World Class

We bring expertise on international affairs from Stanford's campus, straight to you. Hosted by former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, experts from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies offer insights into the history and context of the biggest stories in the news. If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars at the Freeman Spogli Institute for...

840 million people — or about one-ninth of the world’s population — live in China’s rural areas. They tend to settle in the regions in which they are born, and they’re generally not depicted in mainstream media outlets, but they are going to play an instrumental role in the country’s economic future. In this episode, Scott Rozelle discusses how the wealth gap between the richer urban parts of Chin...

During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Russian operatives used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms to spread disinformation in order to divide the American public. Four years later, misleading and false information about the 2020 presidential election is still rampant online. And this time around, more of that misleading information is coming from domestic actors w...

We are nearing the end of the election season in the U.S. that has been anything but ordinary — the country is in the midst of a global pandemic, which has caused a seismic shift in how Americans will vote. Nearly three-quarters of American voters are eligible to receive a mail-in ballot for the 2020 election. Nathaniel Persily is one of the leaders of the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project, a...

Signed by President Barack Obama and former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in 2010, the New START Treaty caps the number of strategic missiles and heavy bombers that the U.S. and Russia can possess. The nuclear arms control treaty is set to expire in February 2021 unless an agreement is signed in the coming months. Rose Gottemoeller, the chief negotiator of New START, joins World Class to discu...

Described by some as “Europe’s last dictator,” Alexander Lukashenko has headed an authoritarian regime in Belarus for the last 26 years. Following his recent victory in Belarus’ presidential election, which is widely considered to have been rigged, citizens have taken to the streets to protest. Belarusian scholar and activist Aleś Łahviniec breaks down what happened during Belarus’ election in ear...

Many see China as having a desire to displace the United States as the preeminent power in the world. In this episode, Jean Oi and Thomas Fingar (co-editors of "Fateful Decisions: Choices That Will Shape China’s Future") explain why they disagree with this belief. They also discuss China’s growth and achievements over the past 40 years, the choices that will shape China’s future, and the role of p...

With protests continuing after the tragic killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, people around the world are demanding more transparency and accountability from police officers. What steps can be taken to curb police violence and abuses of power? Dr. Beatriz Magaloni is a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the founder and director of the Poverty, Vi...

Following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, widespread protests have erupted in cities around the United States and around the world. What can we learn from these protests, and what implications might they have for democracy in the United States? Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. In this episode, Diamond discusses...

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, its effects could be potentially devastating to global democracy and the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Nate Persily, a senior fellow at FSI and co-director of the Stanford-MIT Project on a Healthy Election, and Larry Diamond, also a senior fellow at FSI, discuss how democracies and autocracies are doing in response to the global crisis, why some democr...

COVID-19 has established itself around the globe and will be with us for the foreseeable future. What do we know about the virus so far, and what makes it unique? Michelle Mello is a professor of law and medicine at Stanford whose research focuses on law, ethics, and health policy. David Relman is a professor in the departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology at Stanford, and a Senior Fe...

Global populism is on the rise. Once associated with Latin American and post-communist democracies, populist parties and politicians have now gained support and power in established democracies. In a new white paper, “Global Populisms and Their Challenges,” co-authors Anna Grzymala-Busse, Didi Kuo, Frank Fukuyama, and World Class host Michael McFaul explore the threats that populism poses to democ...

The coronavirus has infected more than 75,000 people and killed more than 2,000 since it was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late December. Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies experts Karen Eggleston and David Relman join host Michael McFaul to discuss what you should know about the virus, its impact on China and the world, and whether there is any truth to the rumors about its...

In the wake of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by the United States, Abbas Milani — an expert on U.S.-Iran relations — discusses Iran’s economic and political troubles, Soleimani’s role in Iranian politics, and what the country’s decision to fire missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops means for relations between Iran and the U.S. going forward. Abbas Milani is the Hamid and Christin...

With an average age of 41, Ukraine’s new parliament — elected in July 2019 — is its least experienced one yet. 80 percent of the legislature had no political experience before the election last summer, and the nation is at a crossroads of sorts: will it transition into a successful reformist government, or will its efforts fail? Francis Fukuyama — the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at FSI, and th...

President Donald Trump recently made the decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria. Why was the U.S. there in the first place; where do things stand now with Turkey, the Kurds, and Syria; and what effect did that decision have on the fight against ISIS? Brett McGurk is the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at FSI and the Center for International Security and Cooperation. He previously served a...

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s name has appeared regularly in discussions about the controversial situation with Ukraine. What was Biden trying to achieve during his visit to Ukraine in 2015, and what is his connection to the controversy surrounding the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky? Colin Kahl is co-director of the Center for Internationa...

Ukraine has been in the news a lot lately in the context of U.S. politics, but we haven’t heard many Ukrainian perspectives in the U.S. media following the controversy surrounding the recent interactions between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In this episode, Sasha Ustinova shares a Ukrainian perspective on the Trump-Zelensky phone call, provides context and bac...

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer breaks down the controversial July 25 phone call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky. He talks about the context of what was going on between the U.S. and Ukraine when the call took place, what was discussed during the call, and why the situation is damaging U.S. diplomatic relations with Ukraine. If you like what you hear, you can get additio...

Following the Russian disinformation campaign surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election, election security and disinformation are now global issues. What should be done in order to protect the integrity of the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election, and who should be responsible for creating these protections? Alex Stamos — the former chief security officer at Facebook, who is now a resear...

Between 1991 and 2006 the world was dominated by liberal values and institutions, and we saw a major increase in the number of democracies around the globe. But for the past 13 years, global freedom has been on the decline. Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, discusses why the world may be on the cusp of a “democratic depression.” If you like...

What is the evolution of thinking about digital technology, the companies that dominate it, and their responsibility to users of their platforms and the tenets of free speech? Eileen Donahoe, the executive director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator (GDPI) at FSI’s Cyber Policy Center, discusses the need for global internet guidelines, and GDPI’s mission to improve democratic values and human...

More needs to be done to protect against foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. election, and not just by the American government. Nathaniel Persily, co-director of the Cyber Policy Center and a senior Fellow at FSI updates us on how technology companies have changed the way they display political advertising, why other countries need to be on the lookout for disinformation campaigns, and how Ameri...

The standoff over the presidency in Venezuela continues, with two men, Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó, still claiming the office. Dr. Harold Trinkunas, deputy director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at FSI, updates us on how the situation has evolved since the beginning of the political conflict, the interests of the U.S. and Russia in the country, and explains the three...

Three weeks after the release of the Mueller Report, much of its content is still off-limits to the public. In this episode, former Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos shares his thoughts on what was and was not included in the public report, and what surprised him the most. A cybersecurity expert, business leader and entrepreneur, Alex Stamos is an adjunct professor at the Freeman Spogli...