Mark Leonard's World in 30 Minutes

This month, High Representative Josep Borrell visited Moscow to discuss key issues of concern and test the waters for building a more “constructive dialogue” between Russia and the European Union. His visit came at a time of elevated tensions, as calls for sanctions against the Russian Federation are increasing and both sides debate over the recent poisoning and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, as well as issues concerning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. What lessons can be drawn from Borrell’s controversial visit? Why do attempts to reset relations with Russia fail? In this week’s episode, Mark Leonard is joined by Kadri Liik, senior policy fellow at ECFR and Russian domestic and foreign policy expert, Nicu Popescu, Director of ECFR´s Wider Europe programme, and José Ignacio Torreblanca, head of ECFR's Madrid office to discuss Europe’s strategy vis-à-vis Russia. This podcast was recorded on 10 February 2021.Further reading:- “Why attempts to reset relations with Russia fail” by Nicu Popescu: https://buff.ly/3rnwG7P - “The Putin paradox: Five things Navalny’s arrest says about Russia” by Kadri Liik: https://buff.ly/3rcfJghBookshelf:- “In Confidence: Moscow's Ambassador to Six Cold War Presidents” by Anatoly Dobrynin- “Barbarie de l'ignorance” by George Steiner and Antoine Spire- “Rakovsky, Ou, La Révolution Dans Tous Les Pays” by Pierre Broué

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What are the key aspects of how the European Green Deal will change the world? Introduced by the new European Commission in 2019, the Green Deal’s goal is to decouple economic growth from resource use and to create an EU economy with zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. To reach that goal a fundamental overhaul of the European economy is needed. But this transformation will also have a dramatic effect on external economic relations and on foreign policy. This week host Mark Leonard invited ECFR Council Member and Member of the German Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens Franziska Brantner as well as Jean Pisani Ferry and Simone Tagliapietra from the Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel to discuss the geopolitical repercussions of the European Green Deal.This podcast was recorded on 4 February 2021.Further reading:“The geopolitics of the European Green Deal” by Mark Leonard, Jean Pisani-Ferry, Jeremy Shapiro, Simone Tagliapietra, and Guntram Wolff: https://buff.ly/3cJHAjWBookshelf: • “National power and the structure of foreign trade” by Albert O. Hirschman •"21st century diplomacy: foreign policy is climate policy” by the Wilson Centre & adelphi • "The new map: Energy, climate, and the clash of nations” by Daniel Yergin • “Fighting the first wave: Why the coronavirus was tackled so differently across the globe” by Peter Baldwin

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One of the foreign policy priorities of US president Joe Biden is to work with allies on China. His administration reached out to the European Union ahead of his inauguration to make US intentions clear. However, so far, they have only been met with disappointment over the alacrity with which European leaders pushed forward the agenda of the comprehensive agreement on investment before Biden was even sworn in as president. What are the prospects for transatlantic cooperation on China now that a new US administration is in power? Has it ended before it has begun, or will we see a new Western approach to dealing with China’s rising power? This week, our host Mark Leonard is joined by Janka Oertel, head of ECFR’s Asia programme and Andrew Small, senior transatlantic fellow with the Asia programme at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and associate senior policy fellow at ECFR, to discuss the future of EU-China-US relations.This podcast was recorded on 28 January 2021.Further reading:- “Europe’s China deal: How not to work with the Biden administration” by Andrew Small: https://t.co/Po017TsXRoBookshelf- “The 1000-year-old boy” by Ross Welford- “The quest for legitimacy in Chinese politics: A new interpretation” by Lanxin Xiang

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The new poll by ECFR revealed that despite the joy and relief many Europeans felt when Joe Biden won the US presidential election, they do not think he can help America make a comeback as the pre-eminent global leader. This week, Susi Dennison is taking over the podcast, joined by our usual host, Mark Leonard as well as Jeremy Shapiro, ECFR’s research director and in-house US expert. How do Europeans assess the future of transatlantic relations? Can the EU finally come to terms with its strategic sovereignty goal? And what does this mean for policy-makers in European capitals and across the Atlantic in Washington D.C.?This podcast was recorded on 21 January 2021.Further reading: "The crisis of American power: How Europeans see Biden’s America" by Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard: https://buff.ly/3oXcLvsBookshelf:• “The upswing: How America came together a century ago and how we can do it again” by Robert D. Putnam & Shaylyn Romney • “The comedians” by Graham Greene • “Reset: Reclaiming the internet for civil society” by Ronald Deibert

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It’s time for our annual review!It has become tradition that at the beginning of each year, World in 30 Minutes host Mark Leonard and Jeremy Shapiro, Research Director at ECFR, predict ten bright and bold policy projections for the year to come. Predictions for 2020 took a real beating from the coronavirus pandemic, but thanks to some very generous rounding, the end of year score came to 6 points out of 10. What are your foreign policy predictions for 2021? Let us know by tweeting at us @ecfr or comment here below or on Facebook.This podcast was recorded on 13 January 2021.Further reading: The long year: Top foreign policy trends for 2021: https://buff.ly/3636nLQTop ten foreign policy trends in 2020: https://buff.ly/2XE1G6qCheck out all predictions since 2016: https://buff.ly/3oJbwA8Bookshelf:- “The Mermaid from Jeju” by Sumi Hahn- “Cyber War & Cyber Peace in the Middle East" edited by Michael Sexton and Eliza Campbell

