Counterpoint

Latest Episodes:

How to Rethink Poverty Oct 27, 2023

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Rory Stewart is a longtime administrator of foreign aid, from working as a diplomat in the field to the highest levels of government. He now heads GiveDirectly, one of the world’s fastest-growing nonprofits, which is popularizing direct cash transfers as an effective way to alleviate poverty. He joins Global Reboot host Ravi Agrawal to share his insights.

Rory Stewart previously served as a cabinet member in the British government and is the host of the popular podcast The Rest is Politics.

Global Reboot is produced in partnership with the Doha Forum.

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A New Season of Global Reboot Oct 20, 2023

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Global Reboot returns for a new season. Join host and Foreign Policy editor in chief Ravi Agrawal as he talks with top policymakers and thinkers focused on solving the world’s biggest problems. New episodes drop every week starting on Oct. 27.

Global Reboot is produced in partnership with the Doha Forum.

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Doha Debates Podcast Aug 22, 2023

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BONUS EPISODE: The Doha Debates Podcast —“Financial Future: Is it time to cancel Africa's debts?”

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Should the United States Step Up or Back Off? Aug 30, 2022

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For much of the 20th century, the United States has toggled between two foreign policy impulses: to actively insert itself in the affairs of the world or to hang back and focus on its own domestic issues. Advocates of the two approaches to international relations have had various designations, including liberals and realists, or interventionists and isolationists.

But these days, the world is shifting more dramatically than in decades, with the rise of China as a political and economic power and the increasing belligerence of Russia towards its neighbors. With those changes underway, is that old dichotomy still relevant? And what is America’s proper role in the world?

FP Editor in Chief Ravi Agrawal sat down recently with political scientist Stephen Wertheim to discuss these very questions. Wertheim, a senior fellow at the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has written about the issue extensively, including in the pages of Foreign Policy.

We are featuring their conversation in the last episode of our podcast, Global Reboot. The show is produced by Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

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Is the IMF Still Relevant? Aug 23, 2022

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As countries grappled with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years, many turned to global financial agencies for support, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But in some cases, at least, the agencies’ playbook of reforms and austerity in exchange for loans, no longer seemed suitable.

The IMF and the World Bank—along with the United Nations and the world’s other dominant international organizations—were created after World War Two, to serve the global order at the time. In the decades since, that order had changed dramatically. Are these institutions serving the world in the best possible way?

To answer that question, Foreign Policy’s Editor in Chief, Ravi Agrawal, sat down recently with Mark Malloch Brown, who spent years at the World Bank, the United Nations’ Development Program, and the United Nations thinking through these very issues. Malloch Brown is now president of the Open Society Foundations.

We’re featuring their conversation in the latest episode of our podcast Global Reboot. The show is produced by Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

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Human Rights are in Decline Around the World. What can be Done About it? Aug 16, 2022

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In large parts of the world, economic and technological progress has made people’s lives significantly better over the past few decades. From China to Africa to Latin America, large swaths of the population are healthier and more prosperous than ever.

But even as humanity has achieved so much, human rights have regressed in many countries—including some of the wealthier ones. Why is that and what can people do about it?

Those are two of the questions that came up in FP Editor in Chief Ravi Agrawal’s recent conversation with the former United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein. We’re featuring that conversation in the latest episode of our podcast, Global Reboot.

The show is produced by Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

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The Democracy Deficit Aug 09, 2022

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Analysts who study governance around the world have been warning for years that democracy is in decline, both in quality and quantity. Fewer countries can legitimately claim to be democracies. Among those that can, many are less democratic than they were just a few years ago.

This week on Global Reboot, Foreign Policy’s editor in chief, Ravi Agrawal, discusses the issue with Hélène Landemore, a political scientist at Yale University. Landemore has written widely about the crisis plaguing representative democracy, including in the pages of Foreign Policy. She argues for a more direct form of governance in which average citizens are involved in the decision-making at all levels.

Global Reboot is produced by Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

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There is a Fix For Climate Change. But Can We Afford It? Aug 02, 2022

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The climate and deficit reduction package that Democratic lawmakers agreed on last week earmarks some $370 billion dollars for much-needed energy and climate spending. That figure marks a victory for President Joe Biden and his climate initiative.

But in the broader battle against climate change, the spending is just a tiny fraction of what’s needed. In fact, many experts now believe that finding the money to fix the problem of rising temperatures around the world is going to be a bigger challenge than figuring out the science.

On this episode of Global Reboot, FP Editor in Chief Ravi Agrawal is joined by economic historian and author Adam Tooze to discuss climate finance. Who will pay for climate change adaptation? And will there be enough political will to get the job done?

Global Reboot is a FP Partner Podcast with the Doha Forum.

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Fixing the Food Crisis Jul 26, 2022

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Six months ago, the food crisis around the world was dire. A combination of the coronavirus pandemic, supply chain issues, and extreme weather had compounded an already difficult problem. Then Russia invaded Ukraine and the situation became a whole lot worse. On this episode of Global Reboot, Foreign Policy’s editor in chief, Ravi Agrawal, discusses ways to address global food insecurity with Ertharin Cousin, the founder and CEO of Food Systems for the Future. Cousin was previously the executive director of the UN’s World Food Program. She also served as America’s ambassador to the UN agencies in Rome.

Global Reboot is a FP Partner Podcast with the Doha Forum.

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Disinformation, Intimidation, and Other Threats to Press Freedom Jul 19, 2022

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Philippine authorities have arrested journalist Maria Ressa 10 times in the past two years. They’ve been threatening for years to shut down the media organization she runs, Rappler. And yet, even as the government in Manila becomes more repressive, Ressa has managed to produce some of the most probing and engaging journalism coming out of the Philippines. Last year, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

On the latest episode of Global Reboot, Foreign Policy’s editor in chief, Ravi Agrawal, sits down with Ressa to discuss the threat to free expression around the world and the ways people can fight back.

Global Reboot is produced in partnership with the Doha Forum.

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