New Frontiers

In this episode, Stephen Herzog of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies joins Mark Williams to discuss his co-edited book Atomic Backfires . Drawing on extensive research and case studies, Herzog examines renewed global fears surrounding nuclear weapons and proliferation, pointing to Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling during the war in Ukraine, the proliferation incentives created by...

How does the U.S. government determine who gets designated a terrorist and belongs on the official “terrorist list”? What consequences could arise as a result of being put on the terrorist list, and what procedures are followed to ensure this designation—and the penalties that come with it—are justified? Explore these topics with Mark Williams and counterterrorism expert Jason Blazakis . A former...

In this episode, Rohatyn Center director Mark Williams talks with climate scientist Allison Jacobel about how researchers reconstruct the Earth’s climate history without a “time machine,” why the oceans and seafloor hold richer continuous climate records than land, and what understanding the past can tell us about contemporary climate change and our climate future. Listen as Professor Jacobel desc...

Besides working in Washington, DC, what do American politicians like Elizabeth Warren, Donald Trump, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Josh Hawley, and Bernie Sanders all have in common? As political scientist Gary Winslett observes, at least one thing is their strong, populist critiques of “Big Tech”. Whether it’s Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, or Google, American populist politicians from the Left and...

Are Madagascar’s marine biodiversity programs protecting the ocean—or leaving coastal communities behind? Mez Baker-Médard explores the promise and pitfalls of “feminist conservation.” With 90% of its plants and 85% of its non-flying animals found nowhere else in the world, Madagascar—with its extensive coral reefs—is home to incredible biodiversity. It’s also the site of multiple international pr...

For twenty years, Cathy Burke —author, leadership expert, changemaker—served as CEO of The Hunger Project Australia and later, Global Vice President. In this capacity, she worked to help end hunger by developing leadership at scale in communities across Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. Through her work with The Hunger Project, she met Dr. Badiul Majumdar , who—born into poverty—rose to becom...

This is the second part in our two-part series on global demining and disarmament efforts, and the Trump administration’s decision to suspend all US assistance and funding for these international campaigns. In this episode, Mark Williams speaks with political scientist and Nobel Laureate Matthew Breay Bolton regarding the US role in helping to address the problems posed by landmines and unexploded...

How could activists, academics, NGOs and others lead the world to a Nuclear Weapons Ban treaty in 2017, despite resistance from the world’s major nuclear powers? Why do states, militaries, and militias still use landmines in war zones, despite their proven inability to deter an opposing military—or even delay its assault for an extended time? How effective have global efforts to clear landmines fr...

In this episode of New Frontiers, Mark Williams sits down with political scientist Javier Corrales, to discuss his latest book—‘Autocracy Rising: How Venezuela Transitioned to Authoritarianism’. Known for decades as one of the developing world’s most stable democracies, Venezuela’s slide toward autocracy began with Hugo Chávez’s rise to the presidency. In 1998 public displeasure with various econo...

Established in 1600 to secure trade relations between India, East and Southeast Asia, and Britain, the East India Company did this and much, much more. For nearly 300 years it ran a global trading network that operated for profit, politics, and eventually empire. In the process it not only became the world’s first multinational corporation, but — thanks to its own army, navy, currency, and legal s...

How has US foreign policy changed since the end of the Cold War? When—and over what issues—did America’s largely bipartisan foreign policy collapse? What major foreign policy challenges await the next US president? Where will the next US administration take America, and how might it seek to advance and protect its notion of the national interest? In this episode of New Frontiers , Ambassador Micha...

America’s modern militia movement emerged in the 1990s, following armed stand-offs with government authorities at Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas. After rising to 370 groups nationwide by 1996, the number of these militias diminished to 68 by 1999—only to surge again when Barak Obama was elected president in 2008. After Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, several militia groups fig...

