Carnegie Council Podcasts

In today’s interconnected global village, Iran remains a mystery to much of the rest of the world―especially to those living in the United States and the West. In "The Heartbeat of Iran," Tara Kangarlou takes us on a journey into everyday life in Iran, where we meet the diverse people who make up the country’s delicate socio-cultural, political, and religious mosaic. Kangarlou discusses all this and more with Senior Fellows Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev.

In the second podcast in a series on the COVID-19 pandemic and the the ethics of global vaccine distribution, University of Pennsylvania's Ezekiel Emanuel discusses the positives and negatives of the vaccination campaigns led by the Biden administration and COVAX. With many nations still facing public health emergencies, how can the U.S. effectively and ethically use the vaccine as soft power? What about the Chinese and Russian efforts? How have the pharmaceutical companies approached this effort?

What is China up to in the Middle East? How is its massive Belt and Road infrastructure project affecting U.S. foreign policy and American citizens? Asha Castleberry-Hernandez, senior advisor in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, discusses all of this, plus vaccine diplomacy, energy, and human rights, as she shares some of the Biden administration's thinking on these major issues with "Doorstep" co-hosts Tatiana Serafin and Nick Gvosdev.

In the latest Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI) webinar, Carnegie Council Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with Arizona State's Gary Marchant and Carlos Ignacio Gutierrez about their work on characterizing soft law programs for the governance of AI. Soft law is defined as any program that sets substantive expectations, but is not directly enforceable by government. What is the role of these programs in managing applications and methods of AI?

As we enter the summer of 2021, some nations are seeing vaccination rates of around 50 percent, effectively ending the imminent threat of COVID-19; others are still facing public health emergencies. In this first podcast in a series on global vaccine distribution, Oxford's Professor Cécile Fabre discusses the ethical underpinnings of some of the policy choices designed to handle this inequity. What are the moral responsibilities of vaccine-rich countries to the rest of the world?

ThinkTech is an independent nonprofit association, started by and for students, young technologists, and professionals working to shape the impact of artificial intelligence and other digital technologies on individuals and society. Under the slogan "Think before you code," it serves as a platform to create guidance for the responsible development of technology. In this podcast, Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with ThinkTech's Lukas D. Pöhler, Eva Charlotte Mayer, and Agnes Gierulski about their projects.  

Artificial intelligence (AI) will affect the socio-economic development of nations across the globe. Caribbean countries are particularly susceptible because they tend to be labor intensive economies and are therefore at risk of significant economic and social disruption from automation and artificial intelligence. Three experts in this space--Cordel Green, Stacey Russell, and Erica Simmons--discuss these issues and much more.

Cryptocurrencies are dominating headlines with El Salvador recently announcing Bitcoin as the country's legal tender and Biden and Putin discussing ransomware and crypto at their Geneva meeting this week. NYU Stern’s Professor David Yermack joins Carnegie Council Senior Fellows Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin to discuss how an experimental digital currency may change the definition of the nation-state over the next decade. Will we be citizens of the country of Google or Amazon?

What is grand strategy? What differentiates it from normal strategic thought? What, in other words, makes it "grand"? In answering these questions, most scholars have focused on diplomacy and warfare, but the most thorough interpretations consider the bases of peace and security--including gender, race, the environment, and a wide range of cultural, social, political, and economic issues. Oregon State's Christopher McKnight Nichols, editor of "Rethinking American Grand Strategy," joins Senior Fellows Nikolas Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin to discuss these issues and much more.

The post-World War II liberal order faces unprecedented upheaval as countries and their leaders retreat from globalism, embrace nationalism, and attack democratic norms. Whether it’s Bolsonaro in Brazil, Orbán in Hungary, or Modi in India—illiberalism is on the rise. Carnegie Council President Joel H. Rosenthal hosts a virtual panel to assess the current threats against democracy; discuss steps to support a revival of democratic values globally; and finally, examine the question: Is democracy an ethical standard?