Oxford Policy Pod

The recent 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party revealed Xi Jinping’s intention to present to the world an image of a “credible, loveable, and respectable China.” The pursuit of soft power is inseparable from other government initiatives – China spends an estimated $10 billion on initiatives aimed at enhancing its soft power around the globe. Yet, public opinion polling from...

The COVID-19 crisis forced school closures in 188 countries, disrupting the learning process of more than 1.7 billion children, youth, and their families. This had immediate short-term temporary learning loss effects. However, long-term impacts like curbed educational aspirations and disengagement from the school system may be irreversible. This podcast episode deep dives into these adverse conseq...

In September 2015, leaders from around the world gathered in New York at the United Nations General Assembly and committed to an ambitious global agenda, setting forth seventeen “Sustainable Development Goals”, or SDGs, to be achieved by 2030. These goals, if accomplished, would mark incredible feats of human history. Unfortunately, the most recent report from the UN Economic and Social Council sh...

This episode provides an update on the political and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. In August 2021, after the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan after twenty years of military presence, the Taliban took control of the country. Almost one year after the withdrawal, other global events have eclipsed Afghanistan in global media headlines, but the situation on the ground rema...

On the eve of the first round of the 2022 presidential election in Colombia, this episode dives into some of the major political currents affecting the region. Over the past several months, leftist candidates have won the presidencies of Chile, Honduras, and Peru, and former left-wing guerilla Gustavo Petro is leading in the polls in Colombia. This episode explores what is driving these political...

This episode discusses the challenges associated with the transition to a net-zero future in Africa. Presently, more than 600 million people across the continent lack access to electricity, and many African countries are reliant on fossil fuels for economic development. At the same time, Africa only accounts for 2-3% of global carbon emissions. This reality means that the transition to a cleaner e...

This episode discusses the challenges associated with migration and human displacement in the context of climate change, and explores policy responses available to international organisations. Given the complex interactions between climate change, conflict and displacement, many humanitarian agencies and NGOs are only just beginning to come to grips with the implications of climate change on displ...

Have you ever wondered how the disastrous impacts of climate change affect national and global security? How do we, states, and international organizations respond to these and prepare for imminent challenges?   In this first episode of our Earth Month "Climate” series, host Logan Williams and the team at the Climate Change and (In)security Project discuss the intersections of climate ch...

As we close International Women’s Month, this episode discusses the economic challenges and opportunities facing women all over the world. The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic displaced millions of women from the global labour force and unraveled several decades of progress in closing economic gender gaps. Governments around the world will need to prioritize gender-based policymakin...

This episode discusses the housing crisis that cities around the world are facing, and explores the public policy solutions needed to address it. Urban areas are shouldering much of the burden associated with global population growth, including with respect to affordable housing supply. Given this growth is expected to continue, affordable housing policy is likely to be one of the most salient pub...

On February 24th, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since the initial invasion, the Russian army has made significant advances on the capital Kyiv and several other major cities. This invasion has shocked the world and has resulted in a level of violence that has rarely been seen in Europe since the Second World War. Tragically, many civilians have lost their lives and the conflict...

Welcome to Season 4 of the Oxford Policy Pod, based out of the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. This season, join students in the 2021-2022 Masters of Public Policy cohort who will guide you through policy challenges shaping our world.

March 15 marked the 10 year of the start of the conflict in Syria. This conflict that started as civilians protests against the Assad regime quickly became a proxy war waged on many different fronts. Over the course of 10 years, 12 million Syrians – half the pre-conflict population were displaced. Over 400,000 Syrians lost their lives in this crisis and the infrastructure is in shambles...

As the COVID-19 daily confirmed cases and death rates decrease in some African countries, the need for strategically re-opening economies and developing sustainable recovery plans has become increasingly imminent. The pandemic offers an opportunity to build forward better. To understand what building forward better means in practice, our correspondent Hafsa Anouar is joined by Professor Kevin Chik...

In recent years, the United States and the European Union have taken more aggressive actions to check big tech firms through antitrust or competition law. Join us as we look into the key issues associated with the power that big tech companies hold and how antitrust law can correct for some of these, as well as how some of these considerations may change in the context of developing countries, and...

As COVID-19 continues to rage and ravage our communities, the gains made in the past decades towards gender equality are at risk of being reversed. How have women been hit by this pandemic? Which groups of women are most vulnerable? And what are gender-sensitive policies for COVID-19 response and recovery? To look at the impact of the pandemic on women, our host Sruthi Palaniappan is joined by Ama...

On the morning of February 1st, Myanmar's military imprisoned prominent political figures and imposed a yearlong state of emergency, alleging fraud in the November election. Protesters have since taken to the streets in what has been Myanmar’s largest civil disobedience movement in over a decade. So what led to this coup? What are these protesters demanding? And why?  To unpack these question...

After rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, several social media companies took an unprecedented action — banning then-president Donald Trump from their platforms. This decision has spurred much conversation on whether and when limitations to online speech are justified.  Increasingly, social media giants have come under fire ...

On January 20th, the world watched the change of leadership in the White House as President Joe Biden took office and quickly re-joined the Paris Agreement. Was this a political action or one which will result in meaningful policy changes in the U.S. and elsewhere? Will Biden be able to effectively act on climate change? And who will pay for climate actions globally, especially to support the worl...

COVID-19 has led to two million deaths worldwide. With distribution of the highly anticipated vaccines underway, ethical questions about who should receive the vaccine first are of great significance. How should governments prioritise healthcare workers, seniors, people with pre-existing conditions, and racial minorities, who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19? How do international...

Welcome to Season 3 of Oxford Policy Pod based out of the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. In Season 3, join our host Sruthi Palaniappan as she speaks with leading experts in public policy and unpacks some of the most pressing policy challenges we face today.

On December 6, 2020, President Nicolás Maduro consolidated his grip on power after claiming victory in Venezuela’s parliamentary election — an election that was denounced by electoral observers and boycotted by opposition parties. The question now is who has political legitimacy? The Maduro regime or the opposition?  In the last episode of season 2, Suta Kavari introduces our new host Sruthi...

Peerce McManus, Merin Joseph and Roy Sefa-Attakora, alumni of the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford join Suta Kavari to discuss what the most appropriate policy responses to crime and social disorder should be. They dive deep into the questions around whether the criminal justice system, and in particular prisons, are a failure of imagination or policy, and if they are, how should they be ref...

On 4 August 2020, a massive explosion rocked Lebanon. The explosion, caused by a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in the port, devastated the capital, Beirut and left least 204 dead and 6,500 injured. Amid growing anger at years of corruption and mismanagement, the government resigned. Three months after the explosion, as the palpable anger and frustration at a failing state a mo...

Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the education outcomes on millions of children across the world, following the unprecedented closure of schools. While the pandemic represents a larger shock to the education system for this generation, prior to it the world was living through a crisis in education.  In this Episode, Suta engages with Dhruv Gupta on ways to counter these shocks. On matter...