Gun violence is one of the most polarizing topics in America, and the gun debate is about to heat up. The Supreme Court has decided to hear a significant gun rights case, and House Democrats recently unveiled a landmark bill requiring background checks. All of this comes in the wake of the worst year for gun deaths in two decades. Gun violence goes beyond homicides – a large share of deaths are attributed to accidents and suicides. For many in the medical community this is a public health crisis, and they are working to understand the impacts on the health and safety on Americans.

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The economic and diplomatic tensions between the US and China are creating ripple effects across Southeast Asia. China is pursing an aggressive agenda of economic development throughout the region, and while there is undoubtedly a strong need for infrastructure projects, the Chinese strategy could limit the future autonomy of the Southeast Asian nations. If the US-China trade war were to escalate, Southeast Asia could be the battleground for a new cold war.

Political Science professor Don Emmerson has spent his career working with scholars and policymakers in the region. Emmerson is a senior fellow at FSI and director of the Southeast Asia Program. In this interview he helps us understand the ASEAN coalition, why the South China Sea remains an area of contention, and what steps the US Congress is taking to assure Southeast Asian nations that it is committed to progress across the region.

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Ever since the the scientific revolution of the 17th century, there has been tension between the institutions of science and religion. This tension between religion and science has a direct effect on governance. After all, the United States was conceived as a system of democratic institutions that valued reason and deliberation. But are religious beliefs and rationality completely at odds with one another? What exactly does it mean to be "rational?" Might it be necessary to understand more religious forms of rationality in order to heal some of the polarization present in America today?

In this conversation we talk with Dan Edelstein, who is the William H. Bonsall Professor of French and an affiliate of the Freeman Spogli Institute's Europe Center. Professor Edelstein helps us understand the conflict between religion and rationality, how this conflict continues to play out in the present day, and what it all means for democratic institutions around the world.

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We are still learning the details about Russia’s disinformation and manipulation campaigns during the US 2016 elections. Tech companies have come under intense scrutiny, and, according to former Facebook’s Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos, much of the spotlight on Big Tech is warranted. However, Stamos also argues that our government, the media, and we as citizens all have a role to play in the security of our elections. Stamos is now the William J. Perry Fellow at FSI, and in this conversation he offers an unrivaled diagnosis of everything that went wrong during the 2016 election cycle. In a future episode, Stamos will share his ideas of what we can do to prevent similar failures in the future.

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Climate change is likely to have far reaching impacts, and some consequences are particularly unexpected. In a provocative study, Marshall Burke and his colleagues demonstrate that suicide rates increase on hot days, regardless of other factors. Burke's findings raise significant questions. Are the underlying drivers of this relationship tied to economic forces, or are there human biological factors that exacerbate mental health issues? Can we forecast the overall effect as greenhouse gases and temperatures rise in the coming decades? What steps might we take now to mitigate the damages? In this conversation with World Class producer, Nicole Feldman, Burke offers a clear-eyed perspective on the wide-ranging implications of his research. Burke is the deputy director of FSI’s Center on Food Security and the Environment.

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Silicon Valley's role in the world is now so big that some people argue the power of tech firms is similar to the powers of a nation-state. So maybe it's not too surprising to learn that Denmark has taken an unusual step, and has dispatched career diplomat Casper Klynge to serve as the world’s first tech ambassador. Klynge's role is to create avenues for dialogue, to work with firms to establish appropriate regulations, and to engage with Silicon Valley from a foreign policy perspective. In this conversation, Ambassador Klynge tells the story of how this came about, how he views his priorities, and how western societies are working to nurture innovation while simultaneously protecting the core principles of open democracy.

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From 2011 to 2015 Ambassador Wendy Sherman was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the fourth-ranking official in the State Department. She was the lead U.S. negotiator on the Iran nuclear deal, and before that she served as policy coordinator on North Korea for President Clinton. She has a new book, Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons in Courage, Power and Persistence. In this conversation, Ambassador Sherman shares the backstory on the Iran nuclear deal, the future of relations with Iran, and what it's like being the only woman in the room doing diplomacy.

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Biosecurity threats are often overlooked. For years scientists have been saying that the world is overdue for a pandemic, and there's an ongoing risk that terrorists or nation states might weaponize diseases. If that's not worrying enough, the risks of pandemics increase as climate change worsens. What steps are we taking to understand and prepare for the next outbreak?

David Relman is a senior fellow and Megan Palmer a senior research scholar at FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. They are part of an interdisciplinary research initiative working to assess the threats posed by biological agents. In this wide-ranging conversation with Michael McFaul, Relman and Palmer unpack the complex issues, and offer their perspectives on how best to counter these threats.

If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies by following us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and by subscribing to our newsletters and updates.

It is now clear that the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Turkey was a pre-planned execution, likely ordered by people at the very top of the Saudi government. The incident has sparked an international outcry, and raises questions about the US’s relationship with the Saudis. What is the underlying nature of the US-Saudi alliance? How has Trump's strategy differed from Obama’s, and what impact might all of this have on relations with Iran and elsewhere across the Middle East?

Colin Kahl was deputy assistant to President Obama and a national security advisor to Vice President Biden from 2014 to 2017. He’s now the co-director of FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, and the head of its Middle East Initiative. In this discussion with Michael McFaul, Kahl outlines the unease some American diplomats feel towards our relationship with Saudi Arabia. He explains steps that President Obama took to restructure the alliance, and he argues that President Trump’s decision to double-down in Saudi Arabia has narrowed the options for responding to an increasingly fractured relationship.

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With the US midterms fast approaching, we are still trying to make sense of everything that happened in the 2016 elections. What do we now know about vulnerabilities in our democratic processes? What risks do we face from foreign adversaries? Beyond the US, how are governments around the world adjusting to threats posed by digital technologies?

Eileen Donahoe was the first US Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council during the Obama Administration. She’s now the Executive Director for the Global Digital Policy Incubator at FSI. Her current research focuses on cyber sovereignty, digital literacy, election security, protecting freedom of expression, and the impact of AI. In this conversation with Michael McFaul, Ambassador Donahoe frames the various threats posed by digital technologies, and the implications for the midterm elections.

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