Carnegie Council Podcasts

In the fourth and final installment of "The United Nations at 75: Looking Back to Looking Forward," host Margaret P. Karns speaks with Bertrand Ramcharan, former acting high commissioner for human rights. In this candid talk, Ramcharan discusses why he thinks the "UN human rights system is in crisis" and details the complicated role of the high commissioner. Plus, ahead of the 72nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he explains why it is "the rallying document of our civilization."

What will a Biden administration mean for Latin America? In this week's Doorstep, hosts Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev are joined by the Wilson Center's Cynthia Arnson to speak about how events unfolding in Latin American will affect U.S. demographics and politics in 2021 and beyond. With climate change as a centerpiece of his foreign policy agenda, how will Biden approach Brazil? How will his polices differ from Trump when it comes to Venezuela, Cuba, and Central America? How are youth movements in Latin America influencing and inspiring protests happening across the U.S.?

Civil disobedience is a storied political tradition. Can it empower today's activists? How should we understand the connection between protest and democracy? Citing movements from the recent past and using empirical data, Harvard Kennedy School's Professor Chenoweth and The New School's Professor Woodly address the relationship between forms of resistance and successful progressive reform and detail how the Movement for Black Lives is putting these ideas into practice around the world.

Following up on the AI & Equality Initiative's first webinar on artificial intelligence and the future of work, Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow Wendell Wallach and Dr. Christina J. Colclough, founder of The Why Not Lab, build on that discussion with a conversation about the future of the worker. How can new technology be used to empower workers? What are some progressive strategies and policies that can help to reach this goal?

In the third episode of "The United Nations at 75: Looking Back to Look Forward," host Margaret P. Karns and Noeleen Heyzer, former executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, discuss the role of women in the UN over the years. Heyzer speaks about the Beijing Women's Conference; Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security; and the prospects for increasing gender equality in the UN system in the decades to come.

As America waits for counts to come in from the last handful of swing states and the Trump campaign files lawsuits, leaders around the world are anxiously watching. What do rivals like China and Russia expect? What do allies hope for from a potential Biden presidency? In this episode of the "The Doorstep," U.S. Naval War College's Professor Tom Nichols joins the hosts to discuss the election from a historical and international perspective and the ways that Gen Z can be more influential in foreign affairs.

On this week's Doorstep, hosts Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev are joined by NYU's Professor Mohamad Bazzi, an expert on the Middle East. The discussion focuses on America's role in the Middle East, including a look at the recently released Senate Foreign Relations Committee report on how the Trump doctrine has affected national security, and The New York Times' Caliphate controversy. 

In the second episode of this podcast series marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, host Margaret Karns, professor emerita at the University of Dayton, speaks with University of Massachusetts Boston's Dr. Maria Ivanova about the UN's efforts on climate change, focusing on the role of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as an anchor institution on these issues. What are the UN's biggest successes when it comes to the environment?

Can artificial intelligence (AI) be deployed in ways that enhance equality, or will these systems exacerbate existing structural inequalities and create new ones? In this webinar McKinsey Global Institute's James Manyika and Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow Wendell Wallach delve into questions concerning the ethical implications of AI, the present and future of work in the United States and Europe, and the evolution of the social contract.

Polling data suggests that the American public is not in favor of isolationism, but wants to adjust the terms of U.S. engagement. In this webinar, the Atlantic Council's Ash Jain and Senior Fellows Nikolas Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin assess the “democratic community” approach. Will deepening cooperation with an alliance of democracies be the way forward?