As a coauthor of Eurasia Group’s annual risk forecast, president and founder Ian Bremmer identified the top risk in 2011 as “G-Zero”: a lack of leadership on the part of G20 countries in guiding an international economic agenda and resolving subsequent conflicts. Instead, the G-Zero model features policies driven by self-interest, uneven growth, and strained political ties between developed and emerging economies—among them China and the United States, whose bilateral relationship is an integral part of this shifting world order.

In this interview, conducted at this year’s World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, Bremmer talks with McKinsey’s director of publishing, Rik Kirkland, about the implications of G-Zero and the current status of China–US relations.