Trending Globally: Politics and Policy

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and associate director of Brown's Master of Public Affairs program, share their take on the week's news. This week's topics: Boris Johnson's prospects as PM, Trump's newest racist tweets, Facebook's $5b privacy fine, the underpaid Women's US soccer team, and what to expect in the next ~120 Democra...

July 19, 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. Leading up to the anniversary, the Watson Institute hosted a conference looking at the history of the Revolution and its legacy. We at Trending Globally asked many of the conference guests -- including former Sandinista fighters, diplomats, foreign correspondents, scholars, and activists -- to help us tell the stor...

Policy-makers and the media have a problem when it comes to talking about gender in many Muslim-majority nations: too often it’s discussed only in the context of religion or culture, and politics is left out of the equation. On this episode, Sarah Baldwin talks with Nadje Al-Ali [watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/Al-Ali], an anthropologist at Watson's Center for Middle East Studies [https://watson.b...

On this episode Sarah Baldwin talks with Charlotte Silverman, Sarah Campbell Tucker, and Carly Paul, three students at Brown who are doing fascinating work on gender and development. They discuss their work and research, explore how to better frame issues of gender equality and public health, and hear from Charlotte about what it’s like having your social justice work...win an Oscar [https://www.b...

On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Emily Oster, an economist at The Watson Institute and author of 'Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool' [https://www.amazon.com/Cribsheet-Data-Driven-Relaxed-Parenting-Preschool/dp/0525559256]. In the book, Oster uses the tools of an economist to challenge the conventional wisdom of e...

How has globalization changed the way that borders operate? And how have these changes affected the US's already strained immigration system? On this episode, Sarah Baldwin talks with former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin and Watson Professor Peter Andreas, both experts on the Mexico-US border. They discuss the current state of the border, the cynical genius of Trump’s...

This episode of Trending Globally is the third in our 2019 Commencement-Student Spotlight series. As spring semester came to a close, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with a few of Watson’s graduating seniors about their research and work as undergrads. Be prepared to be inspired! Luna Floyd is a public policy concentrator at Watson. Sarah spoke with Luna about her work and research, which has focused on...

This episode of Trending Globally is the fourth and final part of our 2019 Commencement Student Spotlight series. As spring semester came to a close, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with a few of Watson’s graduating seniors about their research and work as undergrads. Sebastián Otero Oliveras concentrated in ethnomusicology and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. A musician and music lover, his passion...

Is war with Iran in the works? With tensions escalating, and U.S. allies skeptical about what the Trump administration calls an ‘imminent threat,’ the potential for armed conflict feels all too real. On this special episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Professor Jo-Anne Hart [https://watson.brown.edu/people/visiting/hart], an expert on security, Iran, and the Middle East, about t...

This episode of Trending Globally is the second in our 2019 Commencement-Student Spotlight series. As spring semester came to a close, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with a few of Watson’s graduating seniors about their research and work as undergrads. Be prepared to be inspired! Ethan Shire is a Political Science and Latin American & Caribbean Studies concentrator, and an active member of Brown’s polit...

This episode of Trending Globally is the first in our 2019 Commencement-Student Spotlight series. As spring semester came to a close, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with a few of Watson’s graduating seniors about their research and work as undergrads. Be prepared to be inspired! Part 1: Drashti Brambhatt is originally from Queens, New York, and is concentrating in international relations. In her time at...

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and associate director of Brown's Master of Public Affairs program, share their take on the week's news. In today's last show of the semester, topics include, Julian Assange, Brexit in a post-Torre world, the Democratic primary, China tarrifs, Alabama's abortion law, warmongering with Iran and rec...

On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Darrell M . West, Vice President of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of ‘The Future of Work: Robots, AI, and Automation’ [https://www.brookings.edu/book/the-automated-society/]. They dive deep into the changing nature of work, and into the impact A.I. and robots will have on our economy, society, and politics....