Have efforts to make war ‘humane’ made it easier for the United States to undertake military action? How do those efforts balance with efforts that are instead aimed at peace? What can we expect from the laws of war in the future in the face of changing technology that replaces soldiers with machinery? Samuel Moyn, Henry Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School, discusses his new book, Humane: How The United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War, with RBI Director John Torpey. You can read the transcript of the episode here: https://ralphbuncheinstitute.org/2021/10/25/do-humane-wars-lead-to-forever-wars-with-sam-moyn/

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In the recent Czech elections, a broad coalition edged out the populist ANO (YES) party and changed the political landscape. Meanwhile, the ailing Czech President must appoint the government from the intensive care unit in order to avoid a constitutional crisis. How relevant is the Czech election in the context of the current international wave of populist politicians? What lessons can be drawn about populism in Eastern Europe and beyond? Petra Guasti, Associate Professor of democratic theory at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague, talks to RBI Director John Torpey about the recent Czech elections, and what they may tell us about the fate of populism in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.

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Where do intellectuals fit within the recent resurgence in right-wing populism? What differentiates European and American far-right ideologies? How internationally organized is today’s far right? A. James McAdams, University of Notre Dame, talks to RBI Director John Torpey about trends in far-right thought that are growing in influence in Europe and the United States, and various tactics and ideas that have been instrumental in that rise. For the transcript of this episode, please see https://bit.ly/2YBKLp8

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What are the immediate and long-term political implications of the new Australia-UK-US cooperation agreement, providing Australia with nuclear submarines despite the fact that the French had been contracted to provide Australia with subs? Does the pact signal a return towards the ‘Anglosphere’? How will the arrangement affect Australia’s relationship with other countries, specifically France and China? Gareth Evans, former Foreign Minister of Australia, talks to RBI Director John Torpey about the AUKUS agreement and how it will affect the international security landscape and relations among the relevant countries, especially including France and China.

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What should we expect in Afghanistan’s future? How is the Taliban governing the country, and what challenges will they face? Will the end of the war bring peace, or will it leave a power vacuum that risks even further destabilizing the region? Sarah Shah, PhD candidate in the Political Science program at The Graduate Center, CUNY studying counterinsurgency and post-conflict reconstruction, talks about the prospects for Afghanistan and the region after the end of 20 years of war and failed state building. For the transcript of this episode, please see https://ralphbuncheinstitute.org/dev/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Prospects-for-Afghanistan-under-the-Taliban-with-Sarah-Shah.pdf

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How did Indonesia become the latest Covid-19 hot spot? Can the new wave of the virus be attributed to dangerous new variants, lack of funding, government mismanagement, or a combination of factors? Irma Hidayana, an independent public health activist with a PhD in health and behavior studies from Columbia University, talks with RBI Director John Torpey about Indonesia’s current battle with Covid-19 and local civil society efforts to track the pandemic’s spread.

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The UN has long been one of the most important voices pushing for global gender equality. But how does the UN approach promoting equality from the top down? Should gender equality be its own issue, should it be incorporated into all other issues, or can both approaches be combined? How can we even measure success for such a complex global issue? Anju Malhotra, principal visiting fellow at the UN University International Institute of Global Health and former Principal Adviser on Gender and Development at UNICEF, talks to Ellen Chesler, Research Fellow at the RBI, about the UN’s efforts to promote gender equality and about what has worked, what hasn’t, and what steps the UN may take in the future.

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The 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games start on July 23rd. Is Japan capable of safely hosting the Olympics at this stage in the pandemic, or does this global spectacle risk becoming an international super-spreader event? What political dramas can we expect from these games? Are the Olympics changing to remain relevant to younger audiences interested in newer sports? John Gleaves, professor of kinesiology and co-director of the Center for Socio Cultural Sport and Olympic Research at California State University-Fullerton, talks to RBI director John Torpey about what we should expect from the first postponed Olympics in modern history and what that means for the international sporting community.

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On January 31, 2020, the UK voted to leave the European Union making it the first and only nation to do so. What have been the main consequences of Brexit, a year and a half after the fact? Are there other exits waiting to happen? António Goucha Soares, Professor of Law at the Lisbon School of Economics & Management, talks to RBI Director John Torpey about how Brexit developed, how the EU and UK negotiated the exit, and what issues are still unresolved between the two parties.

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How do cultural artifacts end up outside their country of origin? What are the different approaches that are being taken to repatriate historical treasures, and what barriers stand in the way of these efforts? What value do we give to objects of ancestral origin, and does it change with time? Pierre Losson, a postdoctoral fellow at the Italian Academy at Columbia University, talks to RBI Director John Torpey about the politics of cultural heritage and what we can expect from international efforts to return ‘stolen’ artifacts to their homelands.

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