Beyond Borders Scotland Podcast

In this week’s episode we join the BBC’s In Our Time host, Misha Glenny, talking to historian and Atlantic correspondent, Timothy Ryback, about his latest best-selling book, 53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy, concerning the collapse of the Weimar Republic, and Tim Phillips, conflict resolver and founder of Boston-based Beyond Conflict, about its possible parallels with and for America under Trump.

Featuring:

Misha Glenny

More From Timothy Ryback:

(2026) 53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy (Grove Press) at:

Tim Phillip's Beyond Conflict:

https://beyondconflictint.org/publications-research/

Beyond Borders Scotland at: 

https://www.beyondbordersscotland.com 

Audio Editor: Aedan Wilson

This week's podcast features a blistering lecture delivered by celebrated historian, William Dalrymple, about Britain’s historic responsibility towards Palestine and its people. The lecture explores the impact of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and Britain’s conduct in Palestine during the inter-war years leading to the creation of Israel and the Nakba in 1948. The lecture was given in partnership and supported by the British Palestine Project.

William Dalrymple

More From William Dalrymple:

Website and books at:

More from the British Palestine Project at:

https://britainpalestineproject.org

Beyond Borders Scotland at: 

After another crazy year in politics cultural broadcaster Kirsty Lang conducts a light-hearted news review of the issues making the headlines - and which are likely to do so in the coming months, from the UK under new British prime minister Andy Burnham onto global issues like AI, Trump, Iran and Gaza. With Jeremy Corbyn, Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, and Peebles High School student, Dawa Murray.

Featuring:

Kirsty Lang

More From Lyse Doucet:

Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project:

Beyond Borders Scotland: 

Audio Editor: Aedan Wilson

Scotland’s leading international charities are working together to support some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. Join to hear highlights from the Scottish Government’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) annual report.

Featuring:

Noor al Naser

In this episode, listen to a discussion about the pivotal role women play in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and mediation from a Beyond Borders Scotland (BBS) panel at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2025. 

Speaking are selected Alumnae from the Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship, a unique training and networking programme which is run by BBS in partnership with the University of Edinburgh Law School. These are Noor al Naser, a former United Nations diplomat from Iraq who has extensive experience in counter-terrorism, mine action, and programme management and now works for Beyond Borders Scotland; Ameya Kilara, a senior lawyer and award winning peace mediation expert from India who is currently a Senior Projects Director at Inter Mediate; and Dr. Ketty Akello, a lawyer, peacebuilder, and Women, Peace and Security advocate from Uganda who recently obtained her PhD in Law from Durham University. The discussion is hosted by Dr. Roxani Krystalli, a Senior Lecturer and researcher in feminist peace and conflict studies at the University of St Andrews. 

Featuring:

Noor al Naser

For more information about Beyond Borders Scotland’s work on the Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship visit our website to read about the Fellowship, the Women for the World Project, and find out more about our incredible Alumnae.

https://www.beyondbordersscotland.com/projects/women-in-conflict/

https://www.beyondbordersscotland.com/women-for-the-world/

https://www.beyondbordersscotland.com/projects/women-in-conflict/past-fellows/

Audio Editor: Aedan Wilson

Former cellmate of Nelson Mandela and PM of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rassol talks with his co-authors, Dr Houda Abadi and Mark Muller Stuart KC, about their new book, A Guide to Islamic Principles of Peace-Making, and why they are needed more than ever as we confront ever greater cycles of conflict. Swedish diplomat, Eldridge Adolfo, asks the questions.

Contemporary peace-making frameworks deployed by global conflict resolution institutions and experts, have had mixed results in Muslim-majority countries and regions, affected by violent conflict. This new guide aims to address this by paying attention to critical contextual issues around religion and culture. Built on four years research by the International Norms Project (a unique collaboration between LSE, Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) and Uppsala University), it brought together a wide a range of Islamic Scholars, Muslim political transitional leaders and international peace practitioners. What this collaboration has co-created for the first time is a set Islamic peace-making principles that also share many commonalities with contemporary forms of inclusive peace-making and universal norms.

Featuring:

Ebrahim Rassol

https://fba.se/en/news-media/publications/guide-to-peacemaking-using-islamic-principles 

In this week’s podcast veteran peacemaker, Monica McWilliams, author of Stand Up, Speak Out, joins former UN Assistant Secretary-General, Andrew Gilmour, author of The Burning Question: Climate and Conflict - why Does it Matter? and Dr Roxani Krystalli from St Andrews University at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in partnership with Beyond Borders. Where they reflect upon climate, conflict and the state of our troubled world and what we have to do to make more safe, secure and just. 

Monica McWilliams

In this week’s podcast Mark Muller Stuart KC talks to veteran United Nations diplomat Staffan de Mistura at the Edinburgh International Book Festiva who reflects on his remarkable 50-year career in international diplomacy and conflict mediation for the UN in places like Sudan, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

Mark Muller Stuart KC

Join veteran BBC broadcaster, Jim Naughtie, as he talks to Steve Crawshaw, former UK head of Human Rights Watch and author of Prosecuting the Powerful, alongside Derek Goldman, director of the Centre for Global Performance and Dialogue at Georgetown University, and the Noor Al-Naser, programme manager of the Scottish Peace Platform, about their work and the state of the world in the era of Trump. New York theatre director, Irina Kruzhilina, introduces students from Peebles High School who bring the festival to close with their rendition of a New Declaration of Human Rights with its own unique young persons and Scottish Borders twist.

Featuring:

Jim Naughtie

Audio Editor: Aedan Wilson

Join Ambassador Nirupama Rao and Ambassador Riffat Masood alongside senior journalists Maya Mirchandani and Nasim Zehra as they discuss Indo-Pak relations after the recent escalation, the role of women in the peace process, and the space for peace in the changing global environment.

Ambassador Nirupama Rao