Undercurrents: Recent Episodes
Chatham House
Undercurrents is a regular podcast series featuring interviews with Chatham House experts - and others - about the critical underlying issues which are shaping modern society. Hosted by staff from across the institute, each episode goes in-depth on a topic, looking beyond the news to explore the issues shaping global politics.
The last episode of Reflections at 100, marking the centenary of International Affairs, looks at women’s contributions to international thought, and how they have been erased from the discipline of International Relations. Isabel and Krisztina speak to Dr Katharina Rietzler about women’s contributions to the journal and international relations, especially in the UK. Then, Krisztina speaks to Professor Barbara Savage about Black women’s contributions to international relations in the US. To wrap up this episode, Leah de Haan sheds light on Chatham House's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiative and Jo Hills shares their thoughts about putting together the archive collections. Reflections at 100 is a mini-series accompanying the journal’s centenary Archive Collections. The collections bring together articles from our archive which speak to the past, present and future of current affairs issues. In each podcast episode, we speak to contributors from a specific collection and explore what the research tells us about policy-making today.
Explore the Archive Collection freely until the end of December 2022, including Katharina’s introduction: 100 years of women in International Affairs. International Affairs was started at Chatham House in 1922 to communicate research to members who could not attend in person. Over the last 100 years it has transformed into a journal that publishes academically rigorous and policy relevant research. It is published for Chatham House by Oxford University Press. Read the latest issue here.
Credits:
Speakers: Barbara D. Savage, Katharina Rietzler, Leah de Haan and Jo Hills
Hosts: Isabel Muttreja and Krisztina Csortea
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
This episode of Reflections at 100, marking the centenary of International Affairs, the journal of Chatham House, looks at how empire and decolonization have been discussed in the journal.
Isabel and Krisztina speak to Meera Sabaratnam about how thinkers and policy-makers from the 1920s to 1970s understood both empire and then decolonization. Meera highlights four tensions present within the discussions, and how these may impact the international order today.
Inderjeet Parmar delves deeper into the influence of Chatham House at the time and situates these discussions in the broader thinktank and global context.
Reflections at 100 is a mini-series accompanying the journal’s centenary Archive Collections. The collections bring together articles from our archive which speak to the past, present and future of current affairs issues. In each podcast episode we speak to editors and contributors to the collection and explore what the research tells us about policy-making today.
Explore the Archive Collection, free to access until mid-November 2022, including Meera's introduction: 100 years of empire and decolonization.
International Affairs was started at Chatham House in 1922 to communicate research to members who could not attend in person. Over the last 100 years it has transformed into a journal that publishes academically rigorous and policy relevant research. It is published for Chatham House by Oxford University Press. Read the latest issue here.
Credits:
Speakers: Meera Sabaratnam and Inderjeet Parmar
Hosts: Isabel Muttreja and Krisztina Csortea
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
What drives refugee movements and how should policies manage them?
This episode of Reflections at 100, marking the centenary of International Affairs, the journal of Chatham House, looks at refugees and migration.
Isabel speaks to Emily Venturi about the movement of refugees, the development of global humanitarian systems and the change in thinking on refugees over time. Then she interviews Ali Bilgic on how populism has impacted refugee policy in Britain, and women’s experiences of the detention system.
Reflections at 100 is a mini-series accompanying the journal’s centenary Archive Collections. The collections bring together articles from our archive which speak to the past, present and future of current affairs issues. In each podcast episode we speak to contributors from the issue and explore what the research tells us about policy-making today.
International Affairs was started at Chatham House in 1922 to communicate research to members who could not attend in person. Over the last 100 years it has transformed into a journal that publishes academically rigorous and policy relevant research. It is published for Chatham House by Oxford University Press. Read the latest issue here.
Explore the Archive Collection freely until the end of August 2022, including Emily’s introduction:
100 years of refugees and migration
Read Ali Bilgic and Athina Gkouti’s article:
Who is entitled to feel in the age of populism? Women's resistance to migrant detention in Britain
Credits:
Speakers: Emily Venturi and Ali Bilgic
Hosts: Isabel Muttreja
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
In this final episode of our special series, we speak to Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko and Professor Georgiy Kassianov. How can Ukraine rebuild while coexisting with Russia? What is needed to rebuild a stronger country efficiently and effectively?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests : Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko (Ukrainian diplomat currently serving as Ukraine's Ambassador to the UK), Professor Georgiy Kassianov (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
How have western financial institutions created loopholes for the Russian elite? Are sanctions truly enforceable on oligarchs with a strong foothold in cities like London? What is Putin’s role in all of this?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Thomas Mayne (Chatham House Visiting Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Programme), Oliver Bullough (author of Butler to the World and Moneyland)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
In this episode we follow up on the food shortage crisis we looked at in the beginning weeks of the war on episode two. What long-term problems can we expect because of the disruption to agriculture in Ukraine? Is there any hope for a solution?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests :Marianne Schneider-Petsinger (Chatham House Senior Research Fellow, Global Economy and Finance Programme; Project Director, Global Trade Policy Forum), Laura Wellesley (Chatham House Senior Research Fellow, Environment and Society Programme)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
What can the UN do on the ground to help the people of Ukraine? Does the war bring the EU a greater sense of purpose or does it mask underlying issues?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests :Saviano Abreu (Head of Communications at The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Pepijn Bergsen (Research Fellow, Europe Progamme)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
Why are some peace talks more fruitful than others? Why do negotiations break down? What role can mediators play in sensitive discussions? To answer these questions, Mariana is joined by Isabel Bramsen, who discusses her recent article in the International Affairs journal.
In it, Isabel draws on her research and first-hand experiences as a neutral observer during the Philippines peace talks in 2017. They explore key learnings for policymakers and diplomats, including the transformative role of in-person interactions. Then, Isabel assesses the prospect of peace talks in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Read the International Affairs article:
Transformative diplomacy? Micro-sociological observations from the Philippine peace talks
Credits:
Speaker: Isabel Bramsen
Host: Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
What has the war revealed about both the Russian and Ukranian military capabilities? Was the Russian military surprisingly unprepared? What impact is the course of the war having on the global military industrial complex.
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests :Andrew Dorman (Chatham House Editor of International Affairs, Professor of International Security at Kings College), Bettina Renz (Professor at the School of Politics, University of Nottingham)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
How has the war impacted Ukranians' sense of identity? How has Ukrainian language, culture, and politics changed after fall of the Soviet Union. Are Putin’s views on Ukrainian identity shared by others in Russia?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Orysia Lutsevych (Head and Research Fellow, Ukraine Forum, Russia and Eurasia Programme); Professor Georgiy Kassianov (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, author of “From 'the Ukraine' to Ukraine. In the search of the future, 1991-2021").
This episode was produced by David Dargahi of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
This episode of Reflections at 100, marking the centenary of International Affairs, the journal of Chatham House, looks at China’s role in the world over the past century. Isabel Muttreja and Krisztina Csortea speak to Evelyn Goh, who provides a whistle-stop tour of Chinese history. They also discuss how China has been understood in the journal over time.
Then Krisztina interviews Rosemary Foot about the impact of history on current affairs in China, before Isabel gets Xiangfeng Yang’s perspective on US–China relations from Donald Trump to current US president Joe Biden.
Reflections at 100 is a mini-series accompanying the journal’s centenary Archive Collections. The collections bring together articles from our archive which speak to the past, present and future of current affairs issues. In each podcast episode we speak to contributors from the issue and explore what the research tells us about policy-making today.
International Affairs was started at Chatham House in 1922 to communicate research to members who could not attend in person. Over the last 100 years it has transformed into a journal that publishes academically rigorous and policy relevant research. It is published for Chatham House by Oxford University Press. Read the latest issue here.
Explore the Archive Collection freely until the end of June 2022, including Evelyn’s introduction:
100 years of China in international politics
Read Rosemary Foot’s article:
Remembering the past to secure the present: Versailles legacies in a resurgent China
Read Xiangfeng Yang’s article:
The great Chinese surprise: the rupture with the United States is real and is happening
Credits:
Speakers: Evelyn Goh, Rosemary Foot, Xiangfeng Yang
Hosts: Isabel Muttreja, Krisztina Csortea
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
How has the relationship with the United States and Putin changed from president to president? When did the relationship sour and what, if anything, could have been done to send warning signals to Putin?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Dr Leslie Vinjamuri (Director, US and the Americas Programme Chatham House), Dr Charles Kupchan (Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University, former Senior Advisor to President Obama)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
How have Brazil and Africa reacted to the war in Ukraine? With impending elections in Brazil, how is President Bolsonaro’s relationship with Putin received by the public? How will food insecurity affect African nations' response to the war?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Oliver Stuenkel (Associate Professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation), Samuel Ramani (University of Oxford & Assoc Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi and Anouk Millet of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
The war in Ukraine and global cost-of-living crisis are exerting pressure on economies across the world. With ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns and food supply chain issues on top of this, China is facing a particularly severe challenge.
In this episode Ben speaks with Dr Yu Jie (Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House) about the economic 'perfect storm' presenting such an obstacle to President Xi Jinping's 'common prosperity' agenda. They discuss the domestic Chinese debate over the future of its economy, the implications of Russia's invasion and the likely longevity of the government's new 'comprehensive thrift strategy'.
Read The World Today article:
Beijing briefing: China puts prosperity on hold
Credits:
Speaker: Yu Jie
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
How has India and Southeast Asia reacted to the war in Ukraine? Are they aligning with western sanctions or strengthening ties to Russia? What do they have to gain or lose in involving themselves in the war.
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Dr. Shruti Kapila (University of Cambridge), Ben Bland (Chatham House Director, Asia-Pacific Programme), Hunter Marston (Associate 9dashline)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi and Anouk Millet of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
What was NATO’s original purpose and what is its role in the war in Ukraine? Will Finland and Sweden join NATO and what significance does this have? What is Russia’s historical relationship with NATO and how did it sour?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Clips used: BBC News
Guests: Jamie Shea (Former NATO official, Chatham House associate fellow), Dan Sabbagh (The Guardian’s Defense and Security Editor), Renata Dwan (Chatham House Deputy Director)
This episode was produced by David Dargahi and Anouk Millet of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
Six years after the EU-Turkey Joint Statement, domestic changes in Turkey and international developments such as the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan have ensured the border between Greece and Turkey remains a hotspot for migration flows.
Today, Turkey is one of the world’s biggest refugee-receiving countries and hosts four million refugees.
In this episode, Ayşen Üstübici, assistant professor at Koç University in Istanbul, speaks to Mariana about EU-Turkey migration diplomacy and the Turkish role in international migration governance.
Looking back, Ayşen outlines the implications of the 2016 statement and the evolving attitudes of Turkish cities towards migrants and asylum-seekers in the intervening years.
Then Stefanos Levidis from Forensic Architecture explores the other side of the border with Danai, looking at the Greek case as the external border of the EU.
Stefanos explains why the EU-Turkey border is important and how the natural environment can be weaponized to enforce border controls.
Read Chatham House’s expert comments on EU migration policies: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/03/ukraine-exposes-europes-double-standards-refugees
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/10/what-externalization-and-why-it-threat-refugees
Credits:
Speakers: Ayşen Üstübici, Stefanos Levidis
Hosts: Danai Avgeri, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
How does Russia use disinformation and who are they targeting? How are social networks shaping the war in Ukraine? What can be done to stop the spread of disinformation? Host: Ned Sedgwick
Clips used: BBC News
Guests: Emily Taylor, Keir Giles, Damian Collins MP
This episode was produced by David Dargahi and Anouk Millet of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
Power for refugees is a new two-part podcast on the Undercurrents podcast feed. Over two episodes Ben explores an often-overlooked aspect of humanitarian assistance: access to energy.
From Afghanistan to Ukraine to Sudan - the world is grappling with the consequences that emerge when people are forced to flee from their homes. One factor that does not usually make the headlines is that many people displaced by conflict or natural disasters lack access to the energy services that are necessary for forging dignified lives and livelihoods.
This second episode examines efforts to provide alternative fuel for cooking in displaced settings in Kenya, Niger and Rwanda, shedding light on what has worked and what has not.
Approximately 81% of refugees rely on basic fuels like wood for cooking. This brings about major difficulties for refugees and the environment, such as illness-inducing fumes from burning wood, the threat of violence to the women and girls who travel often long distances to collect wood, and deforestation.
Since 2015, Chatham House has been researching this issue and convening dialogues to spur action by humanitarians, energy companies and others. Our seminal Heat, Light and Power report provided the first ever comprehensive assessment of access to energy in refugee camps and urban areas with high numbers of refugees.
This two-part podcast is part of the Renewable Energy for Refugees project. Led by Practical Action, the project provides access to affordable and sustainable sources of renewable energy, and improves the health, wellbeing and security of refugees and neighbouring communities.
Credits:
Speakers: Suzy Huber (Inyenyeri), Benoit Moreno (UNHCR Niger), Syrus Mutua (Sanivation)
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Power for refugees is a new two-part podcast on the Undercurrents podcast feed. Over two episodes Ben explores an often-overlooked aspect of humanitarian assistance: access to energy.
