Mark Leonard's World in 30 Minutes

The coronavirus crisis brought about financial hardship for the European Union, and many agree that a recovery fund would be needed to overcome it. In the beginning, countries like Italy and Spain, in particular, felt left alone in dealing with this health, social and economic crisis. And still, support for financial burden-sharing is low in the “frugal” countries which would be the net contributors to such a recovery fund. But does this mean, there a general lack of solidarity in Europe? Can solidarity go in line with member states’ self-interest? In this week’s podcast Mark Leonard is joined by ECFR’s heads of offices Jana Puglierin (Berlin), Arturo Varvelli (Rome) and José Ignacio Torreblanca (Madrid) to discuss how solidarity is perceived across Europe and what ECFR’s Solidarity Tracker can teach us about pan-European solidarity during the covid-19 crisis. Find the European Solidarity Tracker here: https://www.ecfr.eu/solidaritytrackerThis podcast was recorded on 17 June 2020.Bookshelf:· “Forget Hamilton. This Is Europe’s Calonne Moment.” by Trevor Jackson in Foreign Policy· “Russisches Roulette: Vom Kalten Krieg zum Kalten Frieden” by Horst Teltschik · “Germany and the European Union: Europe's Reluctant Hegemon?” by Simon Bulmer, William E. Paterson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ongoing anti-racism demonstrations in the United States spurred by the brutal killing of George Floyd spread across the Atlantic. In many European countries, people are getting behind the cause and protesting racism and police violence against BIPOC. How are the demonstrations in France and Germany connected to the ones in the US? Is Europe also starting to confront racial injustice on its own soil? And what does it mean for the transatlantic relationship? In this week’s podcast Mark Leonard is joined by the head of our Paris office Tara Varma, Member of the German Bundestag and Council member Omid Nouripour, as well as Spencer Boyer, director of the Washington office of the Brennan Center for Justice to discuss the recent anti-racism protests and their impact on the transatlantic relations. This podcast was recorded on 10 June 2020.Bookshelf:• "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates • "Strategy: A History" by Sir Lawrence Freedman• "Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin" by Bayard Rustin, Devon Carbado• "Les exilés meurent aussi d’amour" by Abnousse Shalmani• "The Bureau", TV Show•"Mais d'où viens-tu en fait?" Plaidoyer pour un nouvel universalisme by Tara Varma for Huffington Posthttps://www.huffingtonpost.fr/entry/mais-dou-viens-tu-en-fait-plaidoyer-pour-un-nouvel-universalisme_fr_5ede5c61c5b690659234f07d Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The attempt of a peace process in Libya is facing several substantial hindrances, where a variety of actors keep on inducing significant upheavals in its territory. Recently Turkey was observed to use Libya more and more as a playing field for its advancements - with some arguing that Turkey is becoming the new Russia on the geopolitical stage. In this week’s podcast Mark Leonard is joined by ECFR policy fellows Asli Aydıntaşbaş, and Tarek Megerisi as well as Nicu Popescu, Director of ECFR´s Wider Europe Program to discuss Turkey’s recent actions and aims in Libya. Is Turkey in Libya mirroring Russia in Syria?See also:“Deep sea rivals: Europe, Turkey, and new eastern Mediterranean conflict lines” by Asli Aydıntaşbaş, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Cinzia Bianco, Hugh Lovatt, Tarek Megerisi: https://www.ecfr.eu/specials/eastern_med This podcast was recorded on 4 June 2020.Bookshelf:- “Libya's Fragmentation: Structure and Process in Violent Conflict” by Wolfram Lacher -“The Great Influenza: Tthe Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History” by John M. Barry -“Three Byzantine Military Treatises” by George T. Dennis - “The Hacker and the State: Cyber Attacks and the New Normal of -Geopolitics” by Ben Buchanan Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The recent Franco-German proposal for an EU recovery fund sparked a lively debate on possible changes in EU’s nature, suggesting that the plan to raise €500bn through common EU debt and hand it out as grants, not loans, marks an important shift in EU policy. But is this really a “Hamiltonian” moment, as some labelled it? In this week’s podcast Mark Leonard welcomes Lykke Friis, ECFR co-chair and director of the Danish think tank EUROPA; ECFR Council Members Coen van Oostrom, Dutch-based founder and chief executive officer of EDGE Technologies and Jean Pisani-Ferry, Senior Fellow at Bruegel to discuss the ambitious Franco-German proposal and what it means for the future of Europe.This podcast was recorded on 26 May 2020.Bookshelf:· "Helmut Kohl: Eine politische Biographie" by Hans-Peter Schwarz· "The Ride of a Lifetime" by Robert Iger · "How to Fix Globalization—for Detroit, Not Davos" by Lawrence H. Summers in The American Interest Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last year, the European Union published a strategic outlook in which it reviewed China as a partner, competitor and a strategic rival, creating a lively debate about the nature of the EU-China relations. However, this outlook was designed for a pre-corona world. How has covid-19 reshaped the EU-China relations? What changes to the global order will the pandemic bring? Who will be the main actors in the international arena? In this week’s podcast Mark Leonard welcomed Lanxin Xiang, Professor in International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute in Geneva and Director of the Centre of One And One Road Studies, who shares his insights on the changing global order, China’s attitude towards the EU and the Chinese “wolf warrior diplomacy”This podcast was recorded on 20 May 2020.Bookshelf:· "John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman" by Robert Skidelsky · "The meaning of systemic rivalry: Europe and China beyond the pandemi"c by Andrew Small https://www.ecfr.eu/publications/summary/the_meaning_of_systemic_rivalry_europe_and_china_beyond_the_pandemic· "The post-coronavirus world is already here" by Josep Borrell https://www.ecfr.eu/publications/summary/the_post_coronavirus_world_is_already_here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emotions