Danube Institute Podcast

In this episode, Martin Koci discusses the legacy of fellow Czech philosopher Jan Patočka (died 1977). Europe seems to have entered a post-Christian era: What do Patočka’s thoughts on Greek philosophy and Christianity, from behind the Iron Curtain, have to offer?

In this episode, Professor Dimitry Kochenov discusses the law and politics of EU enlargement. Is enlargement in the interests of peace? Should Ukraine be admitted to the EU - and when? These and many other questions are touched upon - from Henry VIII's closure of monasteries to the new sanctions imposed on Russia.

In the fifth episode of Reflections from Budapest, we discussed the situation of Christians and churches in Poland with Jerzy Kwaśniewski, President of the Board and co-founder of Ordo Iuris Institute, Chairman of the Ordo Iuris Foundation Council. Even though around 90% of Polish society is Catholic, many young Poles started to turn against the institutional church. We asked him how he sees this...

We asked Juliana Taimoorazy, founder and president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize nominee about how she escaped from Iran to the US and what it was like to grow up in Iran as a Christian. She told us about how she was called to start her work to help persecuted Christians in Iraq and why she believes it’s crucial more than ever for more countries to follow the exa...

We asked Father Rev. Prof. Piotr Roszak and Dr Przemysław Komorowski from the Laboratory of Religious Freedom about the situation of the Catholic  Church in Poland. According to a report made by the Laboratory of  Religious Freedom, in 2020, there were 280 cases of violations of the right to religious freedom throughout Poland. In 2021 the number of these attacks was over 150. The questi...

The Russian war in Ukraine all of a sudden completely changed the defence situation in Europe, imposing new threats and challenges on the European security system. While some of the countries replanned their military strategy and increased their military spending, others gave up their neutrality, and looked for powerful allies. In the next episode of The Matter of Perspective, the geopolitical pod...

Now, that the French presidential election is over and the country prepares for the legislative elections to be held this summer, it is timely to evaluate and look into the reasons behind the victory of Emmanuel Macron, the results achieved by Marine Le Pen and the prospects the various political parties have regarding the future. In this episode of Matter of Perspective Rodrigo Ballester, Head of...

With the war in our neighborhood and its impact on the Visegrád Group, it is more important than ever to remind ourselves of the achievements and all the challenges we went through successfully in the past 30 years of cooperation within the framework of the V4. In this episode we discussed the main results of the V4 from the past and how the formation could bear the current challenges it faces to...

We asked Chris Costa, former special assistant to President Trump and senior director for counterterrorism at the White House, about the possible strengthening of Ukrainian identity as a result of the war, the Hungarian government’s position versus Russia, the revival of NATO’s Cold War containment policy, the crisis management strategy of the Orbán government and the new avenues for U.S. intellig...

We spoke with Chris Costa, former special assistant to President Trump and senior director for counterterrorism at the White House, about his military and intelligence work, his experiences in the Middle East and North Asia, his work on tribalism, and his years with Donald Trump.

Religion, state and society - where we look at issues of religious conflict, religious violence and reconciliation. How did Hungary help more than 500.000 persecuted Christians to return or remain in their homeland? We asked the distinguished special guest of the first episode, Tristan Azbej, State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and the Hungary Helps Program.

Criminologist Simon Cottee discusses his 2021 book, Black Flags of the Caribbean: how Trinidad Became an ISIS Hotspot, and his new book, Watching Murder: ISIS, Death Videos, and Radicalisation, which will be published by Routledge in June 2022.

Journalist Heather Mac Donald discusses her book The Diversity Delusion, and her concerns about the growth of identity politics on campus and beyond.

Cultural Historian Professor Jeffrey Kaplan discusses his career studying extreme, radical, millenarian, and apocalyptic movements and cults.

In this episode, historian and biographer Andrew Roberts discusses the nature and process of historical biography. Is the course of history determined by impersonal forces, or 'great men'? What can historical biographies teach us? And is the outcome of war determined on the scene or behind the scenes - in battle, or in logistics?

Advocate David Curry, cultural historian Jeff Kaplan, and political scientist Sáron Sugár discuss and debate the nature of communal violence, with a particular focus on violence against and persecution of Christians worldwide. What sorts of violence and persecution do Christian communities experience? How widespread is the problem? What are its causes? How does it compare to that experienced by ot...

In this episode of Matter of Perspective Danube Institute research fellows Fanni Korpics, Dávid Nagy and Tamás Orbán discuss their latest research project related to the question of neutrality. The moderator of the discussion is Anton Bendarzsevszkij Director of Research at the Danube Institute. In this episode, speakers compare the different models of neutrality and whether any one of them could...

This is The Matter of Perspective - geopolitical podcast of the Danube Institute. In this episode we touch upon the questions related to the French presidential elections, the two rounds of which are taking place on 10, and on 24 April. We discuss the current statistics revealing voting intentions of the French population and compare the popularity and electoral chances of the candidates. Our invi...

In the second episode of the Chain Bridge Podcast, Dr Paul Gilfillan joins us to reflect on his life as a researcher in modern British universities. Taking inspiration from Friedrich von Hayek's Nobel Prize Lecture, "The Pretence of Knowledge", Gilfillan reminds us that the search for knowledge always requires courage, and humility.

Mark Krikorian, the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington DC, discusses with Calum Nicholson, a Fellow of the Danube Institute, in Budapest, and John O'Sullivan, the Institute's President, how the experience of mass immigration into the United States and other Western countries since the Cold War ended in 1989 has changed American and European society, challenging...

In this first episode of the Chain Bridge Podcast, Julius Strauss joins us to discuss his experience and reflections on being a war correspondent. Having just returned from Ukraine, he cautions us not to assume we can predict how the conflict will develop.

This is The Matter of Perspective - geopolitical podcast of the Danube Institute. In this episode we are discussing the importance of demographics in geopolitics and what kind of measures can countries experiencing demographic decline introduce. Our invited speakers in this episode are Thibaud Gibelin, Essayist and Visiting Fellow at the Matthias Corvinus Collegium; and Michael O’Shea Visiting Fel...

In this episode we are discussing the shift in the US alliance system - from Europe and Middle East to the Indo-Pacific region, also in connection to the AUKUS deal, which was made public in September. For this episode our invited experts were Gergely Salát, Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Foreign Affairs and Trade and head of the department and director of the Modern East Asia Research Gro...

In this episode we are discussing the first year of Joe Biden, both in regards to US domestic policy and foreign affairs. We were discussing the achievements and failures of the new American administration. For this episode our invited experts were Tamás Magyarics, Professor at the School of English and American Studies, ELTE, Budapest, the Chair of its American Studies Department, and a Senior Re...

This is a special issue of The Matter of Perspective - geopolitical podcast of the Danube Institute. In this episode we are discussing the research project conducted by Jeffrey Kaplan, distinguished fellow at Danube Institute, and some of our researchers, who have also participated in the project. The research resulted a big conference on Anti-Semitism, organized in June 2021, and a book, which is...