From Afghanistan to Ukraine to Sudan - the world is grappling with the consequences that emerge when people are forced to flee from their homes. One factor that does not usually make the headlines is that many people displaced by conflict or natural disasters lack access to the energy services that are necessary for forging dignified lives and livelihoods.
Approximately 94% of refugees do not have access to electricity to heat or cool hospitals, schools and dwellings, or to light streets. This first part examines efforts to electrify refugee settlements in Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda, shedding light on what has worked and what has not.
Since 2015, Chatham House has been researching this issue and convening dialogues to spur action by humanitarians, energy companies and others. Our seminal Heat, Light and Power report provided the first ever comprehensive assessment of access to energy in refugee camps and urban areas with high numbers of refugees.
This two-part podcast is part of the Renewable Energy for Refugees project. Led by Practical Action, the project provides access to affordable and sustainable sources of renewable energy, and improves the health, wellbeing and security of refugees and neighbouring communities.
Credits:
Speakers: Emmanuel Aziebor (Mercy Corps), Laura Clarke (Practical Action), Kevin Mwangi (GIZ)
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Examining China and its relationship to Russia and Ukraine.
What is China’s role in the war in Ukraine? What is the state of the relationship between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin? Should they serve as mediator or do they have an active interest in a particular outcome?
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Clips used: South China Morning Post
Guests: Professor Rana Mitter, Dr. Yu Jie
This episode was produced by David Dargahi of Earshot Strategies on behalf of Chatham House.
The Contentious politics since the ‘Arab Spring’ project seeks to challenge the current prevalent narrative of a failed 2010/2011 series of revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. The project does this by interrogating the events in the Arab region since 2010 in a critical light, and by introducing a more nuanced analytical lens to understanding the evolution of change in the region and its contentious politics. The project is supported by the Carnegie Corporation New York.
In this four-part mini-series from the Undercurrents podcast, Dr Lina Khatib, the Director of the MENA Programme at Chatham House speaks to leading experts about the great upheaval which occurred in the Arab region during the ‘Arab Spring’, the changes across Arab countries that have happened since and the outlook for the future.
In the final episode, Lina and Libyan peace activist Zahra' Langhi discuss the struggle to rebuild Libya’s institutions and the critical role played by women in this movement and the need for the international community to embrace a rights-based approach.
Find out more:
Contentious politics since the ‘Arab Spring’
Credits:
Speaker: Zahra' Langhi
Host: Lina Khatib
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
The Contentious politics since the ‘Arab Spring’ project seeks to challenge the current prevalent narrative of a failed 2010/2011 series of revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. The project does this by interrogating the events in the Arab region since 2010 in a critical light, and by introducing a more nuanced analytical lens to understanding the evolution of change in the region and its contentious politics. The project is supported by the Carnegie Corporation New York.
In this four-part mini-series from the Undercurrents podcast, Dr Lina Khatib, the Director of the MENA Programme at Chatham House speaks to leading experts about the great upheaval which occurred in the Arab region during the ‘Arab Spring’, the changes across Arab countries that have happened since and the outlook for the future.
In this third episode, Lina and Alaa Al Aswani explore contentious politics in the Middle East generally, and Egypt specifically, and the conditions which allowed for authoritarian political systems to emerge.
Find out more:
Contentious politics since the ‘Arab Spring’
Credits:
Speaker: Alaa Al Aswani
Host: Lina Khatib
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
The Contentious politics since the ‘Arab Spring’ project seeks to challenge the current prevalent narrative of a failed 2010/2011 series of revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. The project does this by interrogating the events in the Arab region since 2010 in a critical light, and by introducing a more nuanced analytical lens to understanding the evolution of change in the region and its contentious politics. The project is supported by the Carnegie Corporation New York.
In this four-part mini-series from the Undercurrents podcast, Dr Lina Khatib, the Director of the MENA Programme at Chatham House speaks to leading experts about the great upheaval which occurred in the Arab region during the ‘Arab Spring’, the changes across Arab countries that have happened since and the outlook for the future.
In the second episode, Lina and Laury Haytayan discuss changes in Lebanon’s political system, and in particular the new political parties which are beginning to emerge to challenge the status quo.
Find out more:
Contentious politics since the ‘Arab Spring’
Credits:
Speaker: Laury Haytayan
Host: Lina Khatib
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
The Contentious politics since the ‘Arab Spring’ project seeks to challenge the current prevalent narrative of a failed 2010/2011 series of revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. The project does this by interrogating the events in the Arab region since 2010 in a critical light, and by introducing a more nuanced analytical lens to understanding the evolution of change in the region and its contentious politics. The project is supported by the Carnegie Corporation New York.
In this four-part mini-series from the Undercurrents podcast, Dr Lina Khatib, the Director of the MENA Programme at Chatham House speaks to leading experts about the great upheaval which occurred in the Arab region during the ‘Arab Spring’, the changes across Arab countries that have happened since and the outlook for the future.
In the first episode, Lina and James Zogby examine the political dynamics across the Arab world in the wake of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the impact of US foreign policy on the transformations which happened in the region over the last decade.
Find out more:
Contentious politics since the ‘Arab Spring’
Credits:
Speaker: James Zogby
Host: Lina Khatib
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
As the Philippines are set to elect a new president and vice president on May 9, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte appear to be heading for victory at the polls. To better understand how the son of a past dictator and the daughter of the current president are set to win the presidential ticket, Mariana speaks to Philip Bowring about the role of family dynasties in national politics.
Drawing on insights from his new book, The Making of Modern Philippines: Pieces of a Jigsaw State, Philip assesses outgoing President Duterte’s policies and some of the most pressing problems for the next president, from the economy, to governance and the national stance on China.
Credits:
Speaker: Philip Bowring
Host: Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
How reliant is the EU on Russian oil? What would an all-out ban on Russian oil look like? Which countries would be most affected? Does this offer an opportunity for renewable energy?
Clips used: Bloomberg News
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Helene von Bismark, Neil Quilliam, Antony Froggatt
Producer: Anouk Millet from Earshot Strategies
Russia has faced an unprecedented level of sanctions by the West covering the government itself, financial institutions, oligarchs associated with the Kremlin, and much more. But are these sanctions working? Can they really change anything on the ground in Ukraine?
Clips used:
-
DW News
-
C-Span
Credits:
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Creon Butler, Christine McDaniel, Bill Browder
Producer: Anouk Millet from Earshot Strategies
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we have seen an exponential increase in food prices around the world. In this second episode of our mini-series War in Ukraine, we’re trying to understand how and why a war in one part of the world risks causing famines in distant parts of the globe, and what can happen when people go hungry.
Read Chatham House’s latest research paper on the war’s impact on food and energy supplies.
Clips used in this episode:
-
DW News
-
Al Jazeera
-
France 24
Credits:
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Joe Glauber, Tim Benton, Mohamed Elkaramany
Producer: Anouk Millet from Earshot Strategies
The war in Ukraine has caused the largest refugee crisis in Europe since WW2. In this first episode of our new War in Ukraine mini-series, we’re looking at what Ukrainians face when crossing the border, whether enough is being done to protect them, and the impact on the real lives behind the numbers. Guest-host Ned Sedgwick speaks to Joung-Ah Ghedini-Williams (UNHCR), Emily Venturi (Chatham House) and Sonya Sceats (Freedom from Torture).
Clips used in this episode:
-
NBC’s Today programme
-
United Nations
Credits:
Host: Ned Sedgwick
Guests: Joung-Ah Ghedini-Williams, Emily Venturi, Sonya Sceats
Producer: Anouk Millet from Earshot Strategies
To mark the 100th anniversary of International Affairs, the journal of Chatham House, a new series of six archive collections will explore the past, present and future of current affairs issues. Each collection will be accompanied by an episode in this mini-series, where we explore what the research tells us about policy-making today.
This episode is all about war and conflict. Krisztina Csortea chats with the collection’s editors and war experts Andrew Dorman and Tracey German. They reflect on who has been talking about war in the journal, how debates have changed over time and how academics follow fashions in research. Later, Isabel Muttreja speaks to T.V. Paul about India and Pakistan’s nuclear policies and how the Ukraine conflict reminds us why this is such an important topic.
International Affairs was started at Chatham House in 1922 to communicate research to members who could not attend in person. Over the last 100 years it has transformed into a journal that publishes academically rigorous and policy relevant research. It is published for Chatham House by Oxford University Press. Read the latest issue here.
Explore the archive collection, including Andrew and Tracey’s open access introduction:
100 years of war and conflict
Read T.V. Paul’s article:
Nuclear doctrines and stable strategic relationships: the case of south Asia
Credits:
Speakers: Andrew Dorman, Tracey German and T.V. Paul
Hosts: Isabel Muttreja, Krisztina Csortea
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
A year on from the publication of the UK's Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, Chatham House Director Dr Robin Niblett shares his assessment of how Boris Johnson's government has implemented its vision of Global Britain.
Read the Chatham House research paper:
Global Britain in a divided world: Testing the ambitions of the Integrated Review
Credits:
Speaker: Robin Niblett
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Protracted conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, Horn of Africa and parts of Asia, although usually arising from intra-state disputes, rarely remain contained within national borders. Through the XCEPT project, supported with UK Aid from the UK government, Chatham House explores the informal supply chains and economies that develop across borders during times of war.
In this episode, XCEPT Project Manager Leah de Haan speaks to Chatham House experts Tim Eaton, Lina Khatib and Renad Mansour about cross-border conflicts in North Africa and the Levant.
First, Lina and Renad explain how a regional approach to analysing war economies in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq can enable us to better understand the dynamics of the conflict. Then Tim reveals the connections between civil war in Libya and conflict zones elsewhere in north Africa.
Find out more:
Cross-border conflict, evidence, policy and trends (XCEPT)
Credits:
Speakers: Tim Eaton, Lina Khatib, Renad Mansour
Hosts: Leah de Haan, Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
What has been going on in UK foreign policy over the last century, and how have leading thinkers approached it? To mark the 100th anniversary of International Affairs, the journal of Chatham House, a new series of six archive collections will explore the past, present and future of current affairs issues. Each collection will be accompanied by an episode in this mini-series, where we consider what the research tells us about policy-making today.
In this episode we’re talking about the first archive collection, on UK foreign policy. Krisztina Csortea, Managing Editor of the journal, and Isabel Muttreja, Marketing Manager speak to the collection’s editor (and Undercurrents host) Ben Horton about the four themes that UK foreign policy-makers and analysts have been preoccupied with over the last century.
Then, Isabel speaks to The Rt. Honourable Lord William Wallace of Saltaire about how national identity continues to shape UK foreign policy-making, and how his 1990 article relates to Brexit and global Britain. Then Krisztina finds out about the UK’s accountability for acts of torture during the War on Terror, with Ruth Blakeley, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield.
International Affairs was started at Chatham House in 1922 to communicate research to members who could not attend in person. Over the last 100 years it has transformed into a journal that publishes academically rigorous and policy relevant research. It is published for Chatham House by Oxford University Press. Read the latest issue here.
Explore the archive collection, including Ben’s open access introduction:
100 years of UK foreign policy
Read William Wallace’s article:
Foreign policy and national identity in the United Kingdom
Read Ruth Blakeley’s article:
Accountability, denial and the future-proofing of British torture
Credits:
Speakers: Ben Horton, William Wallace, Ruth Blakeley
Hosts: Isabel Muttreja, Krisztina Csortea
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
The idea of feminist foreign policy has entered the political mainstream in recent years, but does adoption by governments risk diluting the more radical dimensions of its agenda? To mark International Women's Day, Mariana is joined by Marissa Conway, co-founder of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, to discuss the trajectory of FFP.
Then Ben speaks with former UK Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher CMG, about his new book Ten Survival Skills for a World in Flux. As the world contends with numerous overlapping crises from climate change and COVID-19 to the war in Ukraine, the capacity of individuals and societies to deal with geopolitical turbulence has rarely been so critical. In this interview, Tom explains the skills needed to navigate the modern world, and how education systems must adapt to deliver the required change.
Read The World Today article:
Eve of a foreign policy revolution
Watch the Chatham House #IWD2022 event:
Feminist solutions to the climate crisis
Find the book:
Ten Survival Skills for a World in Flux
Credits:
Speakers: Marissa Conway, Tom Fletcher
Hosts: Ben Horton, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
As a site of enormous economic and military potential, space is the latest domain to be drawn into the strategic competition between Earth's great powers. In this episode, Ben is joined by Asia-Pacific Programme Senior Research Fellow Yu Jie, who explains the development of China's space policy, and why we should be worried about US-China relations in orbit.
Then Yusuf Hassan and Ani Martirossian interview Professor Lee Major, from Exeter University, about the state of social mobility in the UK. They discuss the politics of class in the 21st century and how to break down barriers to entry within elite institutions and education systems.
