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Named by The Guardian as “a podcast to make you smarter,” Global Dispatches is a podcast for people who crave a deeper understanding of international news.
Benin is a geographically small country in West Africa, located between Nigeria and Togo. Since the 1990s Benin has earned a reputation as a strong and stable multiparty democracy.
However, that has all changed in recent years and Benin is in the midst of democratic backsliding ahead of elections in which opposition parties have been sidelined.
On the line with me from Benin is Jose Biaou, the spokesperson for the Alliance Patriotic de Nouvelle Espoir -- The New Hope Patriotic Alliance.
In mid-March, the government of Turkey announced that is was withdrawing from a key human rights treaty known as the Istanbul Convention. Turkey took this move right in the middle of a major annual united nations conference called the Commission on the Status of Women.
Needless to say the unfortunate irony of Turkey withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention during the Commission on the Status on Women was not lost on many observers, including my guest today Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, President and CEO of PAI, an international non profit working on universal access to sexual and reproductive health.
Globalization was always presumed to have a flattening effect; power in a globalized world would be more diffuse and less centralized. A groundbreaking idea, called "Weaponized Interdependence," flips that idea on its head and demonstrates how governments have exploited economic integration to pursue their foreign policy goals and compel foreign adversaries.
Guest: Daniel Drezner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts and co-editor of the new book The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence
Health systems in Brazil are collapsing. Hospitals are running out of beds and oxygen as COVID cases in that country are soaring. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has long downplayed the severity of COVID and now deaths are spiking in South America's largest country.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro's rival, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is poised for a comeback in elections next year after a stunning court decision.
Guest: Leticia Casado, a journalist and stringer for the New York Times who is based in Brasilia.
Several American allies have pledged to pursue an explicitely feminist foreign policy. But what does this mