Global Summitry Podcasts

It was a pleasure to have Angel Hsu back in the Virtual Studio. As I have pointed out there will be a burst of Summits and Global Summits this fall 2021. Many of these summits will tackle various aspects of climate change and the impact on the Anthropocene. To discuss the issues of climate action I could think of no one better than my colleague, Angel. Today, Angel is an Assistant Professor of Pub...

It was a pleasure to invite Joshua Busby back into the virtual studio to discuss the Leaders’ Earth Summit just recently concluded and the current state of climate efforts to reduce emissions and keep the average temperature to as close to 1.5 degrees Celsius ads possible. President Biden invited 40 world leaders to the Leaders’ Summit on Climate which he hosted virtually on April 22nd and 23rd. T...

We are just entering the ‘Summit Season’ and I thought I would kick off the Season with a conversation with Paola Subacchi on the question of the Italian G20 Leaders’ Summit. Paola has been involved in G20 summits going back some years. And she has links to those organizing the Italian Rome Summit that will occur possibly in person in the fall. Paola is a Professor of International Economics and C...

I invited Nick Bisley into the virtual studio to explore the changing dynamics of the global order in Asia. We have seen the conclusion recently of the RCEP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that includes 15 countries including China. In addition, in March we saw the first meeting of leaders of the Quad. The Quadrilateral Initiative made up of the United States, Japan, India and Aus...

I am pleased to welcome back to the virtual studio Thomas Wright from Brookings to explore Biden foreign policy in the wake of the first US-China Summit which took place on March 18th and 19th. What does this meeting between top foreign policy officials tell us about the Biden Administration’s foreign policy, especially between the United States and China? Have we entered Cold War 2.0 between Chin...

It is my pleasure to sit with an old colleague who is currently the Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade in the Faculty of the Professions, University of Adelaide, Peter Draper. Much change is afoot in the trade world. First a new Director General has been seated at the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo - Iweala. The DG has much to tackle in the WTO that has been crippled by member actions,...

Bruce and I have had some back and forth recently on the definition and importance of Middle Powers in the current global order. I thought that it would be valuable to invite Bruce into the virtual studio to discuss the role and influence of the Middle Powers. In particular I wanted to review with Bruce his recent writings with several colleagues on ‘democratic multilateralism’ and ‘competitive mu...

It was a pleasure to sit down again with Oliver Della Costa Stuenkel to discuss Brazil and the region. This session with Oliver was designed to focus on Brazilians’ reactions to the violence in Washington on January 6th. Also, I wanted an update on Brazil’s difficult struggle with the pandemic and the efforts in Brazil to roll out vaccinations against Covid-19. It has become clear that Brazil’s Pr...

Hal Brands is a contemporary historian that explores the current global order. He has focused, among other things, on the rising tensions and competition between China and the United States. With Jake Sullivan, a former Obama official and a non-resident senior fellow in Carnegie’s Geoeconomics and Strategy Program, they wrote an intriguing examination in Foreign Policy of the possible paths to glo...

It was a great pleasure to welcome back both colleagues into the virtual studio to continue our discussion on the rising tensions in China-US relations it causes and its consequences for the liberal order. While Part 1 of this Episode 31 focused more the ‘China-West’ Dialogue (CWD) Project, this podcast cast a more critical light on the rising tensions between these two leading powers and other po...

It was a great pleasure to welcome both colleagues into the virtual studio to discuss the rising tensions in China-US relations and consequences for the liberal order. We began this discussion – Part 1 of Episode 31 - with the efforts of Colin and Yves to initiate a ‘China-West’ Dialogue (CWD). This effort has brought together experts and former officials from around the globe seeking pathways to...

It was a great pleasure to invite Scott Kennedy into the virtual studio to discuss China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) just recently concluded. There decisions were announced on Hong Kong, with respect to the Chinese economy. These decisions formed the most recent backdrop to the rising tensions between Beijing and the current Trump Administration. In the light of earlier podcast episodes her...