Read The World Today article:
Beijing briefing: Watch this space
Credits:
Speakers: Yu Jie, Lee Major
Hosts: Yusuf Hassan, Ben Horton, Ani Martirossian
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
The murder of George Floyd in 2020 and subsequent global escalation of Black Lives Matter movements highlighted the racial inequalities that exist in the United States and beyond. In the United Kingdom and many other former colonial states these movements have come to reflect upon the ongoing legacies of empire in modern society. Today, colonial history has become a weapon in the culture wars, with some commentators arguing that it is time to 'move on' from feeling ashamed of our imperial past.
Often, this focus on race is presented as a new development. However, a new special issue published by the Chatham House journal International Affairs (celebrating its centenary year in 2022) shows that race and imperialism have underpinned western social sciences since the birth of these disciplines in the early 20th century.
In this episode, Amrit is joined by Dr Jasmine Gani, Dr Jenna Marshall to discuss the key insights from the special issue. They explore how race and imperialism were written out of the study of International Relations for many decades, and what it would take to meaningfully decolonise political science in the future. Then Mariana speaks with Katrin Antweiler about her article in the special issue, which looks at the culture of Holocaust memorialization in South Africa.
Read the International Affairs special issue:
Race and imperialism in IR: theory and practice
Read the editorial:
100 years of International Affairs
Credits:
Speakers: Katrin Antweiler, Andrew Dorman, Jasmine Gani, Jenna Marshall
Hosts: Mariana Vieira, Amrit Swali
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
This week, Undercurrents is joined by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to explore a new report on the humanitarian crises that require global attention in 2022.
A record number of people across the world are in need of humanitarian assistance. 20 countries which are home to 10% of the global population account for 89% of global humanitarian need, driven by a wide range of factors including conflict, natural disasters, economic collapse and health crises. These situations are worsened by systemic failures at the state, diplomatic, legal and operational levels. The IRC's 2022 Emergency Watchlist assesses the severity of the crises in these countries, and provides recommendations for how international humanitarian actors can respond.
In this episode, Ben discusses the findings of the Emergency Watchlist with George Readings (lead author of the report), and hears about the specific struggles facing the citizens of Afghanistan from Vicki Aken (IRC's Country Director for Afghanistan).
Read the IRC report:
Emergency watchlist 2022: System failure
Watch the Chatham House event:
10 conflicts to watch in 2022
Credits:
Speakers: Vicki Aken, George Readings
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
On 6 January 2021, a large crowd supporting the defeated President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol. The violence which ensued resulted in the deaths of at least seven people, and caused shockwaves around the world.
In this episode Ben is joined by Gabriella Cook-Francis, the Leland Foundation Association of Marshall Scholars Transatlantic Academy Fellow in the US & Americas Programme at Chatham House. They discuss the events surrounding 'January 6', the implications of the riot for notable elections this year and in 2024, and what progress the Biden Administration has made in shoring up the United States' democratic institutions.
Watch the Chatham House event recording:
The state of American democracy
Credits:
Speaker: Gabriella Cook-Francis
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
The twin crises of COVID-19 and climate change have exposed weaknesses in the institutions and diplomatic relationships designed to support global governance. In a new series of articles for Chatham House, author and journalist John Kampfner has been exploring how competition between the United States and China has exacerbated these faultlines. In his final piece, John assesses the relative soft power of the two states, and argues that the era of rivalry has tarnished both the American and Chinese brands, with many countries around the world growing wary of choosing allegiances.
In this episode, Ben and John discuss the US-China strategic rivalry with Francis Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and Hongying Wang, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and Senior Research Fellow at CIGI.
Read the article:
Big power rivalry: Who is winning the popularity wars?
Credits:
Speakers: Francis Fukuyama, John Kampfner, Hongying Wang
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
Piccadilly Circus is one of the best-known landmarks in London, but the site has undergone significant change in the past 100 years. How has this affected the lives and livelihoods of local people?
For this bonus episode of Undercurrents, the team explore the history of Piccadilly Circus with help from the Chatham House SNF CoLab. The CoLab is a project which aims to share our ideas in experimental, collaborative ways - and to learn how different audiences think we can design a better future. In 2020, the project launched Futurescape, an ambitious re-imagining of Piccadilly Circus in 100 year's time.
Alongside the future-oriented research, CoLab partnered with the Museum of London’s Listening to London project to explore Piccadilly Circus through the museum’s Oral History collection. Through this project, the Museum is inviting teams of volunteer researchers to reinterpret the Museum’s Oral History Collection – over 5,000 hours of recorded life-story interviews of Londoners. Listening to London is supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, delivered by the Museums Association.
In this episode you'll hear some fascinating clips from the Listening to London archive, introduced and discussed by some of the volunteers working on the Museum of London project. They include the experiences of Italian and Albanian immigrants, the changing face of business in the area, and how it became a site of struggle for the LGBTQ+ community. Thanks to Lorraine Ebdo-Price, Kristyna Racova and Keith Turpin for their contributions.
Find out more:
Futurescape - Piccadilly Circus
Listening to London
Credits:
Speakers: Lorraine Ebdo-Price, Kristyna Racova, Keith Turpin
Host: Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House in partnership with the Museum of London
As the new omicron variant spreads across the globe, and vaccine distribution continues to reveal inequities between the global North and South, Mariana catches up with Rob Yates (Director of the Global Health Programme at Chatham House) to find out where things stand going into 2022.
Then, Ben is joined by Leonard Schuette (a PhD candidate from the University of Maastricht), whose recent article in International Affairs highlights the role played by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in managing the challenge posed to the organisation by the presidency of Donald Trump. They discuss the history of US grievances with NATO, what the Trump episode reveals about the influence of the Secretary General, and the prospects for the organisation's engagement with the Biden administration.
Read The World Today article:
Covid's solidarity failure
Read the International Affairs article:
Why NATO survived Trump: the neglected role of Secretary-General Stoltenberg
Credits:
Speakers: Leonard Schuette, Rob Yates
Hosts: Ben Horton, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Transatlantic Tech Talks is a three part mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed, produced with the support of Microsoft, which explores the state of international cooperation on digital governance between Europe, the UK and USA.
As technological innovation accelerates, and new digital tools and business models arise, governments are working to develop a framework of regulations to safeguard the rights and interests of their citizens. Not all stakeholders agree, however, on the best way to achieve this. While some advocate a ‘digital cooperation’ approach based on transparency and data-sharing, others are more concerned with maintaining ‘digital sovereignty’.
In this final episode, Ben is joined by three experts to discuss the prospects for transatlantic cooperation in the digital trade sector. His guests include Susan Aaronson (Director of the Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub at George Washington University), Euan MacMillan (Head of the Digital Trade Negotiations for the UK government's Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) and Marianne Schneider-Petsinger (Senior Research Fellow, US & Americas Programme at Chatham House). They discuss how international negotiations on digital trade have progressed, the pressure points that need to be resolved (including data flows and consumer privacy) and where the European Union, UK and USA can work together.
Credits:
Speakers: Susan Aaronson, Euan MacMillan, Marianne Schneider-Petsinger
Hosts: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Music: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Transatlantic Tech Talks is a three part mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed, produced with the support of Microsoft, which explores the state of international cooperation on digital governance between the United States, the UK and Europe.
As technological innovation accelerates, and new digital tools and business models arise, governments are working to develop a framework of regulations to safeguard the rights and interests of their citizens. Not all stakeholders agree, however, on the best way to achieve this. While some advocate a ‘digital cooperation’ approach based on transparency and data-sharing, others are more concerned with maintaining ‘digital sovereignty’.
In this second episode, we explore the issue of digital technical standards, the rules and parameters which govern the development of technologies and ensure interoperability between countries and businesses. Isabella Wilkinson speaks to Emily Taylor (CEO of Oxford Information Labs), Bilel Jamoussi (Chief of the Study Groups Department at the ITU) and Richard Wingfield (Head of Legal at GPD), who explain why digital technical standards are so vital to the digital economy, and why they are inreasingly coming under threat.
Credits:
Speakers: Bilel Jamoussi, Emily Taylor, Richard Wingfield
Hosts: Ben Horton, Isabella Wilkinson
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Music: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Transatlantic Tech Talks is a three part mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed, produced with the support of Microsoft, which explores the state of international cooperation on digital governance between the United States, the UK and Europe.
As technological innovation accelerates, and new digital tools and business models arise, governments are working to develop a framework of regulations to safeguard the rights and interests of their citizens. Not all stakeholders agree, however, on the best way to achieve this. While some advocate a ‘digital cooperation’ approach based on transparency and data-sharing, others are more concerned with maintaining ‘digital sovereignty’.
In the first episode of this series, Ben is joined by Casper Klynge (Vice-President for European Government Affairs, Microsoft), Harriet Moynihan (Acting Director, International Law Programme, Chatham House) and Marianne Schneider-Petsinger (Senior Research Fellow, US & Americas Programme, Chatham House) who set out the broad context for these debates. They assess where the major government, private sector and civil society actors stand on the question of digital governance, and how they are approaching the international negotiations.
Credits:
Speakers: Casper Klynge, Harriet Moynihan, Marianne Schneider-Petsinger
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Music: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Since its publication in 1944, many Americans have described Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma as a defining text on US race relations. Funded by the Carnegie Corporation, Myrdal's research explored the socio-economic conditions experienced by much of the black population in the United States, and proposed policies which would encourage assimilation of those communities into white America. But why did Carnegie commission such work?
Maribel Morey, founding Executive Director of the Miami Institute for the Social Sciences, explores the origins of An American Dilemma in her new book, White Philanthropy: Carnegie Corporation's An American Dilemma and the Making of a White World Order. Through extensive archive research she reveals the racial politics underpinning Myrdal's work, and the concern of those involved for maintaining white domination of the United States.
In this episode, Ben speaks to Maribel about her findings, in conversation with Inderjeet Parmar, Professor of Internaitonal Politics at City, University of London.
Find the book:
White Philanthropy: Carnegie Corporation's An American Dilemma and the Making of a White World Order - https://uncpress.org/book/9781469664743/white-philanthropy/
Credits:
Speakers: Maribel Morey, Inderjeet Parmar
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
As the dust settles from COP26, the 2021 UN climate summit, Ben is joined by Anna Aberg to discuss the key outcomes and insights from the conference. They consider the progress made on mitigation, adaptation, climate finance and the so-called 'Paris rulebook', and look ahead to what the agenda could look like in a year's time at COP27.
Then Mariana interviews journalist and author James Griffiths about his investigations into the politics of minority language survival. As globalisation continues languages are disappearing faster than ever, leaving our planet's linguistic diversity leaping towards extinction. In Speak Not: Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language, Griffiths explores how communities across the world are fighting to preserve their linguistic heritage.
Read the Chatham House Expert Comment:
COP26 verdict is governments urgently need to do more
Find the book:
Speak Not: Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language
Credits:
Speakers: Anna Aberg, James Griffiths
Hosts: Ben Horton, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
In this episode of Smart Peace, we explore the recent history of peacebuilding in Myanmar through the experience of the Smart Peace project.
Smart Peace is a global initiative led by Conciliation Resources, which combines the varied expertise of different consortium partners to address the challenges of building peace – focusing on the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Myanmar.
In this final episode of a three-part series, Ben speaks to Adam Burke from the Asia Foundation about the political and historical context to the ongoing conflicts in Myanmar, and finds out about attempts to develop local mediation and peacebuilding processes throughout the country.
Find out more about Smart Peace:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-departments/international-security-programme/smart-peace
Credits:
Speaker: Adam Burke
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Smart Peace is a new podcast mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed. Over three episodes Ben Horton explores new approaches to peacebuilding and conflict resolution with experts from the Smart Peace project.
Smart Peace is a global initiative led by Conciliation Resources, which combines the varied expertise of different consortium partners to address the challenges of building peace – focusing on the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Myanmar.
This second episode focuses on conflict in northern Nigeria. Ben is joined by Vincent Foucher from International Crisis Group, Professor Abubakar Monguno from the University of Maiduguri and Saadgi Rajani from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue to discuss the security context in Borno state, the emergence of Boko Haram, ISWAP and other armed groups, the impact on civilians and efforts to support the reintegration of fighters into local communities.
Find out more about Smart Peace:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-departments/international-security-programme/smart-peace
Credits:
Speaker: Vincent Foucher, Abubakar Monguno, Saadgi Rajani
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Smart Peace is a new podcast mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed. Over three episodes Ben explores new approaches to peacebuilding and conflict resolution with experts from the Smart Peace project.
Smart Peace is a global initiative led by Conciliation Resources, which combines the varied expertise of different consortium partners to address the challenges of building peace – focusing on the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Myanmar.
This first episode focuses on conflict in Central African Republic. Ben is joined by Lisa Heinzel and Nyeko Caesar Poblicks from Conciliation Resources to discuss the latest political developments in the country, the drivers of unrest and efforts to build inclusive, locally-led peace processes.