are an increasingly important part of contemporary politics. Strategies based on fear, nostalgia or hope are used by political leaders all over Europe to mobilize populations. Sociologist Karolina Wigura explored the role of emotions in times of corona in the latest episode of our ECFRQUARANTIMES series. In this week's podcast, this topic will be analysed further with a strong focus on the situation in Poland, the US and France. What are the dominant emotions in these countries? Which people and parties are trying to take advantage of this crisis and transform emotions into policies? What kind of impact covid-19 had and will have on elections? Our Host Mark Leonard is joined by ECFR experts Jeremy Shapiro, Piotr Buras, and Tara Varma. They share their feelings and tell us about the emotional experiences of their countries: how do Poles, the French and US-Americans experiences fear, suspicion and uncertainty in times of corona? Watch: ECFR Quarantimes episode with Karolina Wigura:https://www.ecfr.eu/article/ecfr_quarantimes_5_with_karolina_wiguraThis podcast was recorded on 14 May 2020.Bookshelf:- “We Have Been Harmonised: Life in China’s Surveillance State” by Kai Strittmatter- “The meaning of systemic rivalry: Europe and China beyond the pandemic” by Andrew Small on ecfr.eu- “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles- “Is it tomorrow yet?” (working title) by Ivan Krastev based on some of the arguments, he laid out in his article “Seven early lessons from the coronavirus” on ecfr.eu - “Baron Noir”, TV Series Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Epidemics like the coronavirus outbreak are a mirror for humanity. Mark Leonard talked in our ECFR QUARANTIMES session to Frank Snowden, Professor Emeritus of History and History of Medicine at Yale University, about how infectious diseases have shaped societies, inspired political reform, altered the outcome of wars, transformed religion, and entrenched racial and economic discrimination. What lessons can we draw from post pandemic's to prepare our politics, economies and societies for the future? This podcast is a recording of the ECFR QUARANTIMES session, 6 May 2020: https://www.ecfr.eu/article/ecfr_quarantimes_4_with_frank_snowdenBookshelf:“Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present" by Frank Snowden Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recently, we have seen funding cuts to the WHO in the middle of the coronavirus crisis and national governments closing borders instead of calling for a G20 or G7 summit. On the positive side, we heard Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González in our ECFR Quarantimes session arguing that covid-19 could serve as a catalyst for multilateral solutions on global health. But do this week’s podcast guests agree? Mark Leonard is joined by Gunilla Carlsson, former Swedish Minister for international development cooperation, and ECFR Senior Policy Fellow Anthony Dworkin to discuss the future of multilateral institutions like the WHO and what role the EU could play when it comes to global health? Can Europe be the forerunner? ECFR Quarantimes Session with Arancha González: https://www.ecfr.eu/article/quarantimes_arancha_gonzalezThis podcast was recorded on 30 April 2020Bookshelf:- “And the band played on. Politics, people and the AIDS Epidemic” by Randy Shiltz- Collected works by Selma Lagerlöf- “The WHO v. coronavirus: why it can't handle the pandemic” by Stephen Buranyi, The Guardian - “WHO becomes battleground as Trump chooses pandemic confrontation over cooperation” by Colum Lynch, Foreign Policy - “EU limits on medical gear exports put poor countries and Europeans at risk” by Chad P. Bown, Peterson Institute for International Economics - “The Cosmopolitan Tradition: A Noble but Flawed Ideal” by Martha C. Nussbaum Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“We are at a moment of truth, which is to decide whether the European Union is a political project or just a market project. I think it’s a political project… We need financial transfers and solidarity, if only so that Europe holds on”, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with the Financial Times. In yesterday’s virtual EU Council Meeting, the EU tried to rise to this challenge. But did it succeed? Host Mark Leonard is joined by Henrik Enderlein, President at the Hertie School & Director of the Jacques Delors Centre think tank and Jana Puglierin, head of ECFR’s Berlin Office: what have been the expectations for and conclusion of the meeting? What happened to the swirling coronabonds discussion? And what’s Germany’s take on Macron’s vision and way forward for Europe?This podcast was recorded on 24 April 2020Bookshelf- "Macron, Merkel, and Europe's 'moment of truth'" by Tara Varma and Jonathan Hackenbroichhttps://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_merkron_no_more - "The Great Transformation" by Karl Polanyi,"The New Progressivism: A Grassroots Alternative to the Populism of our Times" by David Amiel & Ismael Emelien Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Word on the street suggests that technology will be the way out of the coronavirus crisis and the lockdowns in many European countries. This seems to be confirmed by a multitude of projects such as the EU’s Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), the aim of which is to make it possible to interrupt new chains of infection with the coronavirus. Through apps and data sharing, we will be able to track the spread of the virus, those infected and those who developed a degree of immunity to the disease and thus are allowed to return to participate normally in society. As good as it sounds, however, the issue comes with its own set of profound ethical questions regarding individual rights such as privacy and consent. Our Host Mark Leonard is joined by ECFR experts Ulrike Franke and Anthony Dworkin as well as independent researcher and broadcaster Stephanie Hare to break down the current discourse around tech in the age of corona and its implications.This podcast was recorded on 15 April 2020.Bookshelf“The age of surveillance capitalism” by Shoshana Zuboff“In the shadow of justice” by Katrina Forrester“Pale rider” by Laura Spinney“The mirror of yoga” by Richard Freeman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.