Chatham House podcast specials

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...

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 – foc...

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 o...

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 wa...

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 Sta...

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...

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 Maréch...

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 s...

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...

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...

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 Internati...

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 progra...

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 resista...

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 Chowdh...

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...

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 (G...

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...

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 compla...

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 th...

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...

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,...

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 expe...

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...

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 microsit...

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 ar...