Find out more about Smart Peace:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-departments/international-security-programme/smart-peace
Credits:
Speaker: Lisa Heinzel, Nyeko Caesar Poblicks
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
For the last two weeks the latest UNFCCC climate summit has taken place in Glasgow, UK. Policymakers from all over the world have gathered at COP26 to attempt to agree on increasingly ambitious plans to tackle the climate crisis.
In this episode, Ben shares some interviews from the fringes of COP26. Simon Mundy, Moral Money Editor at the Financial Times, shares his reflections on what business want from the COP process. He also explains some of the key lessons from his new book, The Race for Tomorrow, which tells the stories of people on the front lines of the climate crisis, showing how the struggle to respond is already reshaping the modern world.
Then Ben is joined by Bela Watler, a youth climate activist and conservationist from the Cayman Islands who is representing the Protect Our Future network at COP26. Protect Our Future is an environmental campaign working to raise awareness of how climate change is affecting habitats in the Cayman Islands.
Finally, Ben heard from Chloe Campbell from the 2050 Climate Group, a Scottish youth network campaigning for climate justice and a faster transition to a net zero world.
Here more analysis from COP26 in our sister podcast, The Climate Briefing: https://climatebriefing.libsyn.com/
Find Simon Mundy's book, The Race for Tomorrow: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/race-for-tomorrow-survival-innovation-and-profit-on-the-front-lines-of-the-climate-crisis-simon-mundy
Credits:
Speakers: Chloe Campbell, Simon Mundy, Bela Watler
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: James Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
As the first week of the UN climate change summit, COP26, takes place in Glasgow, Ben and Mariana return with two contrasting interviews on the climate crisis.
Ben speaks to Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and President of the Asia Society, about the geopolitics of climate action. They discuss China's role in the climate negotiations, how great power competition with the United States is influencing the COP process, and why Australia remains reluctant to increase its ambitions for emissions reduction.
Then Mariana is joined by Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel of Our Children’s Trust, a non-profit public interest law firm at the heart of legal cases on behalf of children which seek compensation from governments for their historic role in causing global warming.
Read The World Today article:
Climate litigation: The case for our children’s future
Follow Chatham House's work on climate change:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/topics/climate-policy
Credits:
Speakers: Julia Olson, Kevin Rudd
Hosts: Ben Horton, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
It’s been over a year since George Floyd’s murder made the Black Lives Matter movement globally recognised. Since then, the struggle for racial justice and equality has permeated organisations and communities, including Chatham House. In recognition of its advocacy and campaigning, and as part of its centenary celebrations, Chatham House staff awarded the Black Lives Matter movement its Centenary Diversity Champion Award. Melina Abdullah, co-founder of the BLM Los Angeles chapter came to Chatham House to accept it. In this episode we bring you Melina Abdullah’s acceptance speech in full.
Then, Chatham House’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group talk about how far we’ve come in our understanding of race and international affairs and the importance of organisations like Chatham House reckoning with its past.
Read Ben’s interview with Melina Abdullah here:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2021-10/qa-melina-abdullah
Watch the Chatham House Centenary Diversity Award event: https://www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/special-event/chatham-house-centenary-diversity-champion-award
Credits:
Speakers: Melina Abdullah, Binni Brynolf, Leah de Haan, Yusuf Hassan, Joseph Osayande, Nina van der Mark
Host: Amrit Swali
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
In Hungary, France and Spain, new political movements from the far-right are attempting to reshape their education systems. Under the supportive eye of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the recently established National University of Public Service seeks to embed nationalist illiberal values in a new generation of Hungarian students. Meanwhile in France and Spain, far-right public figure Marion Maréchal has turned away from the electoral politics of the Front Nationale to set up a new conservative research institute, ISSEP.
Both of these developments represent a challenge to the liberal values which underpin the existing international order. To find out more, Ben spoke with Professor Dorit Geva from the Central European University and Dr Felipe Santos from City, University of London, whose recent article in the Chatham House journal International Affairs considers the implications of this illiberal educational turn.
Read the International Affairs article:
Europe's far-right educational projects and their vision for the international order
Credits:
Speakers: Dorit Geva, Felipe Gonzales Santos
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: James Reed Sound Services
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
The controversial AUKUS security agreement, perceived by some as a way to counter China's expansionist ambitions, has underlined the geopolitical significance of the Indo-Pacific region. One possible site of future conflict in the region is the Taiwan Straits, which separate the Republic of Taiwan from the Asian mainland. In this episode, Amrit speaks to Dr Yu Jie and Dr Liana Fix about a recent study on how military escalation in the Taiwan Straits could play out, and how Europe might respond.
Then, Mariana is joined by Dr Chris Sabatini to discuss the trends and lessons emerging from a series of recent elections in Nicaragua, Mexico and Chile.
Read the briefing:
Escalation in the Taiwan Strait: what to expect from Europe?
Credits:
Speakers: Liana Fix, Yu Jie, Chris Sabatini
Hosts: Amrit Swali, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
20 years ago the United States suffered the worst terror attacks in its history, sparking a fundamental shift in US foreign policy towards the Middle East. Many citizens in the United States and beyond can still remember where they were on 11 September, 2001. But what do younger generations think about 9/11? To find out, Ben speaks to three colleagues who were all young children at the time of the attacks, and whose political consciousnesses have formed in the post-9/11 world.
Anar Bata is a coordinator in the US & Americas Programme. She provides an insight into the experience of Muslim Americans after the attacks, and reflects on how 9/11 is taught and thought about in the US education system. Samantha Potter is a programme manager in the United States Air Force and member of the Chatham House Panel of Young Advisors. She shares how her understanding of 9/11 encouraged her to pursue a career in service, and considers the impact of the War on Terror on US global leadership. Finally, Mondher Tounsi is a member of the Common Futures Conversations community. He remembers how 9/11 was framed within Tunisian society during his childhood, and how America's actions in the wake of the attacks have affected its reputation within the Arab world.
Note: The views expressed by Samantha Potter in this podcast are solely her own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the US Government.
Credits:
Speakers: Anar Bata, Samantha Potter, Mondher Tounsi
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
Amidst severe governance challenges, Hezbollah has risen to become the dominant political actor in Lebanon. In this episode, Mariana is joined by Dr Lina Khatib, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, to discuss the dynamics underlying the Lebanese political system, and how a series of crises have affected the balance of power in the country.
Then Ben explores how digital technologies are enabling state repression in both authoritarian and liberal states, in conversation with Dr Steven Feldstein from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Read the Chatham House research paper:
How Hezbollah holds sway over the Lebanese state
Find the book:
The rise of digital repression: How technology is reshaping power, politics and resistance
Credits:
Speakers: Steven Feldstein, Lina Khatib
Hosts: Ben Horton, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
The COVID-19 pandemic, new systems of digital repression and the strengthening of authoritarian governments around the world have put significant strain on the international human rights system. To consider the prospects for multilateral human rights protection and the role that civil society activism can play in this, Ben is joined by Dr Agnès Callamard, the Secretary General of Amnesty International.
Then Amrit discusses new developments in cybercrime with International Security Programme colleagues Esther Naylor and Isabella Wilkinson. They assess the prevalence and impact of ransomware attacks, and how governments and the private sector can respond.
Read the Chatham House expert comment:
Closing the space between cybercrime and cybersecurity
Credits:
Speakers: Agnès Callamard, Esther Naylor, Isabella Wilkinson
Hosts: Ben Horton, Amrit Swali
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered national lockdowns and closed down borders across the world. In this context, the need to protect the rights and welfare of refugees has become even more acute.
To discuss the threats facing forcibly displaced populations, and the policy responses required to mitigate them, Ben is joined by Emily Venturi, the Schwartzman Academy Fellow in the Asia-Pacific programme. Together they interview Gillian Triggs, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection with UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
Read the Expert Comment:
Denmark's immigrants forced out by government policies
Credits:
Speaker: Gillian Triggs
Hosts: Ben Horton, Emily Venturi
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
In this bonus episode, Chatham House has teamed up with the Asia Matter podcast to co-publish a discussion of the latest developments in Myanmar.
The most shocking political development in Asia so far this year is arguably the seizure of power by the military in Myanmar, and the arrest of the country’s former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The military’s crackdown on protests and other resistance against the coup has so far resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests.
In this episode the Asia Matters podcast discusses the impact of the coup and how the current situation may develop in the months ahead.
Joining the conversation is Thant Myint-U, one of the best known historians of the country and the author most recently of The Hidden History of Burma.
Undercurrents will return on Friday with a regular episode.
In this week's episode, Mariana is joined by Hameed Hakimi from the Asia-Pacific Programme to discuss the implications of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. They consider, among other things, the strength of Afghan governance structures, the prospects for the Taliban, and the complexity of responding to widespread population movement in the region.
Then Amrit speaks to Debashish Roy Chowdhury and John Keane about the state of Indian democracy under PM Narendra Modi. Their latest book, To Kill A Democracy, describes India's daily struggles for democratic survival, and explains how lived social injustices and unfreedoms rob elections of their meaning, while at the same time feeding the decadence and iron-fisted rule of its governing institutions.
Read the World Today article:
Afghanistan: America pulls out the dagger
Credits:
Speakers: Hameed Hakimi, Debashish Roy Chowdhury, John Keane
Hosts: Amrit Swali, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
In the wake of the storming of Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021, social media platforms took steps to remove former President Donald Trump from their websites for infringing community standards. This step was welcomed by many, but also raised serious questions about the power of social media companies to limit free speech and censor elected officials. The suspension of President Trump from Facebook was referred to the Oversight Board, an independent body of experts set up to scrutinise the platform's content moderation decisions.
In this episode, Ben speaks to Thomas Hughes, Director of the Oversight Board Administration, and Dr Kate Jones from Chatham House's International Law programme. They discuss the outcome of the Oversight Board's inquiry into the Trump suspension, and the wider implications for content moderation on social media.
Then Lara is joined by Hans Kundnani from the Europe Programme at Chatham House, to assess the political outlook in Germany and reflect on the legacy of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Read the Chatham House expert comments:
Facebook's power under scrutiny as Trump ban upheld
Another CDU leadership race begins in Merkel's shadow
Credits:
Speakers: Thomas Hughes, Kate Jones, Hans Kundnani
Hosts: Lara Hollmann, Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused governments across the world to re-imagine their systems for engaging with citizens. Many have turned to digital tools to find new ways of tracking the spread of the virus, and to deliver public services during national lockdowns.
In this episode of Undercurrents, Ben is joined by Kyriakos Pierrakakis, the Minister of Digital Governance for the Hellenic Republic (Greece). They discuss the e-governance tools Greece is pioneering under the administration of Prime Minister Mitsokakis, and the challenges involved with rolling out digital systems to the public.
Then, Mariana is joined by Dr Kate Ferguson, Co-Executive Director of the charity Protection Approaches. They discuss Ferguson's new book, Architectures of Violence, which explores state involvement in violent mass atrocities, from Yugoslavia to Syria.
Read the book:
Architectures of Violence: The Command Structures of Modern Mass Atrocities
Credits:
Speakers: Kate Ferguson, Kyriakos Pierrakakis
Hosts: Ben Horton, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
In this episode, Undercurrents has teamed up with Saferworld's Warpod to discuss security forces in Nigeria and the role played by young people in trying to bring about change. The episode is broken into two halves. Abigail Watson and Delina Goxho are first joined by Tarela Ike from Teesside University and Odeh Friday from Accountability Lab. They discuss the problems with responses to Boko Haram in the North East of the country and the recent EndSars movement.
Then Amrit Swali speaks to Mariam Haruna, a member of Chatham House’s Common Futures Conversations, and Tolu Oni, a member of Chatham House’s Panel of Young Advisers, about their experiences of the EndSARS movement in 2020, the role of social media in the protests and how to move towards sustainable change in policing structures.
The episode can also be listened to on the Saferworld website.
Please note the views and opinions expressed during this podcast are those of the contributors featured. They are not the views or opinions of Saferworld or Chatham House.
Read the Common Futures Conversations article:
What makes a successful protest?
Read the Chatham House expert comment:
Police, protest power, and Nigeria's young democrats
Credits
Speakers: Odey Friday, Mariam Haruna, Tarela Ike, Tolu Oni
Hosts: Delina Goxho, Amrit Swali, Abigail Watson
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House and Saferworld.
This week Lara Hollmann and Mariana Vieira bring you two fascinating interviews with recent contributors to Chatham House's publications, International Affairs and The World Today.
First, Lara speaks to Dr Sophie Harman from Queen Mary University of London about her research into the gender dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sophie argues that for too many policymakers, gendered roles are complacently seen as a solution to the social effects of the pandemic, with women expected to shoulder the additional burdens of domestic work and childcare during national lockdowns.
Then Mariana is joined by Dr Daniel Strieff to discuss the trajectory of the climate politics in the United States. They cover the early signs from the Biden administration as well as the domestic forces influencing foreign policy in this area.
