Danube Institute Podcast

Michelle Watson, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Danube Institute, sits down with "Mimi" Roy, Visiting Fellow at Ludovika University of Public Service in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss her latest research topic. The conversation delves into two key questions: how India’s tech strategy is shaping its role in the new era of techno-competition, and how the country is positioning itself as a prominent stakeholder in influencing the global narrative around technology.

“Every epoch is a sphinx that tumbles into the abyss once its riddle is solved” - Heinrich Heine, 1833 It was only as the reality of Trump’s win began to sink in that the enormity of the change ahead began to dawn on us. With control over the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the executive, Trumpism 2.0 has the all means to make good on its outlandish promises; early nominations suggest it has the mettle too. But beyond politics itself, there is an even bigger prize at stake: to change the psychology of a nation. After 40 years of neoliberal dominance, finally, it feels as though the consensus around both social liberalism and economic liberalism will end in January. Now, with a few definitive strikes of the legislative guillotine, Trumpism will set the tone for the middle of the 21st Century: a post-liberal world order. As Rod Dreher explains, this has huge implications, from art to race to geopolitics The world is about to be made anew. The vibe shift is real.The View From The Danube is the keystone video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based think tank that aims to bring Conservative perspectives from the Anglosphere together, in the heart of the European capital of Conservativism. It stars Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option and Living in Wonder, a senior fellow at the Danube Institute, John O’Sullivan, former speechwriter to Margaret Thatcher, the founder and President of the DI, and Calum Nicholson, the Director of Research. This week, they’re joined by David P Goldman, deputy editor of the Asia Times, and a Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute. With regular guests, we’ll be looking at how Conservatism is changing in a world that is itself changing beyond recognition.

When the Washington Post failed to endorse the Kamala campaign, the reaction was off the scale. Journalists resigned. The rest of the liberal media blew a fuse. But this was only one paper and one guy, Jeff Bezos. What was going on? As Rod Dreher explains, The Washington Post’s non-endorsement was the moment the Harris campaign and their supporters sensed that the deep narrative was finally drifting away from them. So they pulled out the biggest of guns - the F-word… the spectre of midcentury Germany. It feels desperate. The hyperbole is now so big it’s visible from a SpaceX satellite. But does that mean that, after constant lawfare and two assassination attempts, victory is finally in sight for Donald Trump? On the inaugural View From The Danube podcast, the team break down the weirdest election since at least 1912. Maybe since 1876 — or even 1824. *** The View From The Danube is the keystone video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based think tank that aims to bring Conservative perspectives from the Anglosphere together, in the heart of the European capital of Conservativism. It stars Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option and Living in Wonder, a senior fellow at the Danube Institute, John O’Sullivan, former speechwriter to Margaret Thatcher, the founder and President of the DI, and Calum Nicholson, the Director of Research. This week, they’re joined by Deputy Director Melissa O’Sullivan. With regular guests, we’ll be looking at how Conservatism is changing in a world that is itself changing beyond recognition.

Lord Frost, joined us on the Danube Institute Podcast to explain how a hard-fought Tory leadership contest has changed the whole tenor of the British Right. Here, he explains why Robert Jenrick is his pick.

Prof Doug Stokes and journalist Gavin Haynes join the podcast to discuss the state of British politics, whether we are living in a truly multipolar world, and the significance of the coming American election.

Though Chinese-Israeli relations had taken off and were set for great heights, China turned away from Israel immediately after October 7, not even condemning the Hamas terror attack. Chinese-US rivalry is a factor. What is going on? Dr Eric Hendriks, who previously worked at Peking University and is now a fellow at the Danube Institute, interviews Elie Pieprz, Director of International Relations of the Israel Defense and Security Forum. The location is Budapest, where Herzl created the idea of political Zionism 130 years ago.

Discussion on the outcomes of the French elections and their implications. Prof Daniel Mahoney and Dr Soós Eszter join the podcast to reflect on the surprising results of the French election, and their implications for the future of france, and the french right in particular.

Philip Pilkington, a political economist and journalist, delves into the impending collapse of global liberalism. He argues that the current interpretations of liberalism misrepresent its complex history, rooted in dismantling unjust hierarchies. The discussion highlights systemic failures within the post-World War II order and the paradoxes of liberal thought, including its tensions with Marxism. Pilkington also critically examines hyper-liberalism's rise since the 1990s and explores what may come next in a world increasingly resistant to liberal ideals.

Next weekend French voters go to the polls in the second round of elections to the French National Assembly after the "far Right" National Rally headed by Marine Le Pen scored a strong but not decisive success in the first round. France's President Emmanuel Macron had called the elections in a response to its victory in the European elections to demonstrate that the Euro-results were an aberration by rallying the other parties to defeat the NR nationally. But Macron's own party came a poor third p\ after the Rally and the left-wing Popular Front, This last round will decide whether the National Rally will leap over the cordon sanitaire that has excluded the party from office until now or face continued exclusion by a Centre-Left coalition. And if the former, will President Macron form of working partnership or "cohabitation" with the NR administration? Or will he seek to block it? And what is likely to be the impact on wider European politics? In the second of three programs on the elections and their consequences between French,, American, and Hungarian experts, Anne-Elisabeth Moutet of the London Sunday Telegraph and Daniel Mahoney, author of several books on French and European politics, and Eszter Soos, a leading Hungarian academic specialist in French politics and culutrewill discuss these and other questions.

Overview and predictions for the first round of the French elections. Over the next two weekends French voters will be going to the polls to select a new national government. France's President Emmanuel Macron called the elections in an emergency response to the victory of the "far-right" National Rassemblement,, in elections to the European Assembly. Apparently he intended to demonstrate that the Euro-results were an aberration by rallying the other parties to defeat the NR nationally. But opinion polls show that the NR's support among voters is almost forty per cent and holding up well whereas the President's own centrist liberals are trailing in third place. These elections open up the possibility of major changes in the conduct of France's democracy and government. Will the National Rassemblement be able to enter into government for the first time leaping over the cordon sanitaire that has excluded the party from office until now? If so, will President Macron form of working partnership or "cohabitation" with the NR administration? Or will he resign? And what is likely to be the impact on wider European politics? In the first of three programs on the elections and their consequences between French, American, and Hungarian experts, Anne-Elisabeth Moutet of the London Sunday Telegraph and Daniel Mahoney, author of several books on French and European politics discuss these and other questions.