The Fletcher Forum Podcast

The civil war in Sierra Leone ended more than two decades ago, but that’s no reason for Theresa Betancourt and Moses Zombo to turn their eyes away. In this episode, we speak about their decades of work in Sierra Leone and their most recent book, Shadows into Light: A Generation of Former Child Soldiers Comes of Age, where they present findings from tracking more than 500 former child soldiers over the course of twenty years. Their insights are surprising but hopeful: despite immense suffering, this is not a lost generation. Theresa and Moses take us on a journey to Sierra Leone to explore the long road of recovery, resilience, and what it means to come of age after war.

Today, Marlene is joined by Emily Prey (F20), a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy. Her research focuses on women and children in crisis and conflict situations. She most recently co-authored a report on Children Born of War (CBOW). In this episode, we explore what CBOW entails, how countries can handle the trauma of victims, and why this phenomenon has always been present in wars. We touch on a variety of case studies which show that children are in the midst of every war — no matter if we continue to ignore them. Trigger warning: We speak about sexual violence in this episode. Children Born of War: Considerations for Policymakers by Ingvill Constanze Ødegaard and Emily Prey, co-published with the Children Born of War Project Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ukraine: Lessons from Bosnia by Emily Prey, Tanya Domi, and Dr. Kinsey Spears   Emily Prey offers her special recognition and thanks to Inger Skjelsbæk, leader of the EuroWARCHILD project, and Torunn L Tryggestad, Deputy Director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), who co-hosted a workshop on children born of war in Oslo. Thank you to all of the participants for sharing their research and deep expertise on this topic, which have led to such a rich conversation on this podcast.

In our final installment of the 50th edition miniseries, the Forum traveled to India to interview one of the Fletcher Forum's founding editors: Dr. Shashi Tharoor. Dr. Tharoor, along with Dr. Jeff Sheehan and Fred Smith, were three of the core founding members of the Forum. Dr. Tharoor joins us to reminisce on his time at Fletcher and the founding history of the Journal. Edit: This interview was recorded in March before the May 2025 commencement of hostilities between India and Pakistan

For our third episode, the Forum sits down with Dean Gallagher to discuss the role of the Forum at Fletcher and the administration's forthcoming strategic plan. As the Forum has evolved, Fletcher has evolved with it, and we discuss the Forum's role in thought leadership as Fletcher embarks on a new journey under new leadership. 

Alex is joined by Maria Selde, Colin Steele, and Pulkit Aggrwal, three of the five members of the 2017/2018 Forum Executive Board who founded the Podcast, for an informal conversation recollecting on the start of the podcast, the state of Fletcher during Donald Trump's first election, and perhaps a bit of encouragement in challenging times.  The third episode in our Forum 50 Series. 

Fletcher historians rejioice! We're joined this episode by Lee E. Dirks Professor Emeritus of Diplomatic History, Alan Henrikson. Professor Henrikson was named (he would say volun-told) the first faculty advisor to the Fletcher Forum, and he remains on our Board of Advisors today in 2025. Professor Henrikson joins us to revive some of the long-untold history of the Forum, as well as to discuss his 1981 piece on Space Politics which was published in the Forum.  Between 1981 and 2025, many Fletcher students have entered the aerospace industry, and the interests of private businesses and governments in the industry surrounding space has expanded dramatically. We discuss these changes, what inspired Professor Henrikson to write on the potential politics of outer space as a tenured professor of Diplomatic History. 

In this episode of the Fletcher Forum Podcast, host KP sits down with Professor Nigel Purvis - veteran climate diplomat and CEO of Climate Advisers, to explore the future of global climate action. From the early days of the Kyoto Protocol to the road ahead for COP-30 in Brazil, Professor Purvis shares insights on the shifting role of the U.S., the rise of non-state actors, and lessons from decades of negotiation. Whether you're a student, policymaker, or climate advocate, this conversation offers both a candid reflection on the past and a hopeful look toward what comes next in climate governance.

In this episode of The Fletcher Forum Podcast, we dive into the key takeaways from COP-16 in Cali, Colombia with biodiversity governance expert Professor Charles C. Chester. From the groundbreaking Cali Fund to the challenges of aligning global biodiversity strategies, we explore the biggest hits and misses of the conference. We break down the most pressing issues in biodiversity financing, indigenous rights, climate action and discuss the evolving role of the U.S. in international environmental policy ahead of the COP-30 in Brazil. 

Following up on our episode last week, we're in conversation with Dr. Bridget Conley, the Research Director at the World Peace Foundation. Dr. Conley currently works on analyzing the impacts of mass incarceration in the US and has also recently released a podcast series titled Disrupting Peace, an investigation of how peace begins and ends which highlights her and others' body of work analyzing what peacebuilding actually looks like.    Link to Disrupting Peace: https://open.spotify.com/show/2OVCiz6iZyMywzEzqz2xpK?si=e9793ffcf47e4aa4

Loing before the big power conflicts of the 2020s, many international relations theorists were focused on how to use international law as a framework for intervention to protect human rights and human dignity. From these thinkers emerged R2P, the Responsibility to Protect, which became a broad idea that was used to justify humanitarian interventions that theoretically and practically violated the sovereignty of internationally recognized states.  Dr. Sidita Kushi, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bridgewater State, joins us today to discuss some of the flaws built into the historical applications of R2P. This is also the topic of her forthcoming book: From Kosovo to Darfur: The Regional Biases within Humanitarian Military Interventionism. Dr. Kushi explains how she created and leveraged groundbreaking data which systematizes histories of humanitarian interventions following the Cold War.  Pre-order From Kosovo to Darfur!: https://www.amazon.com/Kosovo-Darfur-Regional-Humanitarian-Interventionism/dp/0472077449?ref_=ast_author_dp  Her First Book (Dying By the Sword): https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Sword-Militarization-Foreign-Policy/dp/0197581439