In this episode, I'm joined by Edgar Lopez to discuss, well, wtf is happening in Mexico around that country's President's attempts to "reform" the institution that protects free and fair elections there. Views very much our own.

#35 - WTF Is Happening In Mexico (W. Edgar Lopez)

At the IIEA’s first in-person student event, ‘Fresh Perspectives: A guide to your career in public service and international affairs’, a panel of young people from diplomacy and public service reflect on their experiences in middle management leadership roles.

The panellists offer practical perspectives on how to forge and sustain a career in public life and will also discuss how changes in the geopolitical order are impacting their industries and affect their roles in the future. Geared towards students and young professionals, we hope this panel discussion will inspire young people who are hoping to pursue a career in government and/or international affairs.

Panellists include:

Luke O Callaghan-White, Programme Manager for Climate, Energy & Sustainability at Friends of Europe (based in Brussels)
Amy Stapleton, Policy Officer, European Migration Network Ireland, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)
Kevin Culligan, Desk Officer, International Security Policy Unit (EU Common Security and Defence Policy), Political Division, Irish Department of Foreign Affairs
Aine Earley, Administrative Officer at Department of Finance

Fresh Perspectives: A guide to your career in public service and international affairs

Cii - Faizal M.J Suleman interviews Ahmed Munzoor , from NFP

Sun Apr 30 2023

30/04/23  Nurul Khair : Ahmed Munzoor talks current state of South Africa and International affairs

What does it take to be a United Nations worker in some of the world’s most complex and dangerous places? How are UN humanitarians, human rights advocates, prosecutors, development experts, climate leaders and peacekeepers improving our world?  Stationed in all reaches of the world and witness to suffering and atrocities, how are they helping people and coping themselves?  

To find out, Melissa Fleming meets them. 

Coming on 13 October: from the United Nations, season 8 of Awake at Night.

Season 8 - There to help

Lewis Pugh was never afraid to take the plunge. Now ocean advocate for the United Nations Environment Programme, the record-breaking cold-water swimmer has completed long distance swims at both of the earth’s Poles, in the Red Sea, and along the length of the Hudson River, to spread a message of habitat renewal and conservation. 

“The first thing that happens is I can't breathe and I’m gasping for air. And the cold just grips its way around you. And you just got to try and control your mind, because there's a moment when you feel like panicking because there's nothing like this.” 

Healthy oceans, seas and rivers are essential to supporting life on Earth - providing food, medicine, and acting as the world’s largest carbon sink. In this episode, Lewis Pugh reflects on his love for the water, on his breathtaking swims, and on breaking the diplomatic ice to create the world’s largest marine park.

S8E4: Saving Seas, One Swim at a Time -Lewis Pugh- Ocean Advocate for the UN Environment Programme

It is with great pleasure that I have invited Feliciano de Sá Guimarães into the Virtual Studio for this episode of ‘Summit Dialogue’. Feliciano is currently the Academic Director and Senior Researcher at CEBRI. I hope, with Feliciano’s help to explore Brazil’s hosting of the G20. What designs and hopes does Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula as he is known, the returned President of Brazil have for Brazil’s G20 Presidency.

Feliciano is currently the Academic Director and Senior Researcher at the Brazilian Center of International Relations (CEBRI). Feliciano holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of São Paulo (2006-2010. Feliciano is an Associate Professor (livre docente) at the Institute of International Relations at the University of São Paulo (USP). He is also an associate editor of the journal Foreign Policy Analysis and Editor-in-chief of the CEBRI Journal.

So, let’s join Feliciano in the Virtual Studio to examine Brazil’s hosting year for the G20.

Summit Dialogue S2, Ep 3: Feliciano de Sá Guimarães on the Hopes for the Brazil G20

It is with great pleasure that I have invited Elizabeth Sidiropoulos into the Virtual Studio for this episode of ‘Summit Dialogue’. With South Africa’s national and provincial elections just concluded and with South Africa about to take the Presidency of the G20 after the conclusion of Brazil’s hosting it seemed like an opportune moment to speak with Elizabeth about South Africa’s future and its leadership of the Informals, especially the G20.

Elizabeth is the chief executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), an independent foreign policy think-tank based in Johannesburg. She holds an MA in International Relations (cum laude) from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She has headed the Institute since 2005. Elizabeth is also the editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of International Affairs. 

Elizabeth has co-edited a volume: Values, Interests and Power: South African Foreign Policy in Uncertain Times (2020), She has also co-edited two books exploring the rise of the new development cooperation providers.

Her research focus is South Africa’s foreign policy, global governance and the role of emerging powers in Africa. Most recently she has focused on Russia’s renewed presence in Africa, against the background of SA’s membership of the BRICS grouping.

So, let’s join Elizabeth in the Virtual Studio to examine South Africa’s future.

Summit Dialogue S2, Ep 5: Sidiropoulos on the Future of South Africa and its Leadership

The US-China relationship has been marked by growing competition and rivalry. Nevertheless, the two have made efforts to stabilize the relationship notably with the meeting between Presidents Xi and Biden at the margins of the APEC Summit in San Francisco in 2023. More recently, the ministers of defense have met at the margins of the Shangri-La Dialogue. Secretary Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun agreed to work toward better communications to stabilize military relations and avert crises, according to a statement from the Defense Department. The United States and China will “convene a crisis-communications working group by the end of the year.”

