Weapons of the Weak
Mentioned once across 1 show · first heard Jan 2026 on The Ezra Klein Show.
Who said what
Henry Farrell💬 Mentioned
…discussing how weaker countries resist hegemonic power projection through economic and military means
“I do think we're beginning to see some of that happening. The more that you use it as well, the less other countries are going to be willing to buy into the stuff that you offer. And I think one of the really interesting test cases that is coming up is AI because if you look at the political economy of AI, the Trump administration's approach to AI seems to be to offer it as freely and widely as possible in the expectation that everybody is going to be so impressed with the ways in which US AI companies have powered ahead that they will have no choice but to become dependent upon it. And then presumably after that, at some point, the US is able to use this as a new means of power. It is effectively in control of another of the great infrastructures of the world. And I'm going to be really interested to see whether countries actually, I'm sure, shrug their shoulders and go for it or whether or not they decide that actually it makes better sense for them to build their own platforms even if these platforms are worse because at least these platforms are theirs and cannot be used against them. And they begin to resist in different ways. I do think we're beginning to see some of that happening. The more that you use it as well, the less other countries are going to be willing to buy into the stuff that you offer. And I think one of the really interesting test cases that is coming up is AI because if you look at the political economy of AI, the Trump administration's approach to AI seems to be to offer it as freely and widely as possible in the expectation that everybody is going to be so impressed with the ways in which US AI companies have powered ahead that they will have no choice but to become dependent upon it. And then presumably after that, at some point, the US is able to use this as a new means of power. It is effectively in control of another of the great infrastructures of the world. And I'm going to be really interested to see whether countries actually, I'm sure, shrug their shoulders and go for it or whether or not they decide that actually it makes better sense for them to build their own platforms even if these platforms are worse because at least these platforms are theirs and cannot be used against them. Because the more that you do this, the more that other countries begin to try and figure out ways to use what the late political scientist James Scott calls the weapons of the weak. So they begin to resist in different ways.”
The Ezra Klein Show — The Week the World Admitted the Truth About Americaat 20:37
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