.” The Independent called it “an important timely book that should be obligatory reading for all interested in what is happening beyond our shores.” Niall Ferguson commenting on this book hailed it as ‘’An inimitable combination of dry wit and analytical clarity’.

Gideon received the 2016 Orwell Prize for journalism, Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing and the 2016 European Press Prize: Commentator Award. Gideon also received the Overseas Press Club of America’s 2017 Best Commentary Award for the best commentary in any medium on international news. His columns continue to cover a wide range of global issues from the economics and politics of the euro-crisis, to US foreign policy and the rise of China.

He has also written for numerous other publications, including Foreign Policy, National Interest, The Washington Quarterly and Prospect magazines. He is a regular broadcaster for, amongst others, the BBC, CNN and NPR.

Rachman is also a regular speaker before both academic and business audiences. He has spoken to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, the Brookings Institution, the London School of Economics, Oxford and Harvard Universities and the Royal Institute of International Affairs — as well as to Goldman Sachs, Barclays, CLSA, Morgan Stanley, Omnicom, Pictet, Jefferies, Euroclear and many other business audiences  

Gideon is a visiting fellow at the LSE IDEAS, a foreign policy think tank.