Read the International Affairs article:
Threat not solution: gender and global health security and COVID-19
Read The World Today article:
America must heal itself first
Credits:
Speakers: Sophie Harman, Daniel Strieff
Hosts: Lara Hollmann, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Over the course of five episodes, all published this week, John Nilsson-Wright, the Korea Foundation Fellow in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House explores the strategic relations of Korea, asking how the country is seeking to protect its interests in an increasingly contested Pacific region.
In this, the final episode, John is joined by Eui-Hae Cecilia Chung, Deputy Director-General of the ASEAN & Southeast Asian Affairs Bureau, in the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They discuss how the Republic of Korea is positioning itself within the key organizations and alliances of the region, and what the Korean government’s priorities are in an increasingly contested international context.
Credits:
Speaker: Eui-Hae Cecilia Chung
Hosts: John Nilsson-Wright
Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Over the course of five episodes, all published this week, John Nilsson-Wright, the Korea Foundation Fellow in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House explores the strategic relations of Korea, asking how the country is seeking to protect its interests in an increasingly contested Pacific region.
In this, the fourth episode, John is joined by Nathalie Tocci, Director of Italy’s Istituto Affari Internazionali.
They discuss the European perspective on the politics of the Korean peninsula, identifying opportunities for deeper engagement between the Republic of Korea and the European Union.
Credits:
Speaker: Nathalie Tocci
Hosts: John Nilsson-Wright
Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Over the course of five episodes, all published this week, John Nilsson-Wright, the Korea Foundation Fellow in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House explores the strategic relations of Korea, asking how the country is seeking to protect its interests in an increasingly contested Pacific region.
In this, the third episode, John is joined again by Jennifer Lind to interview Nobukatsu Kanehara, a senior adviser to The Asia Group and board member of The National Bureau of Asian Research.
They discuss the Republic of Korea’s complex relations with its neighbour and sometime rival Japan, and how the two countries can develop cooperation on shared challenges such as North Korea.
Credits:
Speaker: Nobukatsu Kanehara
Hosts: John Nilsson-Wright, Jennifer Lind
Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Over the course of five episodes, all published this week, John Nilsson-Wright, the Korea Foundation Fellow in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House explores the strategic relations of Korea, asking how the country is seeking to protect its interests in an increasingly contested Pacific region.
In this episode, John is joined by Wi Sunglac, a retired career diplomat with several decades experience of Korean foreign affairs, including posts in Washington D.C. and Moscow.
They discuss the threats facing South Korean interests in northeast Asia, and how the current administration is projecting its stance through key alliances.
Credits:
Speaker: Wi Sunglac
Hosts: John Nilsson-Wright, Jennifer Lind
Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Welcome to Korea at the crossroads, a new mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed.
Over the course of five episodes, all published this week, John Nilsson-Wright, the Korea Foundation Fellow in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House will explore the strategic relations of Korea, asking how the country is seeking to protect its interests in an increasingly contested Pacific region.
In this opening episode, John is joined by Jennifer Lind from the US & Americas Programme to discuss the strategic outlook on the Korean peninsula and the wider region. They explore the key questions which the rest of the series will attempt to answer.
Credits:
Host: John Nilsson-Wright
Speaker: Jennifer Lind
Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Despite a rapidly mounting domestic agenda, President Biden has already set up an ambitious foreign policy programme, from taking the United States back into the Paris Agreement to announcing the withdrawal troops from Afghanistan.
To explore what we’ve learnt from the first three months of US foreign policy under President Biden, Ben is joined by Leslie Vinjamuri.
Visit the Chatham House microsite:
America's Global Role
Credits:
Speaker: Leslie Vinjamuri
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
This week the Undercurrents team dive into two critical issues for the global economy. Amrit speaks to Chris Sabatini from the US & Americas programme about his latest briefing on how governments and economic institutions can protect informal workers in the post-pandemic gig economy.
Then Ben is joined by Yu Jie from the Asia-Pacific Programme, who explains the key developments and implications arising from China's 14th five-year plan, which was published in March 2021.
Read the briefing:
Developing social insurance schemes for informal and 'gig' workers
Read The World Today article:
Beijing sets new course
Credits:
Speakers: Yu Jie, Chris Sabatini
Hosts: Ben Horton, Amrit Swali
Editor: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed much about how politicians, media and the wider public understand science. Ben is joined by Angela Saini to explore how science literacy can be improved. They also discuss how faulty science has contributed to the culture of structural racism revealed by the Black Lives Matter movement.
Then Mariana speaks to Kiran Nazish from the Coalition for Women in Journalism about the experiences of women journalists on the frontlines of conflicts and upheaval. They discuss what measures are needed to support women in a profession which so often puts their rights and physical safety at risk.
Credits:
Speakers: Kiran Nazish, Angela Saini
Hosts: Ben Horton, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
A week after the UK government published its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, Ben is joined by two Chatham House experts to assess what we have learnt about the future of UK foreign policy.
Richard Whitman from the Europe Programme explains the thinking behind the 'tilt' towards to the Indo-Pacific region, the key allies and relationships the UK will need to foster, and the role that development spending will play in realizing this articulation of Global Britain.
Then Patricia Lewis from the International Security Programme provides an insight into the defence aspects of review, with particular emphasis on the shift in UK nuclear policy and the role that science and technology policy will play in building strategic resilience at home and abroad.
Read the Expert Comments:
UK’s Vision Is Confident, but Success Is a Long Way Off
Global Britain Lays out Its Stall, but EU Missing in Action
UK and France Should Collaborate on Indo-Pacific Security
Credits:
Speakers: Patricia Lewis, Richard Whitman
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
In the week the UK government published its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, Ben explores the recent history of UK foreign policy with Philip Stephens, the Chief Political Commentator for the Financial Times. Stephens' latest book, Britain Alone, traces the UK's pursuit of a global role after the fall of the British Empire.
Imperial legacies are also the subject of this week's second interview. Lara Hollmann is joined by two of her Global Health Programme colleagues, Dr Ngozi Erondu and Dr Mishal Khan, to discuss efforts to decolonise the institutions and practices of global health.
Find the book:
Britain Alone: The Path from Suez to Brexit
Read the article:
Silenced Voices in Global Health
A new collection of essays explores the role of time in military strategy. War Time: Temporality and the Decline of Western Military Power asks why, in an age of relative military dominance, the United States and its allies have become unable to successfully conclude conflicts. The book is the latest in the Chatham House Insights series, which is published by Brookings Institution Press.
In this episode Ben is joined by the editors of War Time, Sten Rynning, Olivier Schmitt and Amelie Theussen, to discuss the influence of time on the political, strategic and normative aspects of military action.
Find the book:
War Time: Temporality and the Decline of Western Military Power
Credits:
Speakers: Sten Rynning, Olivier Schmitt, Amelie Theussen
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
This week, Undercurrents takes a deep dive into relations between North Korea and its neighbours. Dr John Nilsson-Wright from the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House interviews Mr Thae Yongho, a North Korean-born politician and member of South Korea's National Assembly. After serving as North Korea's Deputy Ambassador to the UK, Mr Thae defected from Kim Jong-Un's regime in 2016. In this discussion he shares his perspective on the domestic situation in North Korea, as well as how South Korea and the United States should be approaching relations with Kim Jong-Un.
Then Amrit Swali is joined by Laura Dunkley from the Research Partnerships team to discuss a new toolkit developed by Chatham House, BASIC and the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy which sets out ways to mainstream gender in think tank research and events.
Read the publication:
Gender, Think Tanks and International Affairs: A Toolkit
Credits:
Speakers: Laura Dunkley, John Nilsson-Wright, Thae Yongho
Hosts: Ben Horton, Amrit Swali
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
This week, Ben is joined by Claudia Sadoff, Managing Director for Research Delivery and Impact, to discuss the relationship between food systems, climate change and security. Claudia was speaking ahead of the launch of a new campaign from CGIAR and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Transforming Agricultural Innovation for Climate, Nature and People calls for half of public investments in agricultural innovation to focus on innovations that provide new solutions across the entire spectrum of our food and agricultural industries to support the UN Global Goals that related to food, climate and the environment. Then Mariana Vieira speaks to David Veevers, a historian at Queen Mary, University of London, about his recent article on the mis-remembering of British imperial history. They discuss how empire has shaped modern British society, and the troubling signs that the UK government may attempt to define the 'right' interpretation of the nation's history.
Find out more:
Transforming Agricultural Innovation for Climate, Nature and People
Read The World Today article:
Empire: Let the statues fall
Credits:
Speakers: Claudia Sadoff, David Veevers
Hosts: Ben Horton, Mariana Vieira
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
This week Undercurrents is collaborating with the Asia Matters podcast to bring you two episodes on recent events in Southeast Asia.
In this episode, Dr Champa Patel, Director of the Asia-Pacific programme at Chatham House, and Tin Htar Swe, the BBC’s former Burmese editor, provide their reaction to the ongoing coup in Myanmar.
This episode was first published on 8 February 2021, and events on the ground since may have developed beyond those mentioned in this conversation.
Read the Expert Comment:
Myanmar's Long Road to Democracy Remains on Hold
Credits:
Speakers: Champa Patel, Tin Htar Swe
Host: Andrew Peaple
Introduction: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced by the Asia Matters podcast.
As countries across the world begin to roll out vaccine programmes to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, questions are emerging over how to ensure that competition for supply does not derail the global response. In this week's Undercurrents, Amrit Swali speaks to Rob Yates about the looming threat of vaccine nationalism and what can be done to realize more equitable distribution.
Next, Ben learns about the legal regimes that govern how militaries behave in the 'greyzone' between war and peace, with Major Juliet Skingsley. They cover how militaries respond to threats such as cyber and economic warfare, and how the national security establishment can adapt to an evolving battlespace.
Read the Expert Comment:
Countering Threats Below the Threshold of War
Read the Expert Comment:
Coronavirus Vaccine: Available For All, or When it's Your Turn?
Watch the Chatham House Event:
The Future of Global Health – The Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP
Credits:
Speakers: Juliet Skingsley, Rob Yates
Hosts: Ben Horton, Amrit Swali
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Undercurrents returns for its first episode of 2021 with an extended interview on the future of UK foreign policy.
The United Kingdom is emerging from four long years of intense debate abouts its relationship with the European Union. While the effects of Brexit are still to be felt, questions now confront policymakers about how the UK should position itself in an increasingly complex global landscape.
In this episode Ben is joined by Chatham House Director Dr Robin Niblett to discuss his new report, Global Britain, Global Broker, which proposes a new approach to understanding Britain's international role.
Read the Chatham House report:
Global Britain, Global Broker: A Blueprint for the UK's Future International Role
Credits:
Speaker: Dr Robin Niblett
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
In the final episode of Undercurrents in 2020, Ben is joined by Yusuf Hassan from the Africa Programme for a preview of a new podcast series launching in January 2021.
2020 was anticipated to be a year of landmark elections across Africa, with numerous countries at critical junctures in their transitions to electoral democracy. Dr Christopher Fomunyoh of the National Democratic Institute speaks to Yusuf about efforts to democratize Africa, democratic backsliding and the role of the civil society in bolstering democratic institutions. They also discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on democracy in Africa, and how the multifaceted challenges it poses must be addressed over the coming years. After the interview, Africa Programme colleagues Elizabeth Donnelly, Christopher Vandome and Ahmed Soliman consider the key challenges and events affecting Africa in 2021. Find more work from the Africa Programme
Credits:
Hosts: Ben Horton, Yusuf Hassan
Speakers: Christopher Fomunyoh, Elizabeth Donnelly, Ahmed Soliman, Christopher Vandome
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
Undercurrents is back with two new interviews!
This week, as President-elect Joe Biden’s transition to the White House gathers pace, Ben speaks to academic and author Claire Yorke about the role that empathy played in the 2020 election campaign. They talk about empathy as a dynamic in campaigns, but also as a tool for governing, and take a look at examples elsewhere in the world of political empathy in action.
Then Ben is joined by Pepijn Bergsen from the Europe Programme at Chatham House. They discuss the current trajectory of EU-China relations, particularly in the economic sphere, and consider how COVID-19 and US trade wars have impacted this complex geopolitical situation.
Read The World Today article:
Will Empathy Win the Day?
Read the Expert Comment:
Why the Pandemic and Populism Still Work Together
Credits:
Speakers: Pepijn Bergsen, Claire Yorke
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Undercurrents returns with two new interviews! Since highly contentious elections in 2019, citizens across Thailand have engaged in largescale protests to call for constitutional reform. Ben speaks to Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak about what the mass movement has demanded, and how the Thai government is responding so far.
Then Ben is joined by Dr Sarina Theys to discuss how Bhutan started a global debate on gross national happiness. They discuss how Bhutan has influenced the sustainable development agenda at the United Nations and beyond, and consider what this means for small states more broadly.
Read the International Affairs article:
The influence of small states: how Bhutan succeeds in influencing global sustainability governance
In the final instalment of Who Rules Cyberspace? Ben and Joyce are joined by two cyber experts to explore future developments in cyber governance.
Kerstin Vignard of UNIDIR reflects on the progress achieved so far through the United Nations processes, and the challenges that lie ahead at future negotiations. Then former cyber diplomat Chris Painter explains how technological innovations could change the debate on regulating the internet, and how these conversations can be made more relevant for wider society.
