Carnegie Council Podcasts

How has the pandemic changed U.S-China relations? How has it altered China's relationship with other nations and its geopolitical positioning? George Washington University's Amitai Etzioni and Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev discuss these questions and more as they break down "great power competition" in the era of COVID-19.

The rapid development of emerging technologies like AI signaled a new inflection point in human history, accompanied by calls for agile international governance. With the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic however, there is a new focal point in the call for ethical governance. Senior Fellow Wendell Wallach discusses his work on these issues in this interactive webinar with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal.

Countries like Syria and Libya are facing a "double" emergency right now, says the International Rescue Committee's Kelly Razzouk, as these states are having to deal with ongoing conflict, along with the COVID-19 outbreak. How has the IRC been responding to these situations? What more can the UN Security Council do?

What is "great power populism" and what does it mean during the pandemic? Are we heading towards another global conflict? And are there any leaders who can inspire the "international community" during a crisis? ADA University's Damjan Krnjević Mišković and Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev share their thoughts on the causes and characteristics of the ongoing "nervous breakdown" in the international system.

In this fascinating conversation with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal, historian Ted Widmer looks back on 13 pivotal days in Abraham Lincoln's life in 1861--the basis for his new book "Lincoln on the Verge." How would American and world history be different without Lincoln's ethical leadership? And as the U.S. struggles through the COVID-19 pandemic, what can the Civil War era teach us about political divisiveness in 2020?

The implementation of contact tracing and the collection of health data may be necessary for life to return to "normal" in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, but is there any way to make sure these practices don't turn into "tools of oppression"? Mona Sloane, fellow at NYU's Institute for Public Knowledge, discusses her concerns about the "normalization" of these technologies and the effect that these strategies could have on vulnerable communities.

Much like efforts to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, combatting climate change requires cooperation on a global scale. And yet the history of international climate negotiations shows just how difficult that can be. What, if anything, can we learn from the global response to the pandemic that might aid us in governing new, climate-altering technologies? Cynthia Scharf, senior strategy director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative, shares her thoughts.

What unique ethical challenges does COVID-19 present to journalists? How might a lack of trust in media and government affect the public's response to the COVID-19 crisis? Mei Fong, director of communications and strategy at The Center for Public Integrity, and Daniel Lippman, "Politico" White House reporter, discuss these issues and much more.

How should we think about privacy and government surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic? Johns Hopkins' Jeffrey Kahn and ETH Zurich's Effy Vayena discuss health data and government surveillance, focusing on contract tracing apps in Europe and immunity certificates in the United States, with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal in this virtual webinar.

As U.S. states and European nations contemplate how to end the COVID-19 quarantine, Senior Fellow Arthur Holland Michel discusses all aspects of surveillance and ethics. From ongoing issues in Baltimore to technologies focused on location data to the future of privacy and government regulation in a post-pandemic world, Michel and host Alex Woodson look at the current "Cambrian explosion" in surveillance technology.