As most international relations specialists would agree, the most consequential relationship now, and for the foreseeable future in the global order, is that between China and the West. There is a growing rivalry between China and the United States, and the rising tensions raises difficult global order questions for all the actors in the international system. Kerry Brown is one of a number of Chin...

It is a pleasure to welcome back Nick Bisley, an international relations expert from La Trobe University in Melbourne. We were keen to sit down with him in the virtual studio to examine Australia’s response to the global pandemic. We were most interested to understand the relative success of the Australian effort to flatten the curve of infections of the virus when it was clear that Australia had...

Lim Wonhyuk has long been involved in global governance issues and the role of Korea in in the regional and international system. I first got to know Lim Wonhyuk when we were both involved in Korea’s year of G20 hosting in 2010. It was a great pleasure to invite Lim Wonhyuk into the virtual studio to explore Korea’s seemingly successful effort to control the pandemic there. It is a fascinating sto...

It is a pleasure to welcome back Tom Wright to the ‘Now’ Series to review the United Kingdom and Ireland’s responses to the pandemic. Tom remains the director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and a senior fellow there on the Project on International Order and Strategy. Tom has been very busy on examining Europe’s responses to Covid-19 as well as the Trump...

It was a pleasure to sit down again with Oliver Della Costa Stuenkel to discuss Brazil and indeed the region. This session with Oliver was designed to focus on Brazil’s response to the pandemic. It has become clear that Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has remained highly skeptical over ‘lock down’ measures to safeguard Brazilians. He has fired the Minister of Health and, more recently, the polit...

The spread of Covid-19 across the globe dominates policy making everywhere. States have responded in a variety of ways; the consequences for these states are varying population spread and death tolls. Though the virus began in China some of the most serious consequences have been felt in Europe particularly in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. It was my pleasure to invite into the virtual studi...

We were glad to welcome back Matthew Goodman from CSIS in Washington. As you can see from his short bio below, Matt has had both public and private sector roles and has been directly involved with the G20 in past U.S. administrations. Matt has ben working with colleagues Stephanie Segal and Mark Sobel to evaluate the G20 summits. This analysis can be found at the CSIS website. It prompted Global S...

As most international relations specialists would agree, the most consequential relationship now, and for the foreseeable future in the global order is that between China and the West. Yes, I do not say the U.S. Instead it is West. That does not mean that many do not see this as primarily a U.S.-China rivalry. But for others this not a retelling of the Cold war. Among the China experts we are so v...

The recent horrific Australian bush fires appear be largely out. These bush fires reflect both a sad tale of land burned and enormous loss of unique wildlife. It also appears to reveal a federal government policy resistant to dramatic change to combat the growing threat of climate change. As Damien Cave’s recent piece (February 15, 2020) in the NYTimes quoted an Australian filmmaker: “I am standin...

My guest and I were fortunate enough to attend a recent conference at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Japanese Research Workshop on “Japan’s Leadership in the Liberal International Order”. Many Japanese scholars joined experts from North America to discuss the role of Japan in the liberal international order, especially under the current Abe Government. I couldn’t pass up the oppor...

Both Jennifer and Matthew attended COP 25 in Madrid. So, I wanted to get a first-hand reflection on the meeting and the results achieved. I also wanted to get from them their own assessment of the state of efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. Finally, I wanted to discuss with Jennifer and Matt what is needed for the upcoming COP26 that is meeting in Glasgow five years after the successful conclusion o...

Thomas Wright and I turned from podcast Episode 27 of ‘Shaking the Global Order: American Foreign Policy in the Age of Trump’ and the U.S.-Iran rivalry, to all the issues surrounding the election of Boris Johnson and his Conservatives in the U.K. in December, and examine the consequences for Brexit, the U.K. and the EU. The future here for all is dramatic. And Tom has a lot to say about England, S...

It was opportunistic but very fortunate that I had the opportunity to welcome back to our studio and to sit down with Thomas Wright to explore with him Trump’s logic, strategy and motivation in targeting General Qasem Soleimani of Iran. I had originally contacted with Tom to discuss the election of the Boris Johnson and his Conservatives in the UK in December, and examine the consequences for the...