The International Risk Podcast

What happens when voters hear promises about cheaper living — but see their government focused elsewhere? Dominic Bowen puts that question to international pollster Alex Tarascio of Cygnal in episode #405 of The International Risk Podcast. Their conversation examines voter frustration, the US #midterm #elections and the gap between political headlines and the choices people make at the ballot box. They explore shifts in the Republican coalition, the politics of the cost of living and Iran, what interest in socialism tells us about younger voters, and why strong support does not always translate into turnout. Dominic also asks how leaders should judge polling evidence and why data centres have become a source of local political tension. 

What matters more in an election: convincing people to switch sides, or getting your supporters to turn out? Share your view in the comments.

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.

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Sweden's voters handed the centre-left opposition a win by just three seats, 176 to 173, and yet no one can form a government. The Sweden Democrats lost ground at the ballot box, but they may still hold the key to what happens next. With investors, NATO allies and Ukraine supporters watching closely, this is a stress test for one of Europe's steadiest democracies.

Host Dominic Bowen is joined by Anders Sannerstedt, a political scientist at Lund University who studies the Sweden Democrats, local elections and Swedish party politics. Together they unpack why winning an election doesn't guarantee governing, and what happens if the parties can't break the deadlock.

In this episode:
- Why the opposition is four parties that aren't natural partners, from the Left Party to the Centre Party
- How the Sweden Democrats evolved from their white supremacist roots into a right-wing populist party, and why they lost ground this time
- The economy, healthcare and gang violence as the issues that shaped the vote
- The urban-rural divide and why the Sweden Democrats do well in small towns and the south
- What would change under a left versus a right government, particularly on climate policy
- Why foreign and defence policy, including NATO and support for Ukraine, is unlikely to shift
- Anders's biggest international risk concerns: Russia and climate change

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.
Subscribe for expert conversations on geopolitics, security, economics, conflict, resilience and global affairs.

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Before you let ChatGPT or Claude influence your next business decision, ask yourself: are you trusting the evidence or how convincing the answer sounds?

Dominic Bowen joins AI researcher Herbert Roitblat, author of Algorithms Are Not Enough, to examine what business leaders should demand from artificial intelligence, and where human judgment remains essential.

Drawing on his experience as a senior management consultant, Dominic explains why telling a client “I’m not confident yet” can be more valuable than delivering a polished answer. Together, they explore how to challenge AI outputs, identify useful applications and measure whether the technology is actually improving your business.

In this conversation:
• Why confident AI answers still need scrutiny
• What leaders should automate—and where people add value
• How to distinguish AI adoption from meaningful business improvement
• Why critical thinking and systems thinking matter
• How to stay professionally valuable as AI changes work
• The privacy and infrastructure risks behind the technology

What would you never delegate to AI and why? Tell us in the comments.

CHAPTERS
00:00 AI strategy and the leadership challenge
01:08 Are we overestimating AI?
02:15 Dominic challenges the token-guesser argument
03:52 What should an AI-first business automate?
05:54 Where human judgment adds value
08:18 Building a business around better information
10:43 Trust, evidence and reliable outputs
12:37 Confidence is not critical thinking
15:01 Knowledge work and defending your value
18:48 Designing useful AI workflows
20:10 What separates AI value from wasted spending?
22:45 Learning and systems thinking
24:53 Privacy, infrastructure and international risk
27:00 Closing reflections

Listen to and follow The International Risk Podcast

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.
Subscribe for expert conversations on geopolitics, security, economics, conflict, resilience and global affairs.

#ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork #Geopolitics #AI

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In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, Dominic Bowen speaks with Sarah Logan about the global race to secure Africa's critical minerals. The discussion examines how China, the US, and Europe are positioning themselves in this race, and whether African countries can move beyond simply hosting the competition. It also explores why refining is the real choke point in this race, and why China's head start there now gives it a durable structural advantage.

The conversation explores:
-What critical minerals are, where they're found, and why demand is only accelerating
-Why China is so far ahead, and why refining remains the West's biggest challenge
-Whether African and European manufacturing ambitions can align
-Whether this rivalry actually benefits African countries

Sarah Logan is a lawyer and economist with over 15 years of experience in mining and energy policy across Africa. She is a Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and author of the African Extracts Substack.

TListen to and follow The International Risk Podcast

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.