Read the Journal of Cyber Policy article:
The vital role of international law in the framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace
Watch the video:
How Can We Work Towards a Stable #Cyberspace4all?
Credits:
Speakers: Chris Painter, Kirsten Vignard
Hosts: Joyce Hakmeh, Ben Horton
Editor: Esther Naylor
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
While international debates on cyber governance can often seem dominated by governments and powerful multi-national corporations, there remains an important role for civil society organisations to play. In this episode of Who Rules Cyberspace? Ben and Joyce speak to cyber experts from the civil society space to find out more.
Ben considers the avenues available for civil society to engage with the UN processes on cyber governance with Allison Pytlak from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Then Joyce speaks to Arindrajit Basu from the Centre for Internet and Society about the capacity-building role civil society can play in emerging economies.
Credits:
Speakers: Arindrajit Basu, Allison Pytlak
Hosts: Joyce Hakmeh, Ben Horton
Editor: Esther Naylor
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
As the first two episodes of Who Rules Cyberspace? have shown, much of the debate around cyber governance at the state level takes place within highly complex United Nations processes.
Beyond the high-level diplomacy, however, a wide range of non-state actors are working to develop international solutions to cyber governance.
In this episode Ben and Joyce speak to representatives from the private sector to find out how businesses are responding to the challenge. Casper Klynge (VP for European Government Affairs at Microsoft) outlines the apporach that tech companies are taking to support the diplomatic process, and Ria Thomas (Managing Director at Polynia Advisory) explains why non-tech businesses must make cyberspace a higher priority.
Credits:
Speakers: Casper Klynge, Ria Thomas
Hosts: Joyce Hakmeh, Ben Horton
Editor: Esther Naylor
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
In Episode 2 of Who Rules Cyberspace? Ben and Joyce find out how states are approaching the debate on cyber governance at the United Nations. Through the GGE and OEWG processes, the UN has attempted to be the forum where countries could come together to find solutions to these issues. However, as was explained in Episode 1, there remain many obstacles to international cooperation on cyber governance.
In this episode Joyce speaks to Moliehi Makumane, Special Advisor to South Africa's GGE representative, about her country's approach to the UN negotiations and how so-called developing countries can wield influence in this arena. Then Ben speaks to Carmen Gonsalves from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs about how states can encourage respect for existing norms around cyber governance, and how the potential of the UN processes can be realised.
Credits:
Speakers: Carmen Gonsalves, Moliehi Makumane
Hosts: Joyce Hakmeh, Ben Horton
Editor: Esther Naylor
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
A new Chatham House mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed explores the ongoing international debate on how to govern cyberspace.
In the first episode of Who Rules Cyberspace? Ben Horton and Joyce Hakmeh, from the International Security Programme at Chatham House, trace the recent history of cyberspace and outline the major dividing lines that characterise debates at the United Nations and beyond.
For the rest of this week Ben and Joyce will be interviewing a wide range of individuals from governments, the private sector and civil society to find out the latest thinking on how cyberspace can be made a safe and prosperous tool for societies throughout the world.
At the time of publishing this episode two resolutions have been circulated in the United Nations General Assembly which will soon be voted on by member states. One, proposed by the United States, calls on states to wait for the completion of the current Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) and Group of Governmental Experts mandate. Another, backed by Russia, calls for the establishment of a new OEWG and casts further uncertainty on the future of these negotiations at the UN.
Read the Journal of Cyber Policy article:
The vital role of international law in the framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace
Watch the video:
How Can We Work Towards a Stable #Cyberspace4all?
Note: this episode was recorded at 9am (GMT) on Friday 6 November 2020.
Three days after polls closed in the highest turnout presidential election in US history, the result is still yet to be definitively decided. As the dust begins to settle Ben speaks to Dr Leslie Vinjamuri and Professor Michael Cox to find out: what lessons can be drawn from the election so far; what we can expect from both candidates in the coming days as the results are contested; and how the result might affect US foreign policy.
Read the Chatham House Report:
US Foreign Policy Priorities
Read the Expert Comment:
Next US President Has to Choose His Words Carefully
Credits:
Speakers: Michael Cox, Leslie Vinjamuri
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
Throughout the world, journalists and other news workers are facing new and growing threats. From the state-sponsored killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the state-led harassment of Maria Ressa, to the suppression of dissent in Hong Kong and the demonization of journalists by the Trump administration, the excesses of the state are endangering the lives and livelihoods of journalists as they seek to produce public interest media. These risks are exacerbated by the viral disinformation crisis which was discussed in Episode 2 of the series.
This episode focuses on the various threats facing media professionals, and consider new initiatives seeking to protect their rights at a multilateral and local level.
Guests include Maria Ressa (CEO and Editor in Chief of Rappler), David Kaye (UC Irvine and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression), Caoilfhionn Gallagher (QC, Doughty Street Chambers) and Joel Simon (Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists).
Credits:
Speakers: Caoilfhionn Gallagher, David Kaye, Maria Ressa, Joel Simon
Hosts: Ben Horton, Julie Posetti
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House, in collaboration with Luminate and the International Center for Journalists.
The second episode of Future-Proofing Media Freedom looks at how media organisations are responding to the ongoing crisis of disinformation.
As landmark elections loom in, among other countries, the US and Myanmar, the role of the media as a source of trusted, accurate information is under renewed scrutiny. Social media-driven disinformation campaigns have been regular features of many recent electoral events, from the UK’s referendum on Europe to the 2016 US presidential election, and countless other local and national elections around the world. How can media organisations counter the spread of fake news, and support informed, transparent elections? Have new strategies emerged since 2016 to address disinformation campaigns? What should governments be doing to support the media sector in these endeavours?
To discuss these questions Ben Horton and Dr Julie Posetti are joined by Mevan Babakar (Deputy CEO of Full Fact), Melissa Fleming (United Nations Under-Secretary General for Global Communications), Sonny Swe (Founder of Frontier Myanmar) and Dr Ethan Zuckerman (Founder of the Institute for Digital Public Infrastructure).
Read the report:
Journalism and the Pandemic
Credits:
Speakers: Mevan Babakar, Melissa Fleming, Sonny Swe, Ethan Zuckerman
Hosts: Ben Horton, Julie Posetti
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House, in collaboration with Luminate and the International Center for Journalists.
Future-Proofing Media Freedom, the new mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed, is a collaboration between Chatham House, Luminate, and the International Center for Journalists. Presented by Ben Horton, host of the Undercurrents podcast, and Dr Julie Posetti, Global Director of Research at the ICFJ, the series explores the challenges facing public interest media in the 21st century and highlights how a range of actors are seeking to tackle them.
The rise of the major social media platforms and the internet-driven proliferation of news and analysis which is free at the point of delivery, has fundamentally undermined traditional media business models. From the controversies over the BBC licence fee model, to the slow death of local news outlets, the economic strain has rarely felt more pressing. Beyond advertising and subscription business models, what solutions exist to ensure the survival of independent media organisations?
To answer this question, Ben and Julie are joined by Joyce Barnathan (President of the International Center for Journalists), Nishant Lalwani (Managing Director of Luminate) and Renata Rizzi (founder and strategy lead of Nexo, a Sao Paolo-based news start-up).
Credits:
Speakers: Joyce Barnathan, Nishant Lalwani, Renata Rizzi
Hosts: Ben Horton, Julie Posetti
Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House.
Find out more:
Chatham House: https://www.chathamhouse.org/
Luminate: https://luminategroup.com/
International Center for Journalists: https://www.icfj.org/
Undercurrents returns with two new interviews!
As the conflict in Syria raged after 2011, a wide range of state and non-state actors competed for territory, population control and domination of the country's resources. One such resource was water, with access to critical infrastructure like dams acting both as a driver of fierce fighting and brittle compromises. Marwa Daoudy has studied the ways in which water was weaponized during the Syrian conflict, revealing how the Assad regime interacted with actors like ISIS and the Kurdish-led rebel forces in complex struggles to control this scarce resource. Ben spoke to Marwa to find out more.
Depression is the predominant mental health problem worldwide - it is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem and major depression is thought to be the second leading cause of disability worldwide. In his new book, Living Better, Alastair Campbell explores his personal struggle with depression and its impact on his political and family life. Agnes spoke to Alastair about his experiences, and how mental health is (or is not) addressed more broadly within UK politics.
Read the International Affairs article:
Water weaponization in the Syrian conflict: strategies of domination and cooperation
Design in an Age of Crisis is a new mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed.
Great design thinking can play a major role in improving our health and wellbeing, by strengthening our resilience to illness, and to major pandemics, like COVID-19. It can also be focused on helping the most marginalized members of the society.
In this episode, Professor Dame Sally Davies, Kelly Doran and Charlene Prempeh discuss how design can empower marginalised groups within society, and improve health and social care.
Design In An Age Of Crisis is a global open call from the London Design Biennale and Chatham House. The open call is looking for radical and rapid responses, in any format, to problems facing humanity across four briefs: Health, Environment, Work and Society. Read the briefs and submit your radical design thinking by 31 August 2020.
Submit your radical design idea:
https://www.londondesignbiennale.com/opencall
Credits:
Speakers: Professor Dame Sally Davies, Kelly Doran and Charlene Prempeh
Host: Ana Yang
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Design In An Age of Crisis is a new mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed.
COVID-19 could provide a moment to recast work as a social as well as economic activity, as business models change and people find new ways of organising work and life. At the same time, the pandemic has demonstrated the urgent need for us to radically rethink environments to be sustainable, just and resilient in the face of shocks to come, including the climate and biodiversity crises.
In this episode, Bruce Daisley and Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg discuss the role design could play in making work more meaningful, and in designing better, more sustainable places.
Design In An Age Of Crisis is a global open call from the London Design Biennale and Chatham House. The open call is looking for radical and rapid responses, in any format, to problems facing humanity across four briefs: Health, Environment, Work and Society. Read the briefs and submit your radical design thinking by 31 August 2020.
Submit your radical design idea:
https://www.londondesignbiennale.com/opencall
Credits:
Speakers: Bruce Daisley, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg
Host: Ana Yang
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Design In An Age of Crisis is a new mini-series on the Undercurrents podcast feed.
On 22 July 2020, London Design Biennale and Chatham House launched an open call inviting radical design solutions from the world’s design community, the public and young people. The open call hopes to harness the creativity that comes from crisis. In this episode, Sir John Sorrell and Rose Abdollahzadeh explain the role design can play in solving the challenges facing our world as a part of the launch of our international call for radical design solutions.
Design In An Age Of Crisis is a global open call from Chatham House and London Design Biennale. The open call is looking for radical and rapid responses, in any format, to problems facing humanity across four briefs: Health, Environment, Work and Society. Read the briefs and submit your radical design thinking by 31 August 2020.
Submit your radical design idea:
https://www.londondesignbiennale.com/opencall
Credits:
Speakers: Rose Abdollahzadeh and Sir John Sorrell
Host: Ana Yang
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
Policy-makers and researchers are daily confronted by violent images that influence how complex political problems are seen and consequently understood. From bodycam footage revealing acts of police brutality, to media coverage of the catastrophic impact of the refugee crisis, depictions of violence and horror spread at startling speed through social media platforms, drawing out powerful emotional responses from public and policymaker alike.
In the last episode of Undercurrents before the summer break, Ben speaks to three academics whose work explores the connections between violent images and politics. Dr Helen Berents explains how images of suffering children are deployed in political debates around interventions. Dr Stefanie Fishel shows how horror movies provide a space for understanding public responses to apocalyptic events such as nuclear war or global pandemics. Dr Constance Duncombe then discusses how social media platforms accelerate the spread of violent images, and the effects this has on policy responses.
Read the International Affairs article:
Politics, policy-making and the presence of images of suffering children
Read the International Affairs article:
Horror, apocalypse and world politics
Read the International Affairs article:
Social media and the visibility of horrific violence
Credits:
Speakers: Helen Berents, Constance Duncombe, Stefanie Fishel
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
The meeting that called into being the British Institute of International Affairs was held on July 5, 1920 at the Royal Society of Arts on the Strand. The institute, as noted by Arthur Balfour, UK foreign secretary until the previous year, would cultivate ‘mutual comprehension between different nations and between the leaders of thought in different communities’.
100 years later, Chatham House remains a centre for debate and exchange on the major issues shaping international affairs.
Undercurrents is marking the Chatham House centenary with an episode on the history of the institute. You'll hear from librarian Malcolm Madden about the origins of Chatham House, and then a selection of current Chatham House staff tell us about the events and speakers they have most enjoyed during their time at the institute.
Watch the Events:
Chatham House Centenary Week
Read the Expert Comment:
The Hotel Majestic and the Origins of Chatham House
Credits:
Speakers: Malcolm Madden, Zara Berry, Yusuf Hassan, Kamil Hussain, Glada Lahn, Jo Maher, Esther Naylor, James Nixey, Alan Philps
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
The 21st century has been a time of significant change for the global LGBTQ+ movement. While same-sex marriage and gender transition are increasingly celebrated in some parts of the world, laws to criminalise homosexuality and gender non-conformity have been strengthened in others. In this episode, Ben speaks to journalist Mark Gevisser to find out more.
