In this second episode, Jonathan takes you on a sonic journey through the life of Lankans in the crisis. Last autumn, they visited their family there and recorded soundbites of how their relatives and people in Lanka are experiencing economic despair, painting a bittersweet picture of a people, albeit pessimistic, showing resilience through their love for music and their sense of humour.

The chorus of the song “Obath Mamath” by Jagath Wickramasinghe, sung and played by Jonathan’s cousins and brother, translates to this:

“You and I, sitting in this world, why are we crying?

You and I, instead of thinking of us as two, let’s think of us as one

Let’s make tomorrow’s world a healthy one for everyone

Let’s make tomorrow’s world a healthy one for everyone”

Link to sources: https://linktr.ee/lkpodcast

There are various different forms of government in the world: there’s democracy, aristocracy, technocracy…and crooktocracy, the government of crooks. In this 2nd episode of Crooktocracy, we will fly all over the Atlantic with Chiara to look at a Latin American crooktocracy: Brazil. We will discover the groundbreaking impact of Car Wash. It’s the story of how a small money laundering investigation, which started from a car wash station in Brasilia, led to the election of Jair Bolsonaro in 2018, Lula’s reelection in 2022, and the assault on the Brazilian Congress in 2023.

Car Wash raises many questions: does the noble intention of fighting corruption justify a dubious method of investigation? Is corruption acceptable if it aids in the adoption of policies that reduce poverty, benefit society as a whole, and would otherwise never have seen the light of day?

Credits: 

Host: Chiara Wehlte 

Editor: Jonathan Wijararatne & Chiara Wehlte

Audio Technician: Charelle Abdallah 

Link to all relevant sources: https://linktr.ee/crooktocracycarwash

In this episode Brendan and Charelle look at the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine one year after it started. Joined by Anna Herranz-Surrallés and Giselle Bosse, both Associate Professors at Maastricht University, they explore how the conflict has affected Ukraine and the EU. They also look at how the relationship between EU-Ukraine and EU-Russia have evolved since the beginning of the conflict, as well as the consequences of the EU’s reaction, and the impact it had on the way the EU operates as a global actor.

Secondary  Sources:

Dr. Giselle’s recommendations:

Putin vs The West (BBC Docu-series)

Grey Bees, by Andrey Kurkov

Giselle Bosse (2022) Values, rights, and changing interests: The EU’s response to the war against Ukraine and the responsibility to protect Europeans. Contemporary Security Policy, 43:3, 531-546.

Dr. Anna’s recommendations:

The Orphanage: A Novel by Serhiy Zhadan

The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister by Olesya Khromeychuk

Rebuilding Ukraine: Principles and Policies, edited by Yuriy Gorodnichenko Ilona Sologoub Beatrice Weder di Mauro

New Projections for the global battery electric vehicle market go from 47 billion US Dollar in 2020  to 212 billion in 2030. The demand for these batteries will remain high. But the challenging aspect of the waste is not yet properly mentioned in a lot of discussions. Partly because the literature is very thin and there is not much data yet. Still this issue will become increasingly challenging especially in emerging nations which have a lot of this waste to manage. Matt and his Team tried to dig a little deeper into this issue and found angles to tackle this problem of waste management in Kenya. In this podcast we will have a discussion about what problem they face and what could be implemented to manage it properly.

Hosts and producers: Dorian Müller

Guest speaker: Matt van der Nest

Editing: Dorian Müller

Audio Technician: Charelle Abdallah

In this episode Brendan and Charelle take a look at the changing global trade order, while also trying to understand what the World Trade Organisation (WTO) actually is. To this end, they are joined by Clara Weinhardt, Assistant Professor of International Relations at FASoS. Whose recent research explores this topic, specifically the strategies that Brazil, India, and China have adopted when responding to the pressure to change their trade privileges in the WTO by developed countries. If you want to learn more, have a listen!

Secondary Sources:

- Till Schöfer and Clara Weinhardt research on the divergent strategies of Brazil, India and China at the WTO

- Faces of Trade Diplomacy

There are various different forms of government in the world: there’s democracy. aristocracy, technocracy…and crooktocracy, the government of crooks. In Crooktocracy, her first series with the MD, Chiara tells us the stories of the biggest corruption scandals in the world and of how shedding a light on these crooktocracies, changed these countries, their image and their future forever. Join Chiara in her first episode about the biggest scandal in Italian history, Clean Hands. What was it exactly? Why was it so groundbreaking for Italians? And what did Silvio Berlusconi have to do with it? 

Find all sources here: https://bit.ly/m/crooktocracy-cleanhands

In this episode Leen explores the hype behind analogue and vintage products like paperback books, vinyls and analogue cameras. Why do we choose these options that contradict the rapid development of technology? And what implications does this have on the future of creative industries?

Sources mentioned:

- Rise in LP sales.

- Why Vinyl Records and Other 'Old' Technologies Die Hard.

- Demand For Vintage Items.

- Screen Time during COVID-19.

- The 40-year Itch.

- 1st Wave of Digital Nostalgia.

- 

Digital Sovereignty is an elusive term which can be defined in various ways. In this episode, Brendan and Charelle sat down with Dr. Mariëlle Wijermars, an expert in the field, to discuss the term Digital Sovereignty and the wider ramifications the concept has on the world.

Link to sources:

Secondary sources:

Laura DeNardis (2014) The global war for internet governance

Nothias, T. (2020). Access granted: Facebook’s free basics in Africa. Media, Culture & Society, 42(3), 329-348.

A major aspect of the climate transition in the EU has been the idea of a ‘Just Transition’, but this leaves us questioning what that actually means. In this episode, Brendan and Charelle explore what the Just Transition means and how it is applied internally in the EU.

With the help of CERiM experts Francesca Colli and Toon van Overbeke, they also explore the role of the Just Transition philosophy in the EU’s policy, identifying COP27 as a major moment where the EU attempts to commit to transitional justice in shouldering the burden of dealing with the damages of climate change. Is the EU ambitious enough in these regards, or does it fail in communicating said ambition?

Secondary sources as suggested by Francesca and Toon:

- The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long-Term in a Short-Term World (Roman Krznaric)

- Carbon Captured: How business and labour control climate politics (Matto Mildenberger)

Sources mentioned throughout the episode:

- Fit for 55

- European Green Deal

- Building Capacities and Strategies of Trade Union Involvement in Shaping A Just Transition Towards a Sustainable and Decarbonised Industry

- The EU’s Just Transition: three challenges and how to overcome them

- Council conclusions with EU negotiating strategy