The Brookings Current

On December 8, Syrian rebels took control of Damascus, the nation's capital. Deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, marking the end of a long civil war and his 24-year-long brutal reign, which followed his father's nearly 30-year rule. Syrians are rightfully celebrating, even as they're freeing people from notorious regime prisons and looking to transition away from decades of repression...

As the U.S. heads into the final days of the 2024 elections, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas reviews the health of American democracy, the lack of guardrails against mis- and disinformation, and ways to restore public trust.   Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/election-2024-and-the-health-of-american-democracy Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcast...

The economy is one of the quadrennial top issues for American voters, and related to economic performance are concerns about the national debt, taxes, and government spending, especially on popular entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. On this episode, Ben Harris, vice president and director of Economic Studies at Brookings, talks with host Fred Dews about how these issues are seen by Am...

The high cost of housing is a significant economic pressure for many Americans, even as inflation has eased. Homeowners and renters alike pay increasingly higher percentages of their income on housing, and homelessness reached a record high in 2023.  Recorded in front of a live audience, this episode of The Current features Brookings Senior Fellow Jenny Schuetz and San Francisco Chronicle Washingt...

The 79th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations opened this week in New York City. To address some of the main issues on the agenda, with a focus on sustainable development and the Summit of the Future, is John McArthur, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings and a senior fellow in Global Economy and Development. Show notes and transcript:  https://www.brook...

As part of the Brookings Election '24 initiative, Samantha Gross, director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at Brookings, talks about the energy and climate policy issues in the U.S. presidential election as voters think about how either a Harris administration or a second Trump administration would approach these matters. Show notes and transcript:  https://www.brookings.edu/articles...

On Sunday, July 21st, President Joe Biden announced that he would no longer seek the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the election against Donald Trump this November. He then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination. To talk about this momentous development in the 2024 presidential election, E.J. Dionne joins The Current. He is the W. Averell Harriman Chair and senior...

As NATO turns 75, alliance leaders gathered in Washington, presenting a united front in support of Ukraine's survival against the threat of Russia. Brookings Visiting Fellow James Goldgeier reviews the NATO summit's outcomes, how the organization is trying to prepare for the uncertainty of American leadership after November, and the broader challenges—and partners—in NATO's future. Show notes and...

Last week, President Joe Biden and former President Trump met in Atlanta for a presidential debate. After the event, most observers focused heavily on Biden's seemingly poor performance, while paying Trump's many untruths and exaggerations far less attention. And now some Biden supporters are hoping he'll quit the race and allow another candidate to replace him. To talk about those issues and to a...

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to amplify the spread of mis- and disinformation in elections around the world. In this historic election year, Valerie Wirtschafter breaks down where generative AI has already played a role in disinformation campaigns and how policymakers, tech companies, and voters can build up guardrails to protect the integrity of election information...

The Horn of Africa, home to over 200 million people, is experiencing high levels of fragility from both violence and climate change. The World Food Program says that the current conflict in Sudan is "risking the world's largest hunger crisis across the region." Jeffrey Feltman, visiting fellow in International Diplomacy in the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at Brookin...

On May 30, former president Donald Trump was found guilty by a Manhattan jury of 34 felony counts of falsification of business records in the first degree. The case revolved around payments made before the 2016 presidential election to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, in exchange for her silence about her allegation of an affair she had with Mr. Trump a few years prior. T...

Following President Putin's visit to Beijing, Angela Stent and Yun Sun examine Russian and Chinese cooperation over the last two years, how China benefits from the relationship, what to watch for as their economic, military, and diplomatic relations continue to evolve. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-dynamics-of-the-russia-china-partnership   Follow The Current an...

Cities and states have a variety of policy options to help combat high housing costs. Brookings Metro Senior Fellow Jenny Schuetz and Gary Geiler, assistant director of San Diego's Development Services Department, discuss how accessory dwelling units (ADUs) can be part of cities' toolkits for adding affordable housing. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/cities-need-more-...

Brookings scholar Constanze Stelzenmüller, director of the Center on the United States in Europe and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, talks about whether foreign policy issues matter to U.S. voters, and also what's at stake for the world in the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. Show notes and transcript The Current is part of the Brookings Podcast Network . Find this and al...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed four bi-partisan bills in a $95 billion foreign aid package with monies going to aid Ukraine, to the Indo-Pacific region to counter China, to offensive and defensive weapons to Israel, and to humanitarian aid for Gaza and elsewhere. Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, joins The Current to talk about how these bills were passed...

The recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore after being struck by a container ship is both a human tragedy and an economic disaster. Six construction workers doing repair work on the bridge lost their lives when it plunged into the cold Patapsco River. The wreckage of the bridge now sits in the channel that connects Baltimore Harbor to the Chesapeake Bay, effectively closing t...

The U.S. has recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic's economic disruption with a strong economy, but a strong economy alone doesn't address all the challenges Americans face. As part of the Brookings Election '24 initiative, Wendy Edelberg talks about where the economy is doing better - increasing wages, decreasing inflation - and other areas where social policies can step in to fill the gaps on hou...

The third Summit for Democracy takes place March 18 to 20, in Seoul, South Korea. The theme of the summit is democracy for future generations. To talk about the summit's critical importance and the role of anti-corruption work in the support of democracy, Ambassador Norm Eisen joins The Current. Eisen is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and chair of the Anti-corruption, Democracy...

"Russia has failed in its biggest goals, but those failures may be reversed. Ukraine's successes are not guaranteed to endure, and at the moment, momentum seems to be shifting at least modestly in Russia's favor." Two years after Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, Michael O'Hanlon takes stock of where the war stands and what happens if the U.S. House of Representatives fails to auth...

This week, Pakistan holds national elections. Voters in the world's fifth most populous nation go to the polls to elect representatives to Pakistan's parliament, and from that, the next prime minister. To talk about what's at stake for Pakistan, the turmoil surrounding some of the major candidates, and what the outcome could mean for the region and the world, Madiha Afzal, a fellow in Foreign Poli...

For the first episode of 2024, the new president of Brookings, Cecilia Rouse, sits down with The Current to share her thoughts on priorities facing the nation today and how Brookings can   provide sound research to inform policy to improve the lives of those across America. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/meet-cecilia-rouse-new-brookings-president   Follow The Current...

As the Israeli offensive in Gaza moves south toward Khan Younis, and as some hostages come home while many more remain captive, Natan Sachs joins the podcast from Israel to reflect on the public mood, Israel's operational goals, the ongoing threat of wider regional escalation, and what might come next. Show notes and transcript:   https://www.brookings.edu/articles/taking-stock-of-the-ongoing-war-...

Corrupt regimes around the world threaten global democracy and security. On this episode of The Current, Norman Eisen, senior fellow in Governance Studies and chair of the newly launched global Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security (ACDS) project at Brookings, talks about the project and explains why fighting corruption and promoting good governance are key to strengthen democracy and security....

President Biden and President Xi met on Wednesday in San Francisco during the APEC summit at a time of highly strained relations between China and the U.S. Patricia Kim discussed some of the outcomes of their meeting and stressed the ongoing need for Beijing and Washington "to depoliticize diplomacy and functional channels of communication and make them a regular feature of the U.S.-China relation...