Sebastian Schäffer wrote a book with his mentor arguing that the Balkans belong in Europe. Not eventually. Immediately. The mentor, former Austrian Vice-Chancellor Erhard Busek, died in March 2022, weeks after Russian tanks crossed into Ukraine and the argument the two of them had spent years making became the most urgent question on the continent. Schäffer is still making it.

Born in Munich, he gave his career to somebody else's neighborhood. He directs the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe in Vienna, a think tank founded in 1953 and older than most of the European Union, and serves as Secretary General of the Danube Rectors' Conference, a network of more than sixty universities across the region. He founded SSC Europe in 2011 to run simulations and strategic foresight, which is also how he thinks: run the scenario forward, then ask what happens next.

His own contribution to the field is a reversal. The Dilemma of Simultaneity described how post-Soviet states had to build democracy, markets, and nations all at once. Schäffer turned the mirror around and pointed it at Brussels, which now has to reform enlargement, reform itself, and become a real geopolitical power at the same time and under fire. In a July 2025 essay for Fair Observer, he wrote about an editor who asked him to stop using the word "disinformation" because it sounded too political. He refused, and called that kind of softening death by a thousand footnotes.

What we get into:

Dr. Rod Berger sits down with Sam Daley-Harris to peel back the advocacy efforts of a man who has spent a lifetime propelling the power of voice in the pursuit of a healthy and equitable democracy. 

Sam Daley-Harris founded the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS in 1980, co-founded the Microcredit Summit Campaign in 1995, and founded Civic Courage in 2012. The paperback edition of his book Reclaiming Our Democracy: Every Citizen’s Guide to Transformational Advocacy was named an editor’s pick by Publisher’s Weekly BookLife and will be released January 14th, 2025.  Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Overall, [the author's] analysis of effective action is as persuasive as it is accessible, and his call to democratic participation is inspiring. A handbook for aspiring activists that readers will find to be both inspiring and practical."  Daley-Harris has been interviewed on NPR’s Here and Now and on PBS’s Laura Flanders and Friends.

After the 2024 election, Tom Nichols wrote in The Atlantic, “….Americans must stay engaged and make their voices heard at every turn….”  Liz Cheney tweeted, “….Citizens across this country…must now be the guardrails of democracy.”  But most Americans still wonder how, and even if, they can make a difference between elections.  What are the options?  1) Protesting?  Vital, but usually not the long game, 2) Signing email form letters, which only 3% of Congressional staff say is highly effective. Just gestures, 3) Taking a 2-year nap until the next election?  Sadly, the preferred route for many.  But few know about number 4) transformational advocacy, which helps you change an issue and changes you in the process.  

In Reclaiming Our Democracy: Every Citizen’s Guide to Transformational Advocacy Sam Daley-Harris writes about people who met with officials on the other side of their issue, stories like these: 1)  Ellie Sparks who went from experiencing what she called “climate trauma” to meeting her members of Congress and calling the experience “sacred and profound”, and 2) Lisa Jordan who, after meeting with Congressional offices in Washington, DC, said “….This work is the best medicine for when you’re feeling hopeless or have sleepless nights.  It’s the best way to avoid despair….”  Welcome, Sam Daley-Harris.

Dr. Julien Reitzenstein lives in Ireland. He teaches contemporary history at the University of Düsseldorf and political science at the University of Stuttgart. Dr. Reitzenstein is the founder of the non-profit academic organization History & Documentation. In addition to academic conference series, research and publication projects, he is editing a four-volume English-language handbook Ideologies in National Socialism. Several hundred scholars are participating from numerous countries. Dr. Reitzenstein regularly organizes commemorative projects, and advises international companies and law firms on corporate social responsibility and restitution of looted property. He also writes for major newspapers and magazines, such as WELT, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Cicero and Fair Observer.

In an enlightening episode of The Dr. Rod Berger Show, presented by Fair Observer, we ventured into a deep analysis of global reactions following a significant U.S. election. This discussion, featuring Atul Singh, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Fair Observer, offered rich insights into the various international perspectives shaped by the electoral outcomes.

The Dr. Rod Berger Show with Jonas Helmikstøl is a special on-location episode from Oslo, Norway. Jonas joined me on stage for the keynote interview at StartUp Lab's Climate Tech Summit 2030, part of Oslo Innovation Week, presented by the Oslo Business Region. 