So, what is the current state of the US-China relationship today and how are the two reshaping the global order in the face of US-China relations? Joining me in the Virtual Studio is Pascale Massot to discuss the state of the US-China relationship.

Pascale is an associate professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is also non-resident Honorary Fellow, Political Economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, and a Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She also has served as the Senior Advisor for China and Asia in the offices of various Canadian Cabinet ministers, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Pascale is the author of “China’s Vulnerability Paradox: How the World’s Largest Consumer Transformed Global Commodity Markets” (Oxford University Press, 2024).


Her research interests include the global political economy of China’s rise and impact on the liberal international order, China’s impact on global extractive commodity markets, including debates around de-risking, Canada-China relations, Canadian public opinion on China and China narratives more broadly, as well as the advent of Indo-Pacific strategies around the world.

Shaking the Global Order S2, Ep 19: Pascale Massot on the state of US-China Relations

New to audio! West Coast Milblogger's success on YouTube now being shared on top audio distribution channels.

West Coast Milblogger 08-04-2024

Having overcome a childhood marked by violence, abuse and neglect, Benjamin Perks has always drawn strength from an innate sense of optimism. Now Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, he helps protect young people in similar situations all over the world. 

“I think it was very clear that we were in a bad spot, though, being dealt a bad hand, but I was somehow optimistic that things would be better.” 

Having recently authored a book about his experiences, Trauma Proof, Benjamin Perks reflects in this episode on a lifetime campaigning for all children to be safe, seen, and soothed, and on how an encounter with a special teacher put his life back on track. 

“When I held my son in my arms, I knew that what had happened to me was now unimaginable to myself… that made me ask the question, if I can heal from it, if I can recover and not transmit it to my child, can we do this for the whole of humanity?”

S10-E4: Love Is the One Thing that Solves Everything - Benjamin Perks - UNICEF

Season 3—The current state of global relations: An introduction by Alan Alexandroff

US-China relations during the Biden administration have been marked by competition and rivalry. Many of the aspects of US-China relations of the first Trump presidency were retained by the Biden administration. We have now returned to President Trump. What are we likely to see now in US foreign policy under a second Trump presidency; what will be US-China relations going forward? To explore all this I invited back into the Virtual Studio my good colleague Yves Tiberghien.

Yves currently is a Professor of Political Science, Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research, Konwakai Chair in Japanese Research, and Director of the Center for Japanese Research at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. Yves recently completed a study leave and was a visiting scholar at the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science (2023-2024). Yves specializes in comparative political economy and international political economy with an empirical focus on China, Japan, and Korea. His latest book is The East Asian Covid-19 Paradox, August 2021.

Come join Yves in the Virtual Studio to examine these issues.

Shaking the Global Order S3, Ep 1: Tiberghien

US-China relations during the Biden administration was marked by growing competition and rivalry. Many of the aspects of US-China relations of the first Trump presidency were retained by the Biden administration. We have now returned to a second Trump administration. What are we likely to now see in US foreign policy under a second Trump presidency; what will US-China relations likely be going forward? What will be the state of relations of each with players in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific?

To examine these critical matters, it was with great pleasure that I invited my colleague Rush Doshi into the Virtual Studio for our new Season 3 of podcasts of ‘Shaking the Global Order’. Today’s podcast with Rush explores these critical global power issues.

Rush Doshi is the C.V. Starr senior fellow for Asia studies and director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also an assistant professor in the Security Studies Program in Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. 

Rush was deputy senior director for China and Taiwan on the National Security Council (NSC) from 2021 to 2024, where he helped manage the NSC's first China directorate. He is the author of The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order (Oxford University Press, 2021).

So, let’s join Rush in the Virtual Studio to examine all these issues.

Shaking the Global Order S3, Ep 2: Doshi

Join war correspondent Mitzi Perdue as she shares compelling insights from her four journeys to Ukraine, including on-the-ground reporting from bomb shelters in cities under siege. Explore innovative police initiatives to combat human trafficking and counter Russian propaganda, as well as the pioneering efforts of Mental Help Global, an initiative inspired by her harrowing encounter with a 14-year-old orphan who survived the atrocities in Bucha. She will highlight how artificial intelligence, combined with Ukrainian psychological expertise, is bridging the mental health gap for the estimated 15 million Ukrainians in need of support—an urgent crisis compounded by the limited number of mental health professionals available in the country. This lecture is a powerful testament to human courage, innovation, and resilience in the face of devastating conflict.

**Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/
***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=3

Ukrainian Courage and Hope: Trauma, Trafficking, Troll Farms, and Tenacity With Mitzi Perdue

To reverse the dangerous and destructive trend towards religion- and ethnic-based conflicts there needs to be a concerted effort to chart a different approach that is rooted in a shared understanding of a common providential purpose for all humanity and animated by a mutual determination on the part of people of faith and goodwill to collaborate in education and action aimed at building a world of sectarian harmony and peace. This is the core purpose of the Abrahamic Peace Initiative (API), which recognizes Abraham and his family not only as the origin point of the three great monotheistic religions but also as the central figures tasked with forging a world of goodness based on enlightened hearts and minds working together for the peaceful resolution of conflicts. (API is a project of New America Initiative.)

API believes that this, and not violent extremism, is the true purpose of religion and other moral and ethical systems, and that this peaceful approach is needed around the world today—from America and Europe to Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It is an approach that can inspire and guide leaders in peace-building and reconciliation relevant to communities of all religious affiliations. The API provides an ideology of inter-religious harmony that can underpin initiatives such as the Abraham Accords and other worthy peace-making efforts.

This presentation will also inform the attendees about the Hizmet Movement. Hizmet (meaning “service” in Turkish) is a transnational network of education, dialogue and humanitarian initiatives. The movement is faith-inspired yet faith-neutral as it welcomes people from all backgrounds. Hizmet’s foundations come from mainline Sunni Islam with a strong component of Islamic spirituality. The movement represents a school of thought that upholds personal devotion, freedom of expression, entrepreneurship, and nonviolence. Hizmet is a significant partner in the Abrahamic Peace Initiative.

About the Speaker:
Thomas Cromwell is co-founder of the New America Initiative and Chairman of the API. He spent 25 years in the Middle East, 18 of which as publisher and editor of the Middle East Times. During his time in the region he conducted a series of conferences that brought together Arabs and Israelis, Greeks, Turks and Iranians, to address shared challenges to their societies, from urbanization and agriculture to education and conflict resolution. He has travelled to 130 countries in the pursuit of understanding and to promote solutions to inter-religious and inter-ethnic conflicts. He has authored several books on these topics, including The Triumph of Good.

 Ibrahim Anli is Executive Director of the Rumi Forum and Advisor to API. He was a visiting researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He later joined the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), Hizmet Movement’s leading organization based in Turkey, and led the foundation’s diplomatic outreach as well as its intellectual dialogue programs. Ibrahim taught International Relations and Diplomacy at Tishk International University in Erbil, Kurdistan before he joined the Rumi Forum in 2019. He holds a BA in Economics and an MA in Conflict Resolution.

**Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/
***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=3

Abrahamic Peace Initiative: An Alternative to Conflict and Bloodshed

Hear from IWP's expert panel on "Assessing U.S. Relations with Russia and Ukraine." As the war in Ukraine evolves and U.S. policies toward Russia shift, the world may be entering uncharted territory. Join IWP’s expert panel as they examine these developments, drawing on decades of experience shaping and implementing U.S. policy — from the Reagan Administration to today.

**Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/
***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=3

Assessing U.S. Relations with Russia and Ukraine

About the Lecture
It has been fifteen years since the Smolensk air disaster. On April 10, 2010, a Polish presidential plane crashed near the Smolensk military airport on Russian territory. The aircraft was carrying a delegation to Katyn to participate in the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the 1940 Soviet massacre, and all 96 passengers and crew members were killed. Among the victims were President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria. The causes of the crash remain unknown and controversial. How has this event impacted politics in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe? What lessons can we learn from this tragic event? Professor Zurawski vel Grajewski will answer these and other questions.

About the Speaker
Professor Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski is a Polish political scientist, an academic, and an associate professor at the University of Lodz.   Furthermore, he is an associate of the European Institute in Łódź, the Center for Political Thought, and a lecturer at the Natolin European Center and the National School of Public Administration.  In 2015, Mr. Żurawski vel Grajewski became a member of the National Development Council, appointed by President Andrzej Duda. His main areas of research include international relations and geopolitics.

**Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/
***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=3

The Smolensk Disaster and Its Political Implications Professor Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski

Cii Radio is the globe's first Islamic satellite radio station. The trusted leader in news and analysis from the Muslim World. Online and Onair

The Institute of World Politics is a graduate school of national security and international affairs, dedicated to developing leaders with a sound understanding of international realities and the ethical conduct of statecraft, based on knowledge and appreciation of the principles of the American political economy and the Western moral tradition.

**Please note that the views expressed by our guest lecturers do not necessarily reflect the views of The Institute of World Politics.**

Join Professor Alan Alexandroff as he interviews fellow academics, policymakers, and former officials about global governance and the contemporary global order.

Sharing Ideas Shaping Policy. The Institute of International and European Affairs is an independent policy research think-tank based in Dublin.

In this podcast, I, along with my guests, discuss American and global events, politics, and culture

Website: https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaFlemingUN
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelissaFleming
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissarfleming

What does it take to be a United Nations worker in some of the world’s most complex and dangerous places? How are UN humanitarians, human rights advocates, prosecutors, development experts, climate leaders and peacekeepers improving our world? Stationed in all reaches of the world and witness to suffering and atrocities, how are they helping people and coping themselves? 

To find out, Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, meets them.

Here, you will discover extraordinary personal stories from people who devote their lives to helping others.

New tracks tagged #International Affairs