CSIS Podcasts

This week Mike and Jude are joined by Aaron Connelly, Asia diplomatic editor and senior Asia correspondent at The Economist, where he writes about geopolitics and security across Asia. They discuss his recent Adelphi Series book New Answers to Old Questions: Myanmar Before and After the 2021 Coup D’État.

This week, the Trade Guys recorded their show live at the National Small Business Exporter Summit hosted by NASBITE International. They talk U.S. elections and the services economy, then field questions from the audience.

A short, spoken-word summary from CSIS’s Michael J. Green on his report with Derek Mitchell, Democracy, Human Rights, and American Grand Strategy: Toward a Bipartisan Consensus. 

A short, spoken-word summary from CSIS’s Scott Busby on his brief, “Whither the United States on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights?” 

Last week, Israeli forces killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and one of the main architects of the October 7th attack. Less than a month earlier, Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah for the last three decades. Leah Hickert speaks with Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS Middle East Program, about how recent events have impacted Israel’s trajectory.   Jon Alterman, "What Does Yahya Sinwar’s Death Mean?" CSIS, October 17, 2024.

On this week's episode of the Trade Guys, we preview the upcoming 2026 renewal of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), dig into the Nobel-winning work on the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity, and discuss the return of pandas from China to the National Zoo.

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette is joined by Mark Leonard, co-founder and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is also the Henry A Kissinger chair in foreign policy and international relations at the US Library of Congress, Washington DC. They discuss his recently co-authored book The Idea of China: Chinese Thinkers on Power, Progress, and People. (European Council on Foreign Relations, 2024)

After last week’s ASEAN Summit in Laos, Greg and Elina are joined by Susannah Patton to discuss the key takeaways. Japhet and Lauren cover the latest, from former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s return to politics to how Southeast Asian nations are trying to evacuate their citizens as the Middle East conflict escalates.

Andrew and Mariana sit down with Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen, a pioneering nonprofit venture capital fund. Jacqueline shares her journey from Wall Street to working in Africa’s most underserved communities, offering insights on how entrepreneurship, combined with the power of markets and philanthropy, can drive meaningful and lasting change in the fight against poverty.

This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Lina Khatib, an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, which she led for seven years and where they first met. Together, they discuss the escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, its regional impacts, and the emerging vacuum in Lebanese politics. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Will Todman and Leah Hickert to discuss the challenges of creating a comprehensive U.S. strategy in the Middle East and the ways Great Power competition affects the region’s conflicts. Transcript, "Lina Khatib: War Spreads to Lebanon," CSIS, October 15, 2024.