Politics in the Rearview Mirror

In this episode, we are turning our attention to the war in Ukraine and two recent, bold attacks carried out by Ukraine's Secret Service deep within Russian territory. These aren't just isolated military actions; looking at them through the lens of the bargaining model of war and taking a broader international security perspective suggests that theirthe timing was carefully chosen and thei...

In light of the devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza we are reposting episode 9 from our first series (published on the 6. December 2024), in which we talk to Dr. William Plowright, an Assistant Professor of International Security at the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University, about his new book " War on Rescue: The Obstruction of Humanitarian Assistance in...

This episode takes us into the world of foreign policy bluffing, nuclear strategy, and presidential unpredictability. We’re talking about the Madman Theory -- a term associated with colourful US Presidents like Richard Nixon or Donald Trump in combination with words like "unhinged" or "strategic genius". But what is the Madman Theory, really? Does acting crazy help a world lead...

It has been half a year since President Trump announced the creation of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk. In the 8th episode of the first season, we discussed whether government efficiency is important, what efficiency reforms might look like, and what institutional hurdles and constraints DOGE might face.  Now that the media focus on DOGE has died down and Musk i...

A bit more than a week ago, on the 1st May 2025, a series of local and mayoral elections, as well as a Westminster by-election were held in England. The results showed a large swing to Reform UK. The two main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, both lost seats. The Conservatives suffered a particularly devastating loss of over 670 councillors and control of all 16 councils they had previously c...

On the 23rd April 2025, Jordanian security forces raided the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition movement of the kingdom, confiscating assets and property and outlawing all the group’s activities. This is not an isolated event. Rather, Jordan seems to be joining other countries in the MENA region by taking actions to sideline Islamist opposition parties in recent years. Dr. R...

Due to current events, we are starting our third season with a bonus episode. On Wednesday, the UK government announced that it, together with the US, had bombed Houthi targets in Yemen to protect freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. In the bonus episode you are about to hear, I discuss with Dr. Tom Walsh, a former PhD Student and current Tutor at the School of Government and International Affair...

On February 27, 2025, Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), called for the group to disarm and disband, signaling a possible end to the four-decade-long conflict with the Turkish state. A few days later, the PKK declared an immediate ceasefire. This development followed months of preparations and overtures from the Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,...

President Trump’s unilateral attempt to end the war in Ukraine raised concerns among Western allies. Both his statements and actions have sparked widespread debates about diplomacy and power in the 21st century, and whether they signify an end to the rules-based international order established in the aftermath of World War II.  Joining me online to unpack the concept of “international order”, what...

Migration remains one of the most contentious political issues, shaping debates on borders, identity, and economies, including in the UK. Earlier in February this year, the Labour government announced that those arriving irregularly to the UK, even if they are legitimate refugees, will be barred from ever becoming British citizens. Joining the show to discuss the politics behind this announcement,...

40 years ago on Monday, 3rd March 1985, the 1984-1985 UK’s miners’ strike ended. The coal miners' strike aimed to prevent the closure of pits that the conservative government deemed “uneconomic”. Many observers regard the miners’ strike as “the most bitter industrial dispute in British history” and with 26 million person-days of work lost, it was the largest by impact since the 1926 General St...

Germany is heading to the polls this coming Sunday (23rd February 2025) after the traffic light coalition between the Social Democrats (red), the Liberal Party (yellow), and the Greens (green) collapsed in November last year. In this episode, Dr. Moritz Osnabrügge outlines the main topics of the election campaign, how the campaign compared to 2021, what the latest polls predict, and what potential...

This week we are looking at the politics behind one of the Executive Orders from President Trump. The Executive Order “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa”, was issued on the 7th of February 2025. As justification for this order, President Trump cited South Africa’s Expropriation Act 13, which allows for land to be expropriated with nil compensation in limited circumstance...

"Tariffs, the most beautiful word in the dictionary!", President Trump exclaimed at one point during the election campaign. In office, he has (so far) announced general import tariffs against Columbia, Mexico, Canada, and the US, only to withdraw them once Columbia, Mexico, and Canada accepted to take back criminal immigrants or strengthen border controls, respectively. In this episode,...

On Wednesday, the 29th of January 2025 Friedrich Merz, the leader of the mainstream conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), broke a longstanding taboo in German politics, the so-called "Brandschutzmauer" (firewall) by passing a non-binding motion to tighten immigration rules with the backing of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a radical right party, with established links to Neo...

On the 19th January 2024 a cease fire process between Israel and Hamas started, which will hopefully end the fighting and human suffering, which has been ongoing since the bloody October 7 attacks by Hamas in 2023. In season 1 episode 9 we have talked about the challenges Humanitarian Organizations face in getting aid into Gaza and to other vulnerable people to alleviate human suffering. In this e...

The peaceful transition of power is a hallmark of democracy. In January 2021 and 2023, the US and Brazil, respectively, both experienced post-electoral riots as supporters of the outgoing presidents ransacked government buildings. Four, respectively two years later Prof. Patrick Kuhn, a Professor of Comparative Politics at the School of Government, looks at the actions taken in those countries to...

To tell us what you like and dislike about the podcast please complete this 3min survey: https://forms.office.com/e/bv0tQMczUv. The survey will remain open until 6th January 2025. Music: The Good News by SHANTI from https://tunetank.com/track/263-the-good-news/

At the end of October 2024, Israel’s parliament voted to ban the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating within Israel and occupied East Jerusalem. While most of Unrwa's projects take place in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, it relies on agreements with Israel to operate. Thus, on a practical level, the ban on interacting with Israeli officials means it is now almost impossible for...

On the 12th of November 2024, President Trump announced that “the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Together, these wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencie...

The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of Parties (COP) at Baku in Azerbaijan closed at the end of November 2024. The COP aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, emphasising the urgent need for investment in climate action. The COP29 Presidency also stresses the importance of operationalising the Loss and Damage Fund to support vulnerable communities, especial...

This episode looks at a brutal Sudanese civil war, which started in April 2023 and so far has displaced over 8 million people and caused tens of thousands of deaths., but has been happening largely outside the global media spotlight. The conversation with Dr. Will Plowright, an Assistant Professor of International Security in the School of Government and International Affairs, summarizes Sudan’s r...

Earlier in October CHOGM, the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting, took place in Samoa, where Caribbean leaders succeeded in including a call for reparatory justice regarding the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement in the Leader Statement (point 22, page 8) despite the UK government's objection. In this episode Dr. Elizabeth Kahn, an Associate Professor of Politic...

After months of primaries, a late change candidacy, blockbuster conventions, two assassination attempts, and hundreds of rallies nationwide, US citizens will finally be heading to the polls this Tuesday. To reflect on the 2024 race to the White House and put it into context by comparing it to presidential elections in the recent past, we assembled SGIA’s US Politics trio Dr. Tessa Ditonto, Associa...

Tackling obesity has been on the UK’s public health agenda for quite some time. Recently weeks received prominence via the government's announcement that it is looking into whether the new weight-loss drugs could be used to reduce unemployment for obesity-related reasons. Joining the show to discuss obesity policy more broadly and Labour's "jabs for job" announcement is Dr. Renu Singh, an Assistan...