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#Geopolitics #CriticalMinerals #Africa #China #UnitedStates #Europe #Mining #Cobalt #Lithium #PoliticalRisk #InternationalRisk #Strategy #EconomicSecurity

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In this episode, Dominic sits down with Dr. Maryanne Wolf, a cognitive neuroscientist at UCLA who has spent her career studying what she calls "the reading brain." Maryanne explains why reading doesn't come naturally to us the way language or vision does. It's a skill the brain has to build, circuit by circuit, and one that can atrophy if we stop exercising it.

The numbers are stark. Nearly a third of American adults score at the lowest level of literacy. Fourth grade reading scores are at a two decade low. Eighth graders are performing worse than they have in four decades. And it isn't just a US problem. Countries around the world are seeing similar declines.

Maryanne argues that these statistics are symptoms of something deeper: a shift away from what she calls "deep reading," the slow process that builds background knowledge, inference, empathy and critical thinking. She shares her own unexpected experience of realising her brain had changed after struggling to reread a novel she once loved, and what she did to rebuild that capacity.

The conversation also digs into AI tools, audiobooks and podcasts, and what neuroscience is starting to reveal about "cognitive surrender," the growing reliance on technology to do our thinking for us. Maryanne makes the case that this isn't a minor cultural shift. It's a battle for how future generations will think, reason and govern themselves.

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.

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The International Risk Podcast with Tzvi Gottlieb

In this episode, Dominic Bowen and Tzvi Gottlieb examine the intersection of war, politics and national security in Israel, asking how domestic political pressures are shaping decisions over Iran, Gaza and the wider Middle East. From Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future and Israel’s confrontation with Iran to the resilience of Israeli democratic institutions and the country’s increasingly strained relationship with the United States, the conversation explores the strategic risks facing Israel at a pivotal moment for the country and the region.

We discuss:
- Whether Israeli domestic politics are influencing decisions over war and national security
- Israel’s confrontation with Iran and what “finishing the job” could realistically mean
- Why regime change in Iran would be extraordinarily difficult to achieve
- Benjamin Netanyahu’s political incentives and the approaching Israeli elections
- The resilience of Israel’s democratic and political institutions
- How Israeli politics have changed during Netanyahu’s long period in power
- The relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump
- Why changing American attitudes towards Israel could pose a major strategic risk
- Whether Israel risks weakening its most important international relationship
- Gaza, the West Bank and the prospects for a two-state solution
- The political power of Israel’s settler movement and changing Israeli demographics
- How the conflict could reshape the balance of power across the Middle East
- What Israel and the wider region could look like five years from now

About the guest:
Tzvi Gottlieb is a political consultant and former communications director for the Israeli government. He is also a former Arab affairs correspondent for Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) and a former lobbyist for Shatil – The New Israel Fund. He has written for Haaretz, Globes and other Israeli media outlets, and brings extensive experience across Israeli politics, government, media and public affairs.

About the host:
Dominic Bowen is Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe's leading risk management consulting firms. He advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives on crisis management, geopolitical risk, operational resilience, and strategy, drawing on decades of experience across government, humanitarian operations, and corporate leadership.

See more at www.theinternationalriskpodcast.com

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In Episode 399 of The International Risk Podcast, Dominic and Craig examine the real economics of artificial intelligence: how CFOs should measure AI returns, when automation becomes job displacement, why agentic workflows are changing competitive advantage, and how AI is becoming a geopolitical and governance challenge.

They discuss:
- How CFOs can distinguish durable AI value from hype
- Why some companies are cutting headcount while others avoid new hiring
- The shift from AI experimentation to operational agentic workflows
- Competition and regulation across the United States, Europe and China
- How professionals can future-proof their careers
- Mass employment change, taxation and pressure on the middle class
- Who captures the profits when machines replace human work
- Shrinking business moats, talent risk and AI dependency
- Defence, data centres, energy, water and international risk

What concerns you most: job displacement, concentrated profits, weak governance or geopolitical competition? Share your view in the comments.

Listen to and follow The International Risk Podcast

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Craig Unsworth is a Portfolio Chief Product Officer and senior adviser who works with private-equity firms and their portfolio companies. His work focuses on product strategy, transformation, growth and agentic AI.
Craig's website: https://www.craigunsworth.com/

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.
Subscribe for expert conversations on geopolitics, security, economics, conflict, resilience and global affairs.

