This week, Foreign Policy Playlist recommends: The Atlas Obscura Podcast.
On this episode, which originally aired August 2021, host Amy Mackinnon speaks with host and founder of The Atlas Obscura Podcast Dylan Thuras on travel storytelling and why certain stories go untold. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Savoring the Obscure

Each week, Foreign Policy Live will feature a substantive conversation on world affairs. Host and FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal will be joined by leading foreign-policy thinkers and practitioners to analyze a key issue in global politics, from the U.S.-China relationship to conflict and diplomacy. FP Live is your weekly fix for smart thinking about the world.

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News Commentary

The presidential election in Mexico this weekend will likely result in the country’s first female president. It’s an open question, however, whether the front-runner in the polls and expected winner, Claudia Sheinbaum, will carry on the policies of her political mentor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Former Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhán joins Ravi Agrawal to analyze López Obrador’s legacy and how Mexico’s next leader may or may not enact different policies.
Suggested reading:
Christina Lu: Mexico’s Historic Elections, Explained
Ana Sofía Rodríguez Everaert: The Woman Inheriting AMLO’s Revolution
Isidro Morales: Mexico’s Next Leader Has an Energy Problem
Connor Pfeiffer and Ryan C. Berg: Mexico and the United States Need to Talk About China Now
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What to Expect From Mexico’s Elections

Does progress always come with a backlash? How should societies think about managing the immense changes unleashed by technology and globalization? CNN host and author Fareed Zakaria joins FP Live to discuss his latest book, Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash From 1600 to the Present.
Suggested reading:
Michael Hirsh: Is This a Revolution? Or Are People Just Very Ticked Off?
Michael Hirsh: No, This Is Not a Cold War—Yet
Fareed Zakaria: Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash From 1600 to the Present
Fareed Zakaria: The Rise of Illiberal Democracy
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Fareed Zakaria’s ‘Age of Revolutions’

Tehran has announced that it will hold elections on June 28 after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Who might win, and what would that mean for Iranian politics—both at home and abroad? Iran experts Karim Sadjadpour and Robin Wright join FP’s Ravi Agrawal to discuss. 
Suggested reading:
Robin Wright: What Raisi’s Death Means for the Future of Iran 
Ali Vaez and Hamidreza Azizi: Why Iran Believes It’s Winning Against Israel
Jack Detsch: What Raisi’s Death Means for Iran’s Future
Raphael S. Cohen: The Iran-Israel War Is Just Getting Started
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What Raisi’s Death Means for Iran’s Future

Increasingly, countries are closing off their economics and questioning the case for globalization. But where does this leave the Bretton Woods institutions intended to facilitate peace and prosperity through trade? World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala joins FP Live to discuss.
Suggested reading:
Gordon Brown: A New Multilateralism
Eswar Prasad: The World Will Regret Its Retreat From Globalization
Joseph E. Stiglitz: Where Global Governance Went Wrong—and How to Fix It
Adam Posen: America’s Zero-Sum Economics Doesn’t Add Up
Gita Gopinath: How Policymakers Should Handle a Fragmenting World
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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on the White House’s New China Tariffs

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Europe this week is “perhaps one of the most aggressive attempts on the part of the Chinese to actively foment disunity,” Evan Medeiros says. How will his visit play out in Washington, particularly on the heels of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s own diplomatic efforts in Beijing? And what would closer EU-China ties mean for U.S.-China competition?
Medeiros was a key advisor on China policy during the Obama administration. He is currently a professor at Georgetown University.
Suggested reading:
The Economist: Emmanuel Macron in his own words (English)
Hal Brands and Michael Beckley: China Is a Declining Power—and That’s the Problem
Evan S. Medeiros: The Delusion of Peak China
Fareed Zakaria: The dangerous new call for regime change in Beijing
Christina Lu: Can Xi Win Back Europe?
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Savoring the Obscure

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