Then Agnes discusses China's global reputation with Dr Sam Geall from the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House. They cover how the coronavirus pandemic may have affected China's soft power, and also how the country is positioning itself in the international debate on climate change.
Find the book:
The Pink Line: Journey's Across the World's Queer Frontiers
Read the article:
China Expands Coal Plant Capacity to Boost Post-Virus Economy
Explore the Chatham House Centenary:
Centenary Events
Credits:
Speakers: Sam Geall, Mark Gevisser
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
While in recent times much attention has been paid in the media to the machinations of trade negotiations, from chlorinated chicken imports to fishing quotas, an often-overlooked concern is how such agreements fail to take account of human rights. In this discussion Dr Jennifer Zerk and Rosie Beacock explain why human rights impacts are so difficult to monitor, and what steps governments and international organisations could take to better protect their citizens.
Read the Research Paper:
Human Rights Impact Assessment of Trade Agreements
Credits:
Speakers: Rosie Beacock, Jennifer Zerk
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced at Chatham House
In the first of two episodes this week, Agnes takes a deep dive into the politics of statues with historian Dr Charlotte Riley and Yusuf Hassan from the Africa Programme at Chatham House. They discuss the recent removal of the statue of slave-trader and philanthropist Edward Colston in Bristol, UK, and more broadly consider the significance of statues as public history.
Read the Article:
Don't Worry About 'Re-Writing History': It's Literally What We Historians Do
Credits:
Speakers: Yusuf Hassan, Charlotte Riley
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
The first term of Donald Trump's presidency has coincided with what many see as a fundamental shift in US foreign policy. Rather than viewing Trump as the exception to a past 'norm', Bruno Maçães argues that his administration is the latest expression of the characteristics that mark out the US from other western states. Ben is joined by Bruno to discuss the political implications of American exceptionalism.
Then Agnes speaks to Ian Black about the life and work of Rosemary Hollis, a former head of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, who passed away in June 2020. Rosemary was a highly respected authority on the Middle East, and is remembered with great respect and affection, as a colleague and a friend.
Read the memorial:
Remembering Rosemary Hollis (1952-2020)
Read the obituary:
Rosemary Hollis
Find the book:
History Has Begun: The Birth of a New America
Credits:
Speakers: Ian Black, Bruno Maçães
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
The tragic killing of George Floyd in Minnesota at the end of May has sparked a wave of protests in the US and around the world. It has also sparked an important, long-overdue and often difficult, discussion on racism.
This week Ben speaks to Yusuf Hassan about the issue of race in UK politics, and the obstacles that face ethnic minority individuals seeking to pursue a career in Westminster.
Then Agnes discusses the tensions between expertise and politics in the response to the coronavirus pandemic with Calum Inverarity.
Explore the New York Times reading list:
An Antiracist Reading List, by Ibram X. Kendi
Read The World Today article:
Don't Blame the Scientists
Credits:
Speakers: Yusuf Hassan, Calum Inverarity
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
In this week's episode Ben speaks to Erin Baines and Camile Oliviera about their research on the social status of children born as the result of ‘forced marriage’ during the Ugandan civil war of the 1990s and early 2000s, and attempts by some of the fathers to assume responsibility for their care and well-being.
Children ‘born of war’ are increasingly recognized as a particular victim group in relevant international policy frameworks. Their social status falls somewhere between the victimization of their mother and perpetration of their father. Given the circumstances of their birth, they often experience social rejection and loss of identity with a long-term impact on their well-being.
In fieldwork carried out in northern Ugandan communities between 2016 and 2019, Baines and Oliviera gathered the experiences of former combatants in the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group with links to widespread human rights abuses including the abduction of children, and their families.
Warning: sensitive content including references to sexual violence in this episode may upset or offend.
Read the International Affairs article:
Children 'born of war': a role for fathers?
Credits:
Speakers: Erin Baines, Camile Oliviera
Hosts: Ben Horton, Agnes Frimston
Producer: Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
This week the Undercurrents team present a double-bill of interviews exploring the politics of Israel.
Agnes discusses the recent political fortunes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Professor Yossi Mekelberg, including the domestic and foreign policy implications of his ongoing corruption trial. Then Ben speaks to Dr Galia Press-Barnathan and Naama Lutz about their investigation into the identity politics behind Israel's hosting of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.
Read the Expert Comment:
Israel Coalition: Third Time Lucky or Same Old Story?
Read the International Affairs article:
The multilevel identity politics of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
Watch the team's favourite song from Eurovision 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HU7ocv3S2o
Credits:
Speakers: Yossi Mekelberg, Galia Press-Barnathan, Naama Lutz
Hosts: Agnes Frimston and Ben Horton
Producer: Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
This week the Undercurrents team explore two perspectives on the global response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ben speaks to Dr Urvashi Aneja from the Asia-Pacific Programme about the Indian government's response to the virus, exploring the impact of a severe lockdown and the limitations of a new contact tracing app.
Then Agnes discusses how the media has covered the crisis with James Ball of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. What is the media's role during such catastrophes? And how far can it go in terms of critiquing government policy?
Read the Expert Comment:
Temptations Abound as COVID-19 Drives Need for Private Data
Read the World Today article:
India: Living with coronavirus
Credits:
Speakers: Urvashi Aneja, James Ball
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced by Chatham House
This week Agnes is joined by Lysa John, the Secretary-General of CIVICUS, to discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on worker's rights across the world.
Then Ben speaks to Leena Hoffmann from the Africa Programme at Chatham House about the food security crisis in West Africa and the Sahel. They explore the challenges facing governments in the region as they attempt to ensure their citizens have access to food despite the disruption caused by COVID-19.
Read the Expert Comment:
Coronavirus Risks Worsening a Food Crisis in the Sahel and West Africa
Credits:
Speakers: Lysa John, Leena Hoffmann
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Edited and produced by Chatham House
This week, Ben speaks to Charles Clift from the Global Health Programme about the WHO's communication challenges around the coronavirus. They explore how pandemics are defined, and the implications of when the announcement was made. Then Agnes meets Max Fras to find out how former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has gained political office in Ukraine.
Read the Expert Comments:
Coronavirus: Public Health Emergency or Pandemic - Does Timing Matter?
WHO Can Do Better - But Halting Funding is No Answer
Credits:
Speakers: Charles Clift, Max Fras
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House.
This week Agnes speaks to Patricia Lewis about how states can learn the lessons from our coronavirus response, and better prepare for future pandemics. Then Ben meets Gitika Bhardwaj to find out about a speech given at Chatham House in 1931 by Mahatma Gandhi, as part of his campaign for Indian independence.
Read the Expert Comment:
Legal Provision for Crisis Preparedness: Foresight not Hindsight
Read The World Today article:
Gandhi Shares His Vision For India
Read Gandhi's speech:
The Future of India
Credits:
Speakers: Patricia Lewis, Gitika Bhardwaj
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House.
This week, Agnes speaks to Chatham House Senior Press Officer Jordan Lim about the challenges facing governments and the media as they try to communicate effectively during the coronavirus pandemic.
Then Ben discusses the prospect of justice for the Rohingya community, with Sandra Smits from the Asia-Pacific Programme. Sandra explains the ongoing international investigations into Myanmar's treatment of their Rohingya minority population, and highlights the lessons that can be drawn from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia.
Subscribe to the Newsletter:
Chatham House: Stay Updated on COVID-19
Read the Expert Comment:
Justice for the Rohingya: Lessons from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
Credits:
Speakers: Jordan Lim, Sandra Smits
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House.
Undercurrents returns from remote corners of lockdown UK to discuss how the EU has responded to the coronavirus pandemic, and to find out how celebrity interacts with politics.
This week, Ben speaks to Pepijn Bergsen about the economic impact of Europe's lockdown measures, and the challenges facing the Eurozone as the pandemic continues. Then Agnes meets Greg Jenner to discuss his new book on the history of celebrity.
Read the Expert Comment:
Coronavirus: Why the EU Needs to Unleash the ECB
Read The World Today article:
Crawling From the Wreckage
Find the book:
Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity
Credits:
Speakers: Pepijn Bergsen and Greg Jenner
Hosts: Agnes Frimston and Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House.
After a short hiatus Undercurrents will return in a few days.
In the meantime we are bringing you an excerpt from The Climate Briefing, a new podcast series from the Energy, Environment and Resources Programme at Chatham House.
Ben speaks to Jennifer Austin, Policy Director of the We Mean Business Coalition, about the role that business can play in addressing the climate emergency.
Listen to the full series:
The Climate Briefing
This week the Undercurrents team explores the debate around intelligence accountability, and asks who should be paying to fix climate change.
How can democratic governments hold intelligence and security agencies to account when what they do is largely secret? Agnes meets author Jamie Gaskarth to find out how intelligence professionals view accountability in the context of 21st century politics.
Next, Ben discusses climate financing with Iseoluwa Akintunde. While all states have a role in addressing the threat of climate change, some argue that developed countries should bear more of the financial burden.
Find the book:
Secrets and Spies: UK Intelligence Accountability After Iraq and Snowden
Read the Chatham House Interview:
Philip Alston on Climate Change and Inequality
A new documentary from Pakistani-American director Mohamed Ali Naqvi explores the politics behind Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. The film follows conservative cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi and examines the cases of those accused of disrespecting Islam, including Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent almost 10 years on death row.
This week Agnes and Ben meet with Mohamed to discuss the making of the film and also consider how documentary films can drive political change.
Watch the BBC Storyville documentary:
The Accused: Damned or Devoted? [available in UK only]
Credits:
Speaker: Mohamed Ali Naqvi
Hosts: Agnes Frimston and Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House.
This week Undercurrents returns with interviews on decolonization and the impact of the coronavirus crisis on China’s economy.
Ben is joined by Events team colleague Amrit Swali to interview Tristram Hunt and Meera Sabaratnam about the decolonization process. They explore the role of civic institutions in re-thinking the legacies of the British Empire and breaking down colonial power structures which survive to this day.
Next, Agnes discusses the Coronavirus crisis with Yu Jie from the Asia-Pacific Programme. They assess the impact of the health emergency on China's economy and its reputation globally.
Watch the Chatham House Event:
Understanding Decolonization in the 21st Century
Read the Chatham House Expert Comment:
Centralization is Hobbling China's Response to the Coronavirus
Listen to the new podcast:
Independent Thinking - The Events Podcast from Chatham House
Credits:
Speakers: Tristram Hunt, Meera Sabaratnam, Yu Jie
Hosts: Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton, Amrit Swali
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House
This week Ben explores the political outlook in Kazakshtan with colleagues from the Russia and Eurasia Programme.
Kazakhstan is at a turning point in its history. A partial handover of political power through an orchestrated transition in 2019 has taken the country into uncharted territory. Will it be able to pursue modernization and reform, and break from its authoritarian past? In this episode Ben speaks to James Nixey and Kate Mallinson from the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House to find out more.
Afterwards Ben is joined by Communications Department colleague Jemma Finnegan to discuss a new youth engagement project, Common Futures Conversations.
Read the Chatham House Report:
Kazakhstan: Tested by Transition
Learn about the project:
Common Futures Conversations
Credits:
Speakers: James Nixey, Kate Mallinson and Jemma Finnegan
Host: Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House
As the New Year dawned a serious crisis emerged in the Middle East after US President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Quds special forces. In the aftermath Ben and Agnes speak to two experts about the background to the crisis.
Sanam Vakil, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, joins Ben to provide some historical context to the state of domestic politics in Iran and the factors driving its foreign policy.
Agnes then speaks to Renad Mansour, a Senior Research Fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme, who explains the effects of the crisis on the political situation in Iraq and delves into the history of Iran-Iraq relations.
Read the Expert Comments:
How the Soleimani Assassination Will Reverberate Throughout the Middle East
In this final episode before Christmas the team discuss the implications of the UK General Election, before Ben meets Ukrainian opposition politician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.
As the dust begins to settle after an intense general election campaign in the UK, Ben and Agnes are joined by Tom Raines to reflect on the implications of Boris Johnson's victory for British domestic politics and the UK's policy overseas.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk is a Ukrainian activist and politician, who in 2019 founded a new political party, Golos. In legislative elections this year the party made a statement by winning 20 seats in the Ukrainian parliament. Ben meets Svyatoslav to discuss the challenges facing Ukraine at home and abroad.
Read the Chatham House Expert Comments:
What Boris Johnson's Big Win Means for Brexit and Scotland
UK General Election 2019: The UK's New Foreign Policy Divide
Credits:
Speakers: Thomas Raines and Svyatoslav Vakarchuk
Hosts: Agnes Frimston and Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Producer: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House
This week Ben takes a deep dive into the US-China economic competition over technology, and then discusses intelligence agencies in the Global South.
Marianne Schneider-Petsinger from the Americas Programme and Yu Jie from the Asia-Pacific Programme explain their recent co-authored report on US-China strategic competition, and Zakia Shiraz from the University of Leicester draws on her recent article in International Affairs to explore the culture and practice of intelligence agencies beyond the 'Five Eyes' alliance.
Read the Chatham House Research Paper:
US-China Strategic Competition: The Quest for Global Technological Leadership
Read the International Affairs article:
Secrecy, spies and the global South: intelligence studies beyond the 'Five eyes' alliance
Undercurrents returns with interviews on data-driven advertising in media and politics, and why Chile had to give up the COP25 climate conference.
Artificial Intelligence and machine learning have given advertisers the tools to target specific groups of people with personalised messaging. In a new research paper for the International Security Department at Chatham House, Sophia Ignatidou explores how this personalisation is changing the media and political landscapes for the worse.
In October this year, the Chilean government were forced to cancel the COP25 climate conference due to mass protests on the streets of Santiago. Patrick Schröder from the Energy, Environment and Resources Department joins Ben to explain how the unrest demonstrates the importance of ensuring a 'just transition' to a sustainable future.
Read the Chatham House Research Paper:
AI-driven Personalization in Digital Media: Political and Societal Implications
Read the Chatham House Expert Comment:
Chile's Social Unrest: Why It's Time to Get Serious About a 'Just' Transition
Undercurrents is back with two new interviews!
This week Ben speaks to Ory Okolloh from Luminate about the flows of dark money permeating the global economy, and how they could endanger democracy.
Then Cleo Paskal of the Asia-Pacific programme and Energy, Environment & Resources department at Chatham House joins us to discuss a new project on the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region.
Read the Chatham House Expert Perspective:
Drive Global Action on Money-Laundering
Read The World Today article:
Western allies, divided loyalties
In the second summer special episode of Undercurrents, Ben speaks to Allison Gardner about how to prevent bias in AI.
Artificial intelligence is widely heralded as a key component of the 'fourth industrial revolution', a wave of technological innovation which will transform the global economy. The concepts of driver-less cars and facial recognition technology have gained many headlines, but have not been universally welcomed.
This week Ben speaks to Allison Gardner, Lecturer in Bioinformatics at Keele University and co-founder of Women Leading in AI, to find out how policy-makers and businesses can work together to ensure AI becomes a force for good. They also discuss the challenge of algorithmic bias, and explore why the tech industry remains so dominated by men.
Watch the Chatham House Event:
Shaping the Future We Want: Women Driving the Digital Revolution
Watch the lecture:
Diversity and gender bias in artificial intelligence
Credits:
Speaker: Allison Gardner
Host: Ben Horton
Edited and produced at Chatham House, London
In the first of two summer specials, Ben interviews the former Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico about the state of Mexican politics under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
In July 2018, Andrés Manuel López Obrador - commonly referred to as AMLO - was elected president with 53 per cent of the vote on a platform pledging to rid Mexico of corruption, stifle the country’s drug war and offer support for its most vulnerable.
Entering office in December, his approval rating was 83 per cent. However, eight months on and AMLO’s approval ratings are at risk with much of the international discourse focusing on how the country is responding to threats of sanctions and tariffs from its northern neighbour as well as how AMLO's campaign promises have or have not been kept.
This week Ben speaks to Ambassador Andrés Rozental, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico and special advisor at Chatham House, about how far AMLO has delivered on his campaign promises, and how Mexico's relations with its western hemisphere neighbours are developing.
Read the Expert Comment:
Can AMLO Live Up To Mexico's Expectations?
Credits:
Speaker: Andrés Rozental
Host: Ben Horton
Producer: Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced at Chatham House, London
In the last full episode before Undercurrents' summer break, Ben is joined by Chatham House colleague Leah de Haan for two interviews from the annual Gender and Growth Forum.
Ben speaks with Rosamund Ebdon, Head of Policy at Plan International, about a new report looking at girls' perceptions of leadership. They discuss how to improve the gender balance in management, the importance of role models and whether society's understanding of leadership qualities should change.
Leah then explores the challenges presented by ageing populations, particularly prevalent in Europe, with leading demography expert Sergei Scherbov. They assess whether existing policy is properly adjusted to meet the needs of older people, and what else can be done.
Watch highlights of the 2019 Chatham House Gender and Growth Forum:
Shaping the Future We Want
Read the report:
Taking the Lead: Girls and Young Women on Changing the Face of Leadership
Credits:
Speakers: Rosamund Ebdon and Sergei Scherbov
Hosts: Ben Horton and Leah de Haan
Producer: Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Record and produced at Chatham House, London
In the latest episode Ben speaks to Hussein Kesvani about the impact of the internet on British Muslim society.
What does it mean to be Muslim in Britain today? If the media is anything to go by, it has something to do with mosques, community leaders, whether you wear a veil, and your views on religious extremists. But as all our lives become increasingly entwined with our online presence, British Islam has evolved into a multidimensional cultural identity that goes well beyond the confines of the mosque.
Ben discusses this transition with author and journalist Hussein Kesvani, whose latest book Follow Me, Akhi reveals how a new generation of young Muslims who have grown up with the internet are using social media to determine their religious identity on their own terms.
Find the book:
Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims
Credits:
Speaker: Hussein Kesvani
Host: Ben Horton
Editor: Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded and produced at Chatham House, London
This week the team explore the changed political landscape in Europe after the European Parliamentary Elections, and discover the obstacles to sustainable development in Colombia.
Average voter turnout across the continent in the recent European elections was higher than at any time since the turn of the century. Agnes meets Tom Raines, Head of the Europe Programme at Chatham House, to discuss the implications of the vote for the UK and beyond.
In 2016 the Colombian government agreed a peace deal with revolutionary armed group the FARC, ending a civil war that lasted more than 50 years. The aftermath of the deal has seen rapid economic development, but at a cost to the environment. Ben finds out more from Melissa MacEwen from the Energy, Environment and Resources Department at Chatham House.
Read the Chatham House Expert Comment:
May Leaves, but Brexit Remains
Read the article:
Colombia's Struggle for Sustainable Development
At least 420 million children globally – almost one in five children – are now affected by armed conflict. The nature of warfare is changing – with devastating impact on children.
At the See Me Safe Centenary Symposium, organised by Save the Children and Chatham House, experts and campaigners gathered to discuss how to protect children living through conflict.
In this episode Ben and Agnes speak to three participants at the event to find out more.
Kirsty McNeill, Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns at Save the Children, provides an overview of the scale of the challenges facing children in war.
Abdulkarim Albrem, Youth Ambassador for the UNHCR's Global Youth Advisory Council, explains how the international community can do more to improve the lives of child refugees, drawing on his own experiences of the Syrian civil war.
Shaheed Fatima QC, Barrister at Blackstone Chambers, assesses the current state of international law regarding the protection of children in conflict and suggests some improvements.
Read the Save the Children report:
Stop the War on Children: Protecting Children in 21st Century Conflict
Credits:
Speakers: Patricia Lewis, Kirsty McNeill, Abdulkarim Albrem, Shaheed Fatima
Hosts: Ben Horton, Agnes Frimston
Editor: Ben Horton
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Recorded at Church House, Westminster
Produced at Chatham House
Photo: Jonathan Hyams | Save the Children
To mark the 2019 European parliamentary elections the Undercurrents team speak to Elisabeth von Hammerstein, Programme Director for International Affairs at the Körber-Stiftung, about the political outlook in Germany.
They discuss among other things the rise of the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland, Germany's stance on European integration and the foreign policy legacy of Chancellor Merkel.
Read the Chatham House blogpost:
What to Expect From the EU Elections
Credits:
Speakers: Elisabeth von Hammerstein, Agnes Frimston, Ben Horton
Editor: Ben Horton
Recorded and produced at Chatham House, London
In a bonus episode of Undercurrents, Chatham House Director Robin Niblett travels to California to discuss the linkages between technology and international affairs with Casper Klynge, Denmark's Tech Ambassador.
This podcast is a collaboration with Techplomacy Talk. Listen to more from that series here.
Credits:
Speakers: Casper Klynge and Robin Niblett
Editor: Ben Horton
Recorded in Silicon Valley, Palo Alto
Produced at Chatham House, London
Undercurrents returns with two new interviews this week; on life as a Chinese millennial, and how targeted attacks on infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza affect the lives of civilians.
Karoline Kan, author of Under Red Skies, speaks to Agnes Frimston about being a second daughter under China’s one-child policy and what Brexit looks like from the East.
Next Ben Horton meets Erika Weinthal, a recent contributor to International Affairs, at the International Studies Association conference in Toronto. They discuss the problem of targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza, and what the international community can do in response.
Read the interview in The World Today:
Karoline Kan on being a Chinese millennial
Read the article in International Affairs:
Targeting infrastructure and livelihoods in the West Bank and Gaza
Credits:
Hosts: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Editors: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Record and produced at Chatham House, London
This week marks the anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, which calls for the protection of healthcare workers in areas of conflict. Three years since its adoption medical professionals are some of the most targeted civilians in warzones across the world.
In this episode Ben discusses the Resolution with Rita Dayoub from the Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House. Rita explains the policy context behind efforts to protect health workers, and presents four eye-witness accounts from medical professionals on the frontline of the Syrian Civil War.
Later Agnes speaks to the Europe Programme's Hans Kundnani about his new project, the Commission on Democracy and Technology.
Read the Expert Comment:
Getting Serious About Protecting Healthcare in Conflict
Join the conversation:
Commission on Democracy and Technology
Credits:
Hosts: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Translator: Rita Dayoub
Voiceovers: Mervat Haffar, Nicole El Khawaja and Thomas Ringheim
Editors: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Record and produced at Chatham House, London
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will elect a new director-general in June. The FAO is a central plank of the UN system. Its leader frames the thinking on food and agriculture globally and influences policy on almost any issue to do with what food we produce and eat.
This week Ben and Agnes meet up with Tim Benton, Distinguished Visiting Fellow in the Energy, Environment and Resources Department at Chatham House, to discuss the future of the global food system. Tim explains the challenges involved in providing sufficient and sustainable food in a globalised world, and why the new director-general of the FAO will have such a pivotal role to play.
Read the Expert Comment:
A Better UK Food Policy Requires Better Government
Credits:
Hosts: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Editors: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Record and produced at Chatham House, London
Undercurrents is back this week with interviews on India-Pakistan relations and how to regulate cyberspace.
Ben speaks to us from the International Studies Association conference in Toronto, where he discussed the recent crisis in Kashmir with Rajesh Basrur from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Then Agnes meets Emily Taylor, from the International Security Department at Chatham House, to discuss how policymakers should approach the regulation of big tech giants such as Facebook and Google.
Jacob Parakilas from the US & Americas Programme is our surprise guest host this week - thanks Jacob!
Read the article:
'Modi's Foreign Policy Fundamentals: a Trajectory Unchanged'
Read the Expert Comment:
Even Without Cambridge Analytica, the Trump Campaign Already Had Everyone's Data
Read the journal:
Journal of Cyber Policy
Credits:
Hosts: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Editors: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Record and produced at Chatham House, London
Undercurrents returns this week with interviews on the ongoing trade dispute between the EU and US, and the underlying factors driving Russian foreign policy.
Agnes discusses a new Chatham House report by Marianne Schneider-Petsinger from the US & Americas Programme, assessing the future EU-US trade after the fall of TTIP.
Then Ben explores modern Russian foreign policy and how the West should respond with Keir Giles, a Senior Consulting Fellow in the Russia & Eurasia Programme. The discussion draws on Keir's new book for the Chatham House Insights series, Moscow Rules.
Read the Chatham House Research Paper:
US–EU Trade Relations in the Trump Era: Which Way Forward?
Find the book:
Moscow Rules: What Drives Russia to Confront the West
This week we're celebrating International Women's Day with a special episode looking at the role of women in the early days of Chatham House. Katharina Rietzler is a historian at the University of Sussex, and co-leads a Leverhulme-funded project titled 'Women and the History of International Thought.'
Ben met up with Katharina to find out more about how women experienced work at the institute from its founding to the end of the Second World War.
Find out more:
'Women and the History of International Thought' project
This week Agnes and Ben discuss how to the global financial system is experienced by developing countries, and hear about the perilous situation for investigative journalists in Ghana.
David Lubin is head of emerging markets economics at Citi, and an associate fellow in the Global Economy & Finance department at Chatham House. His latest book, Dance of the Trillions, tells the story of what makes money flow from high-income countries to lower-income countries. Ben met up with David to find out more.
The February/March issue of The World Today features Agnes's interview with Ghanian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas. Hear the extended conversation, on how media can fight crime and corruption in Africa, as the second segment of this episode.
Find the book:
Dance of the Trillions: Developing Countries and Global Finance
Read the interview:
Anas Aremayew Anas
Credits:
Hosts: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Editors: Ben Horton and Agnes Frimston
Sound Editor: Jamie Reed
Record and produced at Chatham House, London