Carnegie Council Podcasts

Democracy is petty, trivial, and short-termist, says David Runciman. But having survived world wars and financial shocks over the last 100 years, it's also the most flexible and successful system of government the world has ever seen. These qualities make democracy quite susceptible to crises, but also able to navigate through them.

The threat of a nuclear nightmare is still real, says Joe Cirincione. With unsecured stockpiles in Russia, the ever-present threat of terrorists getting hold of a bomb, and the possibility of a nuclear Iran, America and the world need to pay attention to this potentially catastrophic issue.

Why did Japan recklessly attack the United States in 1941, launching a war that most of the nation's leaders knew they were almost certain to lose? Why did they go ahead, despite heated internal debates? Get the inside story from a Japanese perspective.

In many instances, U.S. forces used interrogation techniques which constitute torture; the nation's most senior officials bear ultimate responsibility; and there is no evidence that torture produced significant information of value. These are the unanimous conclusions of the task force on detainee treatment, as discussed here by two of its members.

Speaking just after the November 23 nuclear deal with Iran, Ari Shavit is skeptical: "The question is: Is it an act of creating the time to wake up and see what's there; or is it a process of deluding ourselves one last time, which will be the very last time?" He also discusses his homeland, Israel--its history, its deep-rooted problems, and its vibrancy.

Journalists sorely need more expertise in the topics they report on, such as business, education and geopolitics, says Thomas Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at Harvard. For unless they know their subject area well, they are vulnerable to their sources and their reporting may be skewed or incomplete.

A brilliant student, Ricken Patel could have had a stellar career in any field he wished. Instead he chose to live among the poor in some of the world's most dangerous places, and ultimately founded Avaaz, a successful activist organization with more than 30 million members. Learn more about Patel and Avaaz in this remarkable interview.

Is it possible to create a global code of ethics? In this Carnegie Council Centennial Symposium at the Scottish Parliament, the panelists discuss Andrew Carnegie's legacy; what has changed since his time; and Carnegie Council's contribution to the vital task of moving toward a shared international understanding with which to face today's problems.

"Globally, have we reached a point where we accept that genocide is not acceptable? I think we have. But what to do about it is something different. I'm not sure that, while we know what we have to do, the wherewithal is there, the resources are there, the will is there to deal with some of the larger egregious behavior in the world."

Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah explores the role of civic honor, and its negative counterpart, shame, in shaping the political behavior of individuals and of nations, and in particular, in shaping the moral dimensions of political behavior.