“What’s the one thing about India, that isn’t getting enough attention?” That’s the question we put to three India experts; and not surprisingly, we got three different responses.        In August 2023, India celebrated its first successful moon landing. However, while this achievement made headlines around the world, other developments of equal or greater significance may be going unnoticed. One...

In June 2023, French police killed 17-year-old Nahal Merzouk during a traffic stop outside of Paris. The killing led to days of street protests, widespread condemnation of racialized police practices, and over 1,300 arrests. This was particularly significant in a country like France, where discussions about race are often avoided or rejected. To gain a deeper understanding of French police practic...

On January 6, 2021, supporters of US President Donald Trump—spurred on and energized by the defeated president himself—launched a violent attack on the US capital to stop the peaceful transfer of power to president-elect Joe Biden. What are we to make of the January 6 insurrection?  What does it tell us about ourselves as Americans and the state of our democracy?  And with another presidential ele...

International nongovernmental organizations (INGO’s) like Amnesty International, Care, Oxfam, or World Vision operate independently of governments around the world. But what do we really know about these organizations and their operations, behavior, effectiveness or limitations? What might they be doing or be unable to do, in a country like Ukraine, where many people are suffering and there are di...

Part 2 of 2 What is meant by such terms as environmental injustice or environmental racism? What is the environmental justice movement and how is it manifest—in the United States and beyond? In this episode of New Frontiers , political scientist Kemi Fuentes-George discusses these topics and what achieving environmental justice for marginalized populations might actually entail. SHOW NOTES For mor...

Part 1 of 2 What is meant by such terms as environmental injustice or environmental racism? What is the environmental justice movement and how is it manifest—in the United States and beyond? In this episode of New Frontiers , political scientist Kemi Fuentes-George discusses these topics and what achieving environmental justice for marginalized populations might actually entail. SHOW NOTES For mor...

How did the COVID pandemic affect America’s workers—especially those deemed “essential” who often were poorly paid, nonunionized, lacked meaningful benefits, and were required to continue working while most other workers stayed home? How did these workers respond to the health risks they encountered on the job, and how did their struggle for labor justice transform—at least for a while—political d...

Slavery lasted for centuries in China, and yet its particulars are not well known. In this episode of New Frontiers , historian Don Wyatt takes us back to help us understand how the institution thrived during imperial times and the roles it played in Chinese culture.      Despite its long pedigree, Chinese slavery during medieval times has failed to attract wide scholarly attention. Hence, questio...

After six decades of multiparty politics, Turkish democracy has collapsed. Yes, the trappings of democracy are still visible. Elections are held, parliament sits in session, the courts rule, and the elected executive leads. Yet, the substance of democracy moves ever further into the past. How did this happen? Why? And what implications does the unraveling of democracy in Turkey hold for political...

According to the US Space Force, only 2,000 of the 22,000 objects that have been tracked circling the Earth are fully operational, functioning satellites. Put differently, roughly 90 percent of the objects that can be tracked circling the globe is junk—space junk, or cosmic garbage. How did it get there, why does it keep accumulating, and how best might we address this global problem are all topic...

In this episode, Mark Williams talks with Will Pyle, the Frederick C. Dirks Professor of International Economics at Middlebury College, about recent findings he published in the journal Post-Soviet Affairs . Their discussion explores why Russians of a certain cohort—although liberated from the economic and political constraints of Soviet Communism—are not the strong enthusiasts of democracy and ca...

“ Asia First was an insistence that Pacific affairs receive as much, if not more attention than European Atlantic relations in the cold war. Its proponents, its supporters, many of whom were very powerful, conservative voices in the Senate and in Congress felt like U.S. foreign policy after World War II was neglecting mainland Asia and therefore imperiling the whole cold war.”  — Joyce Mao In this...

In this episode, Molly Anderson, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Food Studies at Middlebury College, joins Mark Williams, director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, to discuss her recent article titled “UN Food Systems Summit 2021: Dismantling Democracy and Resetting Corporate Control of Food Systems”. At issue is whether multinational corporations (MNC's) should have more influence and...