Helmikstøl is the now infamous co-founder of Easee, the near-unicorn company out of Norway that was rocketing across European households with its home EV charging units...until they weren't. This is the backstory about a man and a company holding on for dear life. 

Dr. Rod Berger Show with Atul Singh.

Atul Singh is the founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Fair Observer. He has taught political economy at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been a visiting professor of humanities and social sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar.

Atul studied philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Oxford on the Radhakrishnan Scholarship and did an MBA with a triple major in finance, strategy, and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He worked as a corporate lawyer in London and served as an officer in India’s volatile border areas where he had a few near-death experiences. Atul has also been a poet, playwright, sportsman, mountaineer and a founder of many organizations. His knowledge is eclectic, and his friends often joke that it comes in handy when access to Google is limited.

Join us for a fascinating discussion with Dr. Alan Waring. Here's just a snapshot of the discussion in today's episode of The Dr. Rod Berger Show:

Dr. Rod Berger: How do you view the current socio-political climate regarding risk and authority?

Dr. Alan Waring: There’s a worrying trend of ideological cocooning and apathy among younger generations, leading to a lack of engagement and reluctance to challenge authoritarian tendencies. This apathy dilutes the collective ability to tackle critical issues. Reviving curiosity and active discourse is vital in combating these trends.

Dr. Alan Waring is a retired risk analyst who has extensive international consulting experience with government departments, corporations, and institutions. He is the author of several books on risk and has also edited and contributed to the three-volume The New Authoritarianism: A Risk Analysis, published by Ibidem from 2018–2021. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES), European University Cyprus.

This is a very special episode of The Dr. Rod Berger Show presented by Fair Observer! Dr. Berger dives into the story of a young woman amid warfare, emerging as a scholar and award-winning author depicting the power of life, friendship, and never-ending hope. 

From the author of the young adult memoir The Cat I Never Named—which received seven starred reviews and a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award—comes another epic memoir, this time for middle-grade readers, about coming-of-age in the years leading up to the Bosnian Genocide. Three Summers by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is the story of five young cousins who grow closer than sisters, navigating the joys and pitfalls of adolescence as ethnic tensions escalate over three summers in 1980s Bosnia.

This is The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for the next generation, aiming to build empathy and compassion in readers. Beginning with the tragic loss of her brother, Three Summers is Amra’s captivating tale of healing and coming-of-age through friendship that seamlessly weaves classic adolescent experiences of first crushes and pimple woes, against the backdrop of deeper, lesser-known historical events. Written with incredible warmth, Amra takes readers on a journey that will break their hearts and put them back together again.

With identity-based hate on the rise, Amra hopes her story will put faces and names and human identities to Muslim people and genocide survivors, like herself, so kids who are from different backgrounds can build empathy and start to look at each other with curiosity, not judgement.

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess grew up in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently she is a professor at Columbia University, studying how and why societies fall apart and what role education can play in rebuilding decimated countries. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed young adult memoir The Cat I Never Named.

Preview of my next Fair Observer #podcast with professor and historian Matthew Feldman. Matthew is a specialist on fascist ideology and the far right in Europe and the USA.

Described in The Independent as “the leading expert on the radical right” and by ITV as the ‘UK’s leading specialist in this area,’ Matthew Feldman is a consultant, writer, and Emeritus Professor in the Modern History of Ideas.

He has published a dozen volumes on fascism and the radical right, as well as dozens of chapters, articles, and comment pieces on this and other subjects. He has also consulted widely via hundreds of media interviews and more than two dozen cases as an Expert Witness on radical right terrorism while delivering keynote lectures for the G-7, Council of Europe, and many other bodies.

An Emeritus Professor in the History of Modern Ideas at Teesside University, he led Britain’s first unit dedicated to analyzing radical right extremism, the Centre for Fascist, Anti-fascist, and Post-fascist Studies. Before that, he directed the Radicalism and New Media Group at the University of Northampton.

Professor Feldman's third collection of essays will appear in 2024, and his history of fascism will be published by Yale University Press in 2025.

This is a special edition of The Dr. Rod Berger Show, presented by Fair Observer, focused on the future while celebrating the past and present. Dr. Berger was recently included in a new book that identifies leading voices across the world, aiming to capture the power of the future for current and generational impact. 

Voices of the Future is an online multimedia platform (Podcast, Book, AI, Events, and digital assets), conceptualized by Tariq Qureishy that features conversations with prominent future-oriented thought leaders who are involved in helping

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