The Fletcher Forum Podcast

As the war in Ukraine approaches its fourth week, many Western commentators are still wondering why Russian President Vladimir Putin chose a full-scale invasion, and why now. In this podcast, Kiana Nedele sits down with Professor Christopher Miller, head of the Fletcher School’s Russia/Eurasia Program, to work through these questions and more. Professor Miller brings his years of experience working with Russians on Russian issues to share critical insights about the role of the U.S. and NATO, Putin's headspace, and the uses and limits of political theory. 

Bangladesh currently hosts around 1.1 million Rohingya Muslim Minorities from Myanmar. The Rohingya people have faced decades of systematic discrimination, statelessness, and targeted violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Such persecution forced them to come to Bangladesh for many years, particularly in August 2017. In this episode, H. E. Ambassador Ms. Rabab Fatima, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York is interviewed by our Staff Editor, Md. Hasan Abdullah Towhid about the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh. Ambassador Fatima discusses the history of the Rohingya Crisis, the current situation of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh camps and a potential security threat to the region, relocation of Rohingya Refugees to ‘Bhasan Chor’ island, and possible solutions to their repatriation. The ongoing case against Myanmar at ICJ and UNGA & UNSC resolutions; and deliberations of the International community for a sustainable solution of Rohingya crisis are also discussed.  

COVID19 was a crisis that blurred the boundaries between state control and civil liberties. Technology solutions played a vital role in curbing the spread like contact tracing apps, telemedicine, vaccine scheduling and digital vaccination certificates. But it came with a lot of potential caveats like privacy invasions, state surveillance, and digital divide.    In this first episode, our host Sarthak Satapathy talks about contact tracing apps from the lens of privacy, equity, and efficacy with cybersecurity expert, Dr. Susan Landau.

Zubair Torwali is a community activist, linguist and educator based in Bahrain, Pakistan who has sought to preserve and promote Pakistan's Dardic cultures and languages. He has authored and supervised a number of books in and about Torwali. In this episode, he speaks with Elizabeth Dykstra-McCarthy about hydropower development in the Swat valley, its impact on the indigenous Torwali people and how the local community have responded to it.   

Jonathan Regnier interviews Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church and Diana Chigas, the co-directors of Corruption Justice and Legitimacy Program (CJL) to discuss why anti-corruption programming needs to engage with social norms and what CJL is currently doing to shift social norms from the periphery to a central component of corruption analysis and anti-corruption strategy.

Dr. Courtney J. Fung is an assistant professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong, and holds a PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School where she was awarded the Peter Ackerman Dissertation Prize for her doctoral thesis. In this podcast, we discuss her latest book, China and Intervention at the UN Security Council: Reconciling Status, where she explains the effects of status on China's varied response to intervention and foreign-imposed regime change at the United Nations.

As a Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting, Paul Magill is an expert in growth strategy, marketing, and digital transformation. He recently came by Fletcher to discuss their latest research on organic growth and discuss the implications -- for companies, as well as for individuals planning their future careers. Listen to learn about these findings!

Following his talk at Fletcher, Sam Dagher spoke with Elizabeth Dykstra McCarthy to dive deeper into his book, "Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria." The discussion covers the makings of the Assad family as well as their intrigues and their inner workings. Dagher was a senior correspondent focused on Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and has worked in the Middle East for more than 12 years. 

Want to know what Fletcher’s new Dean thinks about the school’s future? Well, listen to her in-depth and wide-ranging conversation with Shawn Ghuman exploring her vision for this important institution. In this podcast, you’ll hear why she decided to make Fletcher a part of her career story and what changes she hopes to bring to the school in the coming years.

The Fletcher Forum's Shawn Ghuman sat down with Carla Martinez and Ellysse Dick to discuss the Edward R. Murrow Center’s first annual conference on new media and democracy, "The Future of Democracy in the Age of Disinformation: Innovating Policy Solutions for a Networked World." The upcoming event will explore the shifting landscape of public diplomacy, cybersecurity and civic engagement in the digital age, from potential private sector solutions to disinformation to online threats overshadowing democracies around the world.