Podcast Chapters
00:00 AI value, jobs and risk
00:22 How CFOs should measure AI returns
01:50 AI productivity, layoffs and fewer new hires
04:14 From experiments to agentic workflows
06:14 AI geopolitics: America, Europe and China
08:39 How to future-proof your career
11:07 The AI tools and workflows leaders overlook
14:57 The cost of waiting to adopt AI
18:47 Who captures the gains from automation?
23:14 Who should govern AI?
23:34 Shrinking business moats and hidden risks
26:27 Defence, resources and data-centre risk
29:08 The leadership skills businesses need now
29:46 Closing thoughts

#ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork #Geopolitics #AI

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In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen is joined by Simeon de Brouwer, policy advisor at European Digital Rights (EDRi), Europe’s largest network of digital rights organisations. Simeon explains the controversial EU proposal known as “Chat Control” and explores what mandatory scanning of private communications could mean for encryption, privacy, security and child protection across Europe.

We discuss:

• What the EU’s Chat Control proposal would actually require messaging and hosting platforms to scan for child sexual abuse material and grooming
• Why scanning everyone’s private communications raises fundamental questions about the presumption of innocence and proportionality
• How client-side scanning could affect end-to-end encryption on services such as WhatsApp and Signal
• The risks of false positives, including innocent communications being flagged, accounts being suspended and private material being reviewed by authorities
• Why mass scanning could create opportunities for “function creep”, allowing surveillance infrastructure introduced for child protection to be expanded to terrorism, organised crime or political dissent
• Why encryption is essential not only for ordinary users, but also for journalists, human rights defenders and businesses
• How criminals can adapt their behaviour to evade automated detection, potentially leaving the most sophisticated perpetrators beyond the reach of the technology
• The tension between privacy and child safety, and why EDRi argues that the two do not have to be mutually exclusive
• What alternative approaches could better protect children online, including addressing how platforms enable adults to find and contact young people
• Where negotiations over Chat Control currently stand, and what could happen as the European Parliament, Council and European Commission continue negotiations
• Why Simeon is concerned about Europe’s broader push to simplify digital regulation, and the risk that weakening protections in the name of innovation could ultimately create new security and privacy risks

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.

Tell us what you liked!

In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen is joined by Dr. Holly Bell, economist, former professor and academic administrator at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and author of the geopolitical novel Occupied Alaska. Holly shares the real events that inspired her book, drawing on her own work opposing a proposed $43 billion Chinese-backed gas pipeline deal in Alaska, and explains why economic dependence on foreign capital, technology and infrastructure can constrain a nation's sovereignty just as effectively as military force.

We discuss:

• How a 2017 agreement between Alaska and a Chinese state-linked company for a $43 billion LNG project became the basis for a speculative novel about foreign occupation
• Why economically unviable infrastructure deals can still attract foreign investment, and what predatory lending terms reveal about the true intent behind them
• How debt-trap dynamics that have played out in Sri Lanka and Djibouti could realistically unfold within a U.S. state
• The accumulation risk of individually rational investments in energy, agriculture and finance, and how they can combine into a national security threat
• Why Alaska's abundance of rare earths, oil, gas and proximity to Russia make it strategically indispensable, and strategically vulnerable
• The structural disadvantage democracies face when competing against authoritarian states that plan in decades rather than election cycles
• How economic leverage translates into political influence, from campaign financing to land use regulation
• What current developments, including foreign interest in U.S. data infrastructure, reveal about where these risks are heading next

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.

Tell us what you liked!

In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, Dominic Bowen speaks with Stephanie Wolters about security, governance, and stability across the Democratic Republic of Congo. Stephanie Wolters unpacks why the DRC cannot be ignored, and why the roots of the conflict stretch far beyond its own borders.

The discussion examines the international intervention in DRC, including MONUSCO, and what daily life actually looks like for communities living under armed group control. It also explores Rwanda's influence in the crisis.

The conversation explores:
 
-The regionally-driven roots of the conflict and why it's about power more than resources
-Rwanda's role in the crisis
-The impact and limits of international intervention on the ground
-What daily life is actually like for communities in areas controlled by armed groups
-The challenge of managing outbreaks like Ebola in conflict-affected areas

Stephanie Wolters is a Senior Research Fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs and founding director of Okapi Consulting, with over 25 years of experience researching conflict and political economy across the Great Lakes region.

The International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners, and senior decision-makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you’re a board member, policymaker, or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis, and real-world stories that matter.

Dominic Bowen is the host of The International Risk Podcast and Europe’s leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe’s leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards, and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies, and supporting Europe’s business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis, and strategy; trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure, and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today’s business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.

 

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#Geopolitics #DRC #GreatLakes #MONUSCO #Congo #Rwanda #PoliticalRisk #InternationalRisk #Strategy #Africa

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