Global Connections Television Podcast

Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, New York Office Chief for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), discusses how UNCTAD serves as the United Nations focal point for trade and development, and for interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development. She stresses the importance of the Global Crisis Response Group, recently established by UN Secret...

Dr. Alice Mah, Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, has research interests in environmental justice, corporate power, and the politics of green industrial transformations. She is the author of “ Plastic Unlimited: How Corporations Are Fuelling the Ecological Crisis and What We Can Do About It .” Dr. Mah focuses on how plastics are devastating to the environment, alternatives to pla...

“Swimming the Volga” is a distinctly personal account written by Brigadier General Peter B. Zwack {Ret.} that begins in 1989 (in the waning years of the Cold War) when as a young army Captain, he received both a Soviet visa and US approval to study Russian at a regional university in Kalinin. This occurred in Russia over the turbulent 1990s just before the rise of Vladimir Putin. General Zwack als...

Yasmine Sherif, Director of the United Nations Education Cannot Wait Program, highlights how Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. ECW supports and protects holistic learning outcomes – so no one is left behind. A recent Global Estimates Study revealed that there are now 222 million crisis-affected children and adolescents...

Dr. Kevin Gallagher, director of the Global Policy Center at Boston University and co-author of “The Case for a New Bretton Woods: Reforming Global Economic Governance for Prosperity and the Planet,” focuses on how The Bretton Woods Institutions which are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF ) , both Specialized UN agencies, were set up at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton Wo...

Andrew Hudson, head of the UN Development Program's Water & Ocean Governance Program, elaborates on a major oceanic conference at the UN in June to confront challenges such as overfishing, plastic islands of debris, reef deterioration and water pollution. 4 April 2017

Ambassador (retired) Carey Cavanaugh is professor of diplomacy and conflict resolution at the University of Kentucky and chairman of International Alert, a London-based independent peacebuilding organization. His foreign service career focused on conflict resolution, arms control, and humanitarian issues. Ambassador Cavanaugh discusses NATO solidarity on Ukraine, the unexpected consequences of lau...

Dr. Daniel J. Pesut, an Emeritus Professor of Nursing, Past Director of Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership, and Katherine R. and C. Walton Lillehei Chair in Nursing Leadership at the University of Minnesota, highlights the challenges confronting the nursing profession and how foresight will be instrumental in strengthening the profession, especially by heeding the “F...

Louis Charbonneau, United Nations Director at Human Rights Watch, highlights the critical role played by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other such entities to focus the spotlight on human rights violations in dangerous areas, such as the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, Sudan and Ukraine.  Although the UN Security Council is paralyzed and needs to be reformed, some other major agencies of...

Paula Caballero, Regional Managing Director for Latin America with the Nature Conservancy, discusses her recent book, “Redefining Development: The Extraordinary Genesis of the Sustainable Development Goals.”  She provides an overview of the importance of the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) and the Sustainable Development Goals (2016-2030) in focusing on the economic, social and developmen...

Aaron S. Williams, an international development expert, former diplomat and 18th Director of the U.S. Peace Corps, recently authored his unique journey from the South Side of Chicago to working with the Peace Corps, USAID, Nelson Mandela and various UN agencies to lend a developmental hand to improve the lives of millions of people, and share his Peace Corps and USAID experiences in ” A Life Unima...

Steve Schlesinger, a Fellow at the Century Foundation in New York City and the author of "Act of Creation: Founding of the United Nations,” highlighted how the UN was created after WW2 to primarily help provide peace and security. Today, with the almost geometric challenges confronting the UN and its 193-member states, the agenda has broadened to enhancing human rights, promoting economic and...

International Commerce at the University of Kentucky, discusses Vladimir Putin’s myriad of motivations for illegally invading Ukraine. He emphasized the importance of the United Nations and its main organs, especially the Security Council, General Assembly and International Court of Justice, to coordinate with the European Union, NATO and other institutions and countries in promoting peace and sec...

Eric Protzer, a research fellow at Harvard’s Growth Lab, recently co-authored an interesting and timely book titled “Reclaiming Populism: How Economic Fairness Can Win Back Disenchanted Voters.” He highlighted how economic unfairness and social mobility were far more influential than income inequality in creating the appearance of a “rigged system,” while explaining that many factors entered into...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy, author of “The World According to China,” showcases how China is striving to rejuvenate its vision of a great Chinese nation through a variety of programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative, which is an infrastructure plan that is developing airports, roads and other physical projects from China to Africa. Other issues broached included the possibility of China potentially...

Dr. Jonathan Gosling, Emeritus Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter and an international expert on leadership formation, sustainable development, and many other critical issues, describes in his recent book: “Deep Adaptation: Navigating the Realities of Climate Chaos” how it is critical to prepare for the negative aspects of climate change and promote sustainable development...