New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast

Europe is in a bad place: the war in Ukraine, energy crisis, inflation, looming recession, political and social tensions—the list seems endless. Over the last several decades, the relationship between France and Germany has been central to Europe's progress and regardless of who’s been in power in Berlin or Paris, that relationship has always been made to work. Now, however, those countries are ob...

Europe is under considerable stress from the Ukraine war, on top of longstanding tensions between northern and southern countries over economics and western and eastern countries over cultural and social issues. Arguably, Europe in general (and the EU in particular) is a mess. The question is whether these forces will combine in ways that could produce less Europe or more Europe in the coming year...

After the Pinochet years, Chile evolved into one of the most successful countries in the Americas in terms of the health of its democracy. All of that came to a screeching halt in 2019 when protests escalated into widespread violence. Chile was suddenly at a revolutionary moment. However, instead of a civil war, the Chileans launched an inclusive political process to write a new constitution. Fast...

Rapidly accelerating climate change is uniquely modern — but climate change is not. Can indigenous people who understand nature differently than most of us teach us how to cope with today’s terrifying challenges? “There’s no bigger thing to do than undoing the damages of the past century to survive this century. And what I mean by that is that if we are able to untangle and address some of the soc...

We live in a world of converging crises. We can forget about that new normal thing we hoped would emerge as the pandemic receded: No normal is the new normal. But life goes on. We need to make decisions about a future that is blurry at best. Imagine that you're a CEO of a big company. How do you cope with a world that seems to be spinning off its axis? Our guests are in the business of thinking ab...

What does Putin want? How far will he go in his efforts to subjugate Ukraine? Does he have limits? By the time historians can answer those questions, it will be too late. Meanwhile, one of the best places to find answers might be in a recently published biography, entitled PUTIN by Philip Short. Short is a British journalist with a long career as a foreign correspondent and an accomplished author....

We live in an era of accelerating, disruptive climate change. This isn’t about the random bad storm, but about systemic, dramatic shifts in climate. Change is everywhere, with catastrophic consequences that every credible forecast says will worsen. But how can we understand the reality of those changes? What’s likely to happen next, and what can we do about it? To look for answers we recently orga...

Mexico is on the one hand a country that is chronically beset by drug cartels, violence, femicide, corruption, poverty, and political shenanigans. On the other hand, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president, commands approval ratings of around 60% and almost half of all Mexicans say their country is on the right path. And more than two-thirds of Mexicans expect life to be better for them an...

We live in a complicated, conflicted world. Russia's unprovoked war in Ukraine. US and European efforts to punish Russian aggression. China's growing geopolitical and military assertiveness. What about India? Today it's the world's sixth largest economy and famously, the world's largest democracy. But it aims higher. Prime Minister Modi recently declared that the country must accelerate its growth...

At a time when autocrats are rampaging and our democracies are weakening, the need for citizens to defend their rights has never been greater. But, does speaking truth to power matter in the real world? While we celebrate the bravery and eloquence of those who stand up to injustice and overweening authority, too often the bad guys seem to win. What would it take to change that outcome? The Tällber...

“For the first time in human history, we face a planetary emergency.” Those words were written by Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Scientists tend to be sober, measured in their assessments and with a preference for others to draw the big picture conclusions. So, when an earth scientist as distinguished and accomplished as Rockström writes that “Human...

At least one in nine of the almost eight billion people who live on earth are undernourished. As the 18th century economist Robert Malthus forecast, we seem on a path where the planet can’t produce enough food for the projected 10 billion people who will be alive in 2050. Climate change and wars will only make the global food situation more precarious. Is large scale famine inevitable? David Kapla...

One of the ironies of the 21st century is that even though everyone on the planet seems to have a cell phone and to be actively connected to social media, too many people seem voiceless or, at least, don’t think their voices are heard. What’s going on? Who is voiceless, and why? Is the problem that too many are voiceless or that too many are not listening? Maybe unanswerable, but we asked some peo...

Our world has become a weird combination of dangerous, existential challenges and of almost magical, potential solutions. Which is it going to be? Are we doomed or can we save ourselves? Can innovations be transformed into practical realities at the necessary speed and scale, and in ways that allow mankind to flourish?  Scott Cohen believes the answer is a resounding, “Yes!!” He co-founded New Lab...

We live in the age of the refugee. Arguably, no country in the West has been more welcoming to refugees over the years than Sweden has. Progressive, secular, social democratic, Swedes have worked hard to integrate migrants into their society, to help refugees create new lives in their new home country. How then do you explain what happened last month during Easter when Stockholm, Malmö and other c...

Joel Kotkin, Executive Director of the Urban Reform Institute, recently published an essay on democracy’s demise. Donald Trump is not the villain of the piece. Rather, he argues that the withering of democratic process and institutions reflects the deeper transformation of our societies: the emergence of a ruling technocracy; the use of the pandemic and the environmental crisis to constrain indivi...

Do you care about the future of the oceans? Seventy percent of the earth is covered by water. If we want a livable planet, we need livable oceans. Can we save the oceans? If failure is not an option—and it should not be—who needs to do what? Oceanographers Sylvia Earle from the United States and Asha de Vos from Sri Lanka talked about water, the oceans, threats, and solutions. Both are explorers,...

At the recent NATO summit in Madrid, US President Joe Biden made a joint appearance with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Biden said, “I want to particularly thank you for what you did putting together the situation with regard to Finland and Sweden, and all the incredible work you’re doing to try to get the grain out of Ukraine and Russia. I mean, you’re doing a great job….it’s in large pa...

The whole world really is watching Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Except for audiences in Russia itself, that is. Among the many thousands of Russians reportedly fleeing their country are scores of Russia’s best journalists who have (understandably) given up the good fight. However, at least one has not: Yevgenia Albats. When the government stopped her from publishing and ended her radio sho...

“For the first time in human history, we face a planetary emergency.” Those words were written by Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Scientists tend to be sober, measured in their assessments and with a preference for others to draw the big picture conclusions. So, when an earth scientist as distinguished and accomplished as Rockström writes that “Human...

As Russia's war on Ukraine grinds on with no end in sight, what's at stake may be changing. As Blitzkrieg turned into a war of attrition, arguably the confrontation is becoming about something much bigger than European security arrangements. It's becoming about how the world works, about democracy versus autocracy, about free versus not free. A surprising list of countries, big and small, are eith...

One of the ironies of the 21st century is that even though everyone on the planet seems to have a cell phone and to be actively connected to social media, too many people seem voiceless or, at least, don’t think their voices are heard. What’s going on? Who is voiceless, and why? Is the problem that too many are voiceless or that too many are not listening? Maybe unanswerable, but we asked some peo...

We live in an era of accelerating, disruptive climate change. This isn’t about the random bad storm, but about systemic, dramatic shifts in climate. Change is everywhere, with catastrophic consequences that every credible forecast says will worsen. But how can we understand the reality of those changes? What’s likely to happen next, and what can we do about it? To look for answers we recently orga...

At a time when autocrats are rampaging and our democracies are weakening, the need for citizens to defend their rights has never been greater. But, does speaking truth to power matter in the real world? While we celebrate the bravery and eloquence of those who stand up to injustice and overweening authority, too often the bad guys seem to win. What would it take to change that outcome? The Tällber...

Russia’s war on Ukraine changes everything. But the damage is not limited to Ukraine and to Russia. The knock-on effects include increased inflation and reduced growth around the world. Most importantly, the war seems to be the straw that is breaking the camel’s back of the post-Cold War world order, with unpredictable consequences. The Tällberg Foundation recently hosted a discussion that touched...