Chatham House

In our final episode of the year, we discuss the UK’s foreign policy ‘tilt’ to the Indo-Pacific where, despite the turnover in British prime ministers, London has eyes on being a strategic player in the region. The last eighteen months have seen the deployment of a Royal Navy carrier strike group, the emergence of the AUKUS alliance, talk of closer diplomatic ties with India and ASEAN and, in the...

South Asia is home to one-quarter of the global population who reside in only 3.5 per cent of the world’s land area, making it the most populous and most densely-populated region in the world. It is also one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change: a recent study found that Chittagong in Bangladesh and Ahmedabad in India are two of the fastest-sinking coastal cities, leaving millions of p...

As 2022 comes to a close, this week on the podcast the staff of Chatham House reflect on a year of war in Ukraine and twelve years of war in Syria. Joining Bronwen Maddox in the studio is Oz Katerji, a war correspondent and freelance journalist who in the early stages of the Syrian uprising reported on the brutality of the regime of Bashar al-Assad from neighbouring Lebanon and Turkey and covered...

Anti-lockdown protests are sweeping the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. What does the unrest tell us about China’s response to COVID-19? How serious a challenge are they for Xi Jinping’s legitimacy so soon after the 20th Party Congress? Meanwhile on the Korean Peninsula, 2022 has been a record year for Pyongyang’s ballistic missile tests. How far has the North’s nuclear programme and i...

This episode of Africa Aware discusses the current state of the Commonwealth and the relevance of language-based intergovernmental organizations to African states as they seek to diversify their international relations. We are joined on the episode by HE Professor Robert Dussey, Foreign Minister of the Togolese Republic, and HE Michael Moussa-Adamo, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Gabon, who o...

In Tigray, the world’s largest armed conflict rages between Ethiopian federal government troops and the Tigray Defence Forces. With estimates placing those killed in the fighting at 600,000, how did Ethiopia, one of Africa’s great success stories, descend into civil war, and what hopes are there for recent peace initiatives? Meanwhile in Ukraine, all eyes are on Zaporizhzhia, as Europe’s largest n...

In Iran, since September the country has been swept by thousands of women-led protests, demanding an end to the morality police and the even the fall of the Islamic Republic. Meanwhile at Chatham House this week, we hosted our long-awaited Iraq conference, which delved heavily into the multiple challenges facing Iraq two decades on from the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Joining Bronwen Mad...

On this special episode of Africa Aware, Yusuf speaks to H.E. Dr. Joyce Banda, the former President of the Republic of Malawi [2012 – 2014]. Her Excellency explores the current state of democracy in Africa, outlines what must be done to support the development of female leadership on the continent, and the important role African leaders must play on a global level.

In the United States, the midterm elections threw up some surprising results, with the anticipated Republican ‘red wave’ failing to materialise. Meanwhile at COP27 in Egypt, world leaders met in the first week of the summit. What did their presence achieve? To find out, returning to the podcast this week with Bronwen Maddox are Leslie Vinjamuri, Director of our US and Americas Programme who was in...

Earlier this year, India and Pakistan witnessed a prolonged heatwave, starting in March months before usual hot weather. This was followed by, and was in part the cause of, major flooding in Pakistan, as well as in parts of India. The heatwave severely affected agriculture, while the flooding came with immense cost to property and infrastructure. Millions of people were affected. South Asia has ex...

In Brazil, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by the narrowest of margins. Meanwhile in the United States, the Democrats are fighting to retain the House and Senate from a resurgent Republican Party, still enamoured with Donald Trump. Joining Bronwen Maddox this week are Leslie Vinjamuri, Director of our US and Americas Programme, Christopher Sabatini, Senior...

Negotiators left COP26 in Glasgow with a relatively ambitious outcome. What progress has been made on the climate agenda since COP26, and what are some of the key issues to watch at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh? Mere days before COP27, Anna is joined by Bernice Lee (Hoffmann Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House) to discuss these important questions. Read the explainer:

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...

This episode of Africa Aware discusses the current drought in the Horn of Africa, where the worst drought in 40 years is affecting more than 20 million people across several countries.  Abdirahman Abdishakur, Special Presidential Envoy for Drought Response for the Federal Republic of Somalia, outlined the Somali government’s planning to prevent famine. Parvin Ngala, Regional Director at Oxfam...

Rishi Sunak enters Downing Street as the youngest prime minister in modern times, whilst also this week Chatham House welcomed the US Special Presidential Envoy on Climate, John Kerry, to discuss what lies ahead for COP27. To discuss all this, Bronwen Maddox is joined by John Kampfner, Executive Director of Chatham House’s UK in the World Initiative, Simon Fraser, formerly of the Foreign and Commo...

Amid political chaos in the UK, with the resignation of Liz Truss, Bronwen Maddox speaks with Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times, and Orysia Lutsevych, Head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, about the latest developments surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin's nuclear threats. Joining them is Dr Yu Jie, Senior Research Fellow for Chatham Hou...

On this special episode of Africa Aware, Yusuf speaks to H.E. Joaquim Chissano, the former President of the Republic of Mozambique and the 2006 winner of the Chatham House Prize. Marking the 30th anniversary of the Rome General Peace Accords, signed on 4 October 1992, which brought the Mozambican civil war, President Chissano discussed the lessons from that peace process and the 2019 Map...

This episode of Africa Aware explores the pathways to peace in Angola and Mozambique in their respective 20th and 30th anniversary years of the cessation of sustained conflict.   Dr Alex Vines provides a historic overview of how peace was achieved in these nations and what lessons can be learned for the modern day. Neha Sanghrajka discusses current efforts to sustain peace in Mozambique, the...

The crossover between water security and climate change is hugely important especially given that the next two COPs are taking place in Africa and the Middle East, both with a history of being water stressed. What should policymakers and negotiators from these regions working on water security focus on at COP27? What does it mean to achieve water security? What are the main barriers or challenges?...

The Climate Briefing podcast returns! The new season kicks off with an episode focusing on the next UN climate change conference (COP27), which takes place 7-18 November 2022 in Egypt. Anna speaks to Tom Evans from E3G about what the conference aims to achieve, what the main challenges are, and what needs to happen in the run-up to the summit to enable a good outcome.

What dives 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, development of global humanitarian systems and the change in thinking on refugees over time. Then she interviews Ali Bilgic...

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 : (Ukrainian diplomat currently serving as Ukraine's Ambassador to the UK), Professor Georgiy Kassianov (Maria Curie-Skłodowska U...

This episode of Africa Aware explores the elections in Kenya on 9 August 2022, in which Kenyans will select a new president and national lawmakers, as well as the governors and assemblies of the country’s 47 counties. First, Waihiga Mwaura discusses the main political groupings and policy issues that voters will decide on. Then Sylvia Katua examines issues around political inclusivity of marginali...

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: (Chatham House Visiting Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Programme), (author of Butler to the World and Moneyland) This episode was produced by David Dargahi of on...

In this episode we follow up on the food shortage crisis we looked at in the beginning weeks of the war on . 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 : (Chatham House Senior Research Fellow, Global Economy and Finance Programme; Project Director, Global Trade Policy Forum),  (Ch...