Carnegie Council Podcasts

Molly O'Toole, immigration and security reporter at the "Los Angeles Times," discusses Trump's "Remain in Mexico" asylum policy and its many ethical and legal issues. What's the status of challenges against this policy? How has it been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic? Plus, she draws some connections between the George Floyd protests against policy brutality and the issues that migrants face at the border.

Due to COVID-19, significant restrictions have been placed on freedoms to move about in many nations. Philosopher Christian Barry explores how the costs of these lockdowns can be weighed in a morally plausible way against the costs arising from increased spread of the virus. Many issues come back to a central question: Under what circumstances can some people be expected, even compelled, to bear costs for the sake of others?

A new report finds that over the next 50 years, 1 to 3 billion people could be living outside the climate niche that has "served humanity well over the past 6,000 years." Tim Kohler and Marten Scheffer, co-authors of "Future of the climate niche," discuss what was surprised them in this research, what it means historically when huge populations move, and why there's reason to be hopeful about humanity's future.

The last decade has witnessed a vibrant public discussion about how to safely, ethically, and legally integrate complex artificial intelligence (AI) into modern life, particularly in the sphere of security, says Senior Fellow Arthur Holland Michel. How do we learn to trust AI systems that we don't understand? What are the implications of this new technology as many nations confront a combination of mass protests and the pandemic?

What do Americans think about the role the United States should be playing in the world? How do they conceive of the different trade-offs between domestic and international affairs, among competing options and sets of interests and values? The Chicago Council on Global Affairs' Dina Smeltz and Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah share the results of surveys from their organizations in this conversation with Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev.

How has the pandemic changed U.S-China relations? How has it altered China's relationship with other nations and its geopolitical positioning? George Washington University's Amitai Etzioni and Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev discuss these questions and more as they break down "great power competition" in the era of COVID-19.

The rapid development of emerging technologies like AI signaled a new inflection point in human history, accompanied by calls for agile international governance. With the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic however, there is a new focal point in the call for ethical governance. Senior Fellow Wendell Wallach discusses his work on these issues in this interactive webinar with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal.

Countries like Syria and Libya are facing a "double" emergency right now, says the International Rescue Committee's Kelly Razzouk, as these states are having to deal with ongoing conflict, along with the COVID-19 outbreak. How has the IRC been responding to these situations? What more can the UN Security Council do?

What is "great power populism" and what does it mean during the pandemic? Are we heading towards another global conflict? And are there any leaders who can inspire the "international community" during a crisis? ADA University's Damjan Krnjević Mišković and Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev share their thoughts on the causes and characteristics of the ongoing "nervous breakdown" in the international system.

In this fascinating conversation with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal, historian Ted Widmer looks back on 13 pivotal days in Abraham Lincoln's life in 1861--the basis for his new book "Lincoln on the Verge." How would American and world history be different without Lincoln's ethical leadership? And as the U.S. struggles through the COVID-19 pandemic, what can the Civil War era teach us about political divisiveness in 2020?