The EI Podcast

The First World War fundamentally altered our understanding of strategy — we should heed the insights of the era's leading thinkers and generals. Read by Leighton Pugh.  Image:  First World War Commanders looking at a battle plan. Painting by Francois Flameng (1856-1923), 1916. Army Museum, Paris. Credit: Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images

Crises of knowledge precipitate drives towards specialisation. In our digital age we still need polymaths. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: This chart is taken from the book 'Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbrae' which was published in 1646 by the Jesuit scientist and inventor, Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680). Credit: SSPL/Getty Images

The worst form of ignorance in politics is an inflated opinion of one’s own wisdom. In matters of moral judgement, authority-dependence carries grave risks. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image:  French painter David's The Death of Socrates. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images

Political and economic concerns were as critical as environmental and geographic factors in forging the unity of the Mongol Empire. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image:  Genghis Khan in combat. Miniature from Jami' al-tawarikh, ca 1430. Found in the collection of Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Artist. Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Land is the silent, steady, partner in the messy realm of politics and national divides between monarchs. Read by Leighton Pugh. You can find the essay featured in this episode here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/spirit-lands-and-tyrant-kings-differing-tales-of-statehood/

As hostilities with Russia increase, we must again ask ourselves what drives human beings to conflict, especially after an era of peace. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Eddie Gerald / Alamy Stock Photo

While the Islamic State’s savvy media presence may have overshadowed that of al-Qaeda over the past decade, the efforts of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operating in war-torn Yemen show the group remains a long-term threat. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-war-for-hearts-and-minds-the-evolution-of-al-qaedas-media-strategy/ Credit: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

During the Cold War, the British Joint Intelligence Committee was charged with forecasting the actions of states behind the Iron Curtain and the rest of the world. Its record was patchy – the Brits were repeatedly taken by surprise throughout the 20th century. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-joint-intelligence-committee-reading-the-russian-mindset/ Credit: The Central...

Demagogues thrive if moderate politicians flatter citizens into an unrealistic sense of their own greatness. Read by Leighton Pugh.   https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/democratic-crisis-lessons-from-ancient-athens-4/ Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

It is not just politics that is beset by tribalism. The social sciences are also vulnerable to in-group bias. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/tribal-bias-from-the-wild-to-the-laboratory-5/ Credit: melita / Alamy Stock Photo

Love has become widely seen as a democracy of salvation open to all. The reality is more complex. Is our religion of love doing more harm than good? Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/is-our-religion-of-love-doing-more-harm-than-good/ Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

While there may have been striking similarities between the Gospel of Thomas and those of the four Evangelists, closer examination reveals a subtle yet crucially different perspective on salvation. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-gospel-of-thomas-casting-a-new-light-on-early-christianity/ Credit: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Professor Helen Thompson, Tim Marshall and Daniel Yergin to discuss the global energy market.  The fallout of Putin's invasion of Ukraine has overthrown energy norms in Europe. However, over the past decade the energy market has been far from stable. With concerns surrounding climate change and the discovery of new resources, we are on the br...

Humanity has come quite some way in the past 200,000 years but are we really anything more than primates with a few million more neurons than our closest relatives? Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/why-16-billion-cortical-neurons-are-not-enough/ Credit: Martin Harvey via Getty Images

What's a war without its leaders? In this week's Worldview, Adam Boulton speaks to leading historians Margaret MacMillan and Andrew Roberts on how leadership shapes both conflicts and their resolutions. Image description: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stands for a moment of silence during a ceremony to award medals to service members to celebrate the Day of Defenders of Ukraine in the c...

France, like all countries, is haunted by events and mistakes of times past. These ghosts will guide modern policy until they are overridden and laid to rest. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/modern-france-and-the-ghosts-of-the-past/ Credit: Guillaume Louyot / Alamy Stock Photo protests

The Lawrence legend continues to win new devotees while his pragmatic contribution to warfare is neglected. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/lawrence-of-arabia-on-war-how-the-past-haunts-the-present/ Credit: Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Throughout the ages, oracles, journalists and political scientists have attempted to guess the course fate may take. But should they fail to take the specifics, particularly specific individuals, into account, they are doomed to fail. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-importance-of-the-individual-in-history/ Credit: CBW / Alamy Stock Photo

In our latest episode of Worldview hosted by Adam Boulton we consider the role outer space will play in the future of conflict. How soon will conflicts on Earth spill out into space? What form might these conflicts take and how can we regulate them? Adam speaks to Jacob Geer, Dr Stuart Eves and Professor von der Dunk to find out.   Image description: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off, Cape Canave...

Traditional geopolitical solutions (accommodation or military containment) are unlikely to work with Putin’s Russia. Instead the West should pursue a unified geo-economic strategy. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-carrot-and-the-stick-geo-economics-and-russian-revisionism/ Credit: Klaus Oskar Bromberg / Alamy Stock Photo

How does the war in Ukraine look on the ground? What does the future of the battlefield hold? In this week's episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton speaks to Professor Hew Strachan and Dr Rob Johnson to discuss these issues and more. Image description: A drone operator from field medicine division, Ukraine. Credit: Mykhailo Palinchak / Alamy Stock Photo.

Our new series of Worldview, presented by Adam Boulton is considering the future of warfare and geopolitics in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  In this week's episode, Adam Boulton is in conversation with Vladislav Zubok and Sir Roderic Lyne, the former British Ambassador to Moscow. While both were horrified by the invasion of Ukraine last February, they offer varying views on how this n...

The condemnation of the annexation of the Crimea was unified and strong, but the sanctions that followed lacked any real bite. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/containing-and-deterring-russia-can-europe-act-strategically/ Credit: Nikolay Vinokurov / Alamy Stock Photo

Our new series of Worldview, presented by Adam Boulton is considering the future of warfare and geopolitics in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  In this week's episode, Adam Boulton is in conversation with Beatrice Heuser, Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones and Frank Gavin discussing the roles of NATO, the EU and the UN today. How can these twentieth-century institutions tackle the challenges...

For the past sixty years, the use of nuclear weapons has become unthinkable. But with every conflict there comes a point where the unthinkable becomes possible. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/can-nuclear-deterrence-preserve-the-long-peace-between-major-powers/ Credit: RBM Vintage Images / Alamy Stock Photo