International Horizons

Africa has grown economically in recent years in such a way that many of its populations now enjoy both the benefits and the drawbacks of a middle class western lifestyle. Yet it is also growing rapidly in demographic terms due to the combination of high fertility and lower mortality, raising questions about employment and development generally. What does the future of the continent look like? This week RBI Director John Torpey talks with Ebenezer Obadare, Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow in Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, about the current situation in Africa. The conversation covers Africa’s experience with COVID, the influence of China and Russia on the continent and why they represent a threat to the established order, why Africa suffers from state weakness, the demographic situation and the lack of opportunities for youth, and finally the religious dimension of contemporary African politics.

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International organization,s whose activities unavoidably have political consequences, nonetheless have a well-earned reputation for being apolitical or depoliticized. Why, when so much of what they do seems intrinsically political? Is that reputation for being apolitical a good thing? What are the consequences of the de-politicization of such organizations? This week, RBI director John Torpey talked with Marieke Louis and Lucile Maertens about the trending depoliticization of international organizations and its effects for achieving results and enhancing cooperation. The discussion covers the causes of depoliticization, its framing in comparison to past years, the dangers of politicizing certain issues and not informing policy on science, and how depoliticization may end up protecting the status quo

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Some 12 million Ukrainians – a quarter of the population -- have been forced to flee their homes or their country as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Millions are concentrated in Poland as well as in other countries in the region: Romania, Hungary, Moldova, Finland, Germany and elsewhere. How are they faring as refugees? This week on International Horizons, RBI Director John Torpey speaks with Rand Richards Cooper, a journalist, editor and writer, about his recent trip to visit Ukrainian refugees in Poland alongside magician Bill Herz. In addition to anecdotes from the magic shows and his interviews, Cooper describes the extraordinary Polish response to the refugee influx, the varied refugee experience, how the war has divided families, and the long shadow of World War Two.

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How do Russians feel about the war in Ukraine? What information are they getting about the war? What about the reports of people leaving, especially people in the tech world, but certainly in other fields as well? Are Russians protesting the war? Or has there been too much repression and disinformation for them to want to do that? In this episode, RBI director John Torpey discusses with Institute of Urban and Regional Research’s Anna Zhelnina about the evolution of protests in Russia and how the new legislation has allowed the government to quell them and how the repressive machine has evolved. Moreover, Zhelnina outlines how Russians are responding to the polls in support (or opposition) to the war, and how many Russians are fleeing the country, the way in which artists and common citizenry manage to silently protest the war and finally, the pessimistic view that there is not best replacement for Putin.

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This week, International Horizons showcases an interview by RBI and EU Studies Center director John Torpey with political scientist Ivan Krastev about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will affect the balance of power in Europe, transatlantic relations, and the future of democracy. How does the war change existing political divisions, and what should the role of NATO of the U.S. government be? This event took place on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, as the Otto and Fran Walter Memorial Lecture, organized by the EU Studies Center of the Ralph Bunche Institute and by Graduate Center Presents public programs. Ivan Krastev is chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria, and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, as well as an author and contributor to the NY Times Opinion page.

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This week on International Horizons, RBI Director John Torpey talks with Andrew Nathan about the extreme paranoia of the U.S China policy during the Trump administration, whether China poses a threat to the liberal order, what Chinese are perceiving of the U.S, how Chinese are pursuing a multilateral world, and how ill-advised war on Ukraine is enhancing U.S. power outreach and what China is doing about it.

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Hungary's Viktor Orban, the originator of the notion of illiberal democracy, has now been re-elected for four more years as Prime Minister of Hungary. This is on top of the 12 years that have preceded this election, and a previous stint as prime minister. This time he won with a supermajority that allows his party to revise the Constitution unilaterally. How did he do it? What can we expect from the ruler whom many regard as the greatest threat to democracy and Eastern Europe other than Russia? What will the EU do? This week, RBI director John Torpey talks to San Diego State University Professor and corruption scholar David Jancsics about the recent victory of Victor Orban after twelve years in office and how this time he has managed to amass more power than ever before. Jancsics discusses the Hungarian state as a “monopoly of corruption” where Orban has created a network of clientielism and loyalties that maintains him in power while giving the impression of legitimacy. Additionally, Jancsics unveils how the war in Ukraine has served Orban’s electoral strategy of enhancing the rhetoric of “us and them,” where the outer world creates threats against which the only stable protection is Orbanism.

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This week, RBI director John Torpey talks with Catherine Bertini, top expert in food security issues and former director of the UN World Food Programme about the War in Ukraine’s consequences for the world’s supply, the decisive actors, how is all related to price increases, the main victims of a food shortage, the violence that this can carry, and how through dietary alternatives and the relocation of crops the world can cope with the effects of this shortage.

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This week, RBI director John Torpey talks to Metin Hakverdi, member of the German Bundestag, about the political momentum of Germany, the global implications of the defense budget increase, the revival of WW2 memories in the psyche of Germans that are witnessing the war in Ukraine, the role of the West as a bloc, and how the Western response of this war is decisive for the liberal order and the stability of national borders.

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine has created a military stalemate, perhaps soon to be called a quagmire, and a humanitarian crisis of a magnitude last seen by Europeans during World War Two. NATO leaders are preparing for a long conflict and one that may involve chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Russians are fleeing their country or resigning their official posts out of opposition to the war or remorse for their roles in it. Thousands have been arrested in Russia for their opposition to the war. What comes next after the NATO Summit and the plans to strengthen troop deployments to NATO's eastern flank at the very borders of Russia? This week on International Horizons, John Torpey, RBI Director, talks to Kadri Liik, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, about the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine, the possible end of Putinism, the risks of an economic crisis in the West as a result of energy shortages, how Russia is becoming even more repressive than the Soviet Union, and how its economy is moving backwards.

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