Carnegie Council Podcasts

The right to benefit from scientific progress was enshrined in the United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, explains University of Copenhagen's Professor Helle Porsdam. Unfortunately, many people, including scientists and policymakers, don't know much about it. How was the right to science developed? What are examples? And, with an anti-science administration in the White House today, what are the contentious issues?

Professor Saiph Savage is an activist scholar and technology expert who is using large-scale data to study the sophisticated ways in which trolls target certain groups and bombard them with misinformation--for example U.S. Latinos were targeted in the 2018 midterm elections as were Mexicans in their 2018 presidential election. But her message is one of hope. In Mexico, citizens eventually saw through misinformation campaigns and others can too.

Trump has a love-hate relationship with the press, which he calls "the enemy of the people" when it crosses him, knowing nothing of the origins of the phrase, says Marvin Kalb. Yet the pillars of democracy are the sanctity of the court and the freedom of the press. "I think that President Trump—not wittingly, unwittingly—is moving this nation away from our common understanding of democracy toward something that edges toward authoritarianism."

Can violent societies get better? Rachel Kleinfeld discusses her latest book, "A Savage Order: How the World's Deadliest Countries Can Forge a Path to Security." Her conclusion is ultimately optimistic: Though it's never easy, real democracy (not autocracy in disguise) and a vibrant middle class can provide a path out of violence.

When most Americans think about the Taliban, their minds go to Osama bin Laden, terrorism, and the endless war in Afghanistan. But as Jonathan Cristol writes in his book, "The United States and Taliban before and after 9/11," there is much more to the story as both sides met countless times in the 1990s, with the Taliban eager to have good relations with America. What was the bigger stumbling block for the U.S.: women's rights or al-Qaeda? What are the lessons for today?

In this illuminating conversation, China scholar Joshua Eisenman discusses his two latest books: "Red China's Green Revolution," which overturns the conventional wisdom (both in China and abroad) that Chairman Mao's commune system was a failure; and a co-edited volume "China Steps Out," which explains why for China (unlike the United States), developing regions are a cornerstone of its foreign policy.

As activists, politicians, and environmentalists come to terms with a dire report on global warming from the UN's IPCC, Janos Pasztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative (C2G2), remains focused on the governance of the potential use of climate change "mitigation" technologies. What do these discussions look like in China? What do smaller countries think? And how challenging is it that climate change remains a political divisive issue in the U.S.?

In this interview with the Council's John Krzyzaniak, James Pattison (University of Manchester, UK), discusses his book, "The Alternatives to War." Taking what he calls a "pragmatic approach," Pattison outlines seven sets of alternatives, including economic sanctions and positive incentives. His goal is to offer policymakers a moral map of the main alternatives to war, thinking through the considerations for each one.

Henry Kissinger is smart, charming, and a great writer, says historian Robert Brigham. But when it came to Vietnam, his arrogance and deceit made a bad situation worse. Kissinger altered the logbooks for military bombings and misled the president on the content of the secret talks in Paris. "He was a theorist who stuck to theorist dreams, and it cost the country dearly." What are the lessons for today's administration?

The Middle East and North Africa has a huge youth and young adult population--65 percent of the people in the region are under 30--but unfortunately unemployment among this group remains high. Education for Employment's Mariel Davis details how the organization is working to change this. She also discusses the challenges facing refugees, with a focus on Jordan.