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In the early days of covid-19, it became clear that none of the great powers were looking to the multilateral system to provide an answer. As the death count rose, every country acted as if it was on its own, closing borders, stockpiling medical equipment, and introducing export controls. The blame game conducted by Beijing and Washington over the WHO showed how geopolitics is increasingly undermining multilateralism. While it seems increasingly evident that the global challenges of today require global solutions, how can we explain the current crisis of the liberal international order? In this week’s podcast, Mark Leonard is joined by John Ikenberry, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Affairs at Princeton University, to discuss the roles of the US and the EU in supporting liberal internationalism to address the problems of modernity and build a world safe for democracy.This podcast was recorded on 9 December 2020.Further reading:“The Next Liberal Order” by John Ikenberry: https://buff.ly/3j50qTC “Why Liberal Internationalism Is Still Indispensable—and Fixable” by Michael Hirsh: https://buff.ly/3gkxgilBookshelf:• “A World Safe for Democracy: Liberal Internationalism and the Crises of Global Order” by John Ikenberry• The “FDR at War” series by Nigel Hamilton• “Brideshead revisited” by Evelyn Waugh

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As Europe is in the middle of the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic, everyone hopes that a vaccine will put an end to it and thereby stop raising the death tolls and repeating lockdowns. In this week’s episode, Anthony Dworkin takes over the podcast to talk to Gunilla Carlsson, ECFR Council member and Vice-Chair of the Global Fund Strategy Committee, and Ilona Kickbusch, founding director and chair of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva about the global distribution of covid-19 vaccines and the geopolitics surrounding this. What are upcoming challenges for the COVAX initiative? How should we expect European countries to balance their commitment to protect their own populations vs global responsibilities?This podcast was recorded on 17 December 2020.Bookshelf:• "Risk society" by Ulrich Beck • Swedish poetry• "Why the Germans do it better" by John Kampfner

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The corona outbreak has put the world’s leaders and the way they communicate to their people, to the test. Each country wants to project a positive self-image, portraying itself as a strong and capable crisis manager. In these past months, there have been attempts to discredit other countries, their political systems, and their responses to the pandemic. Also, scientific facts have been under scrutiny and challenged by “alternative facts” and disinformation. This week’s host, Susi Dennison, director of ECFR’s European Power programme is joined by ECFR Council Members Christine Ockrent and Julia De Clerck-Sachsse to talk about what HR/VP Josep Borrell called a “global battle of narratives and a struggle for geopolitical influence.”This podcast was recorded on 10 December 2020.Further reading:“La guerre des récits. Xi, Trump, Poutine: la pandémie et le choc des empires” by Christine Ockrent“From Brussels with love: How the European Union can win the battle of narratives” by Julia De Clerck-Sachsse: https://buff.ly/3kj6Uxy“Together in trauma: Europeans and the world after covid-19” by Susi Dennison & Pawel Zerka: https://buff.ly/37qdxelBookshelf:•The magic mountain by Thomas Mann•Love in the Blitz by Eileen Alexander •A country for dying by Abdellah Taïa•Ghana must go by Taiye Selasi•The world of yesterday by Stefan Zweig•Impossible by Erri De Luca

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ust over a month ago, Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia and 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, ordered a military offensive against regional forces in Tigray. Since then, the situation has been spiralling out of control, with increasing international concern over access to the Tigray region and reports of attacks against UN personnel trying to gain access. ECFR’s Susi Dennison takes over in this week’s episode to discuss the regional implications of the conflict and the prospects for transatlantic cooperation around the issue. She is joined by Theo Murphy, Director of ECFR’s Africa programme, Payton Knopf, Senior Advisor to the Africa programme of the US Institute for Peace, and Alexander Rondos, ECFR Council Member and EU Special Representative to the Horn of Africa.This podcast was recorded on 9 December 2020. Further reading:- “Final Report and Recommendations of the Senior Study Group on Peace and Security in the Red Sea Arena”, U.S. Institute of Peace: https://buff.ly/2JS25PqBookshelf: - “Afropean: Notes from Black Europe” by Johny Pitts - “America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy” by Robert Zoellick - “The Shadow King” by Maaza Mengiste - “Swimmer Among the Stars” by Kanishk Tharoor

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The election of Joe Biden presents an opening to strengthen transatlantic diplomacy on Iran. Biden has already outlined his intention to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, primarily by ensuring the US re-joining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), from which the US unilaterally withdrew under outgoing President Trump. However, to what extent can and will Iran policy be a priority of the incoming administration? What can Europeans do to bolster transatlantic diplomacy on Iran? This week Mark Leonard is joined by Nasser Hadian, professor of political science at the University of Tehran, Ilan Goldenberg, director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security and ECFR’s Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy head of our Middle East and North Africa programme to discuss these issues. This podcast was recorded on 2 December 2020.Further Reading:“A call for Europe to bolster transatlantic diplomacy on Iran”, a joint statement by ECFR Council Members: https://buff.ly/3qfKrFCOn Iran, the Next Administration Must Break With the Past by Elisa Catalano Ewers, Ilan Goldenberg, and Kaleigh Thomasin Foreign Affairs Bookshelf:• “Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East”, by Philip H. Gordon• “A Promised Land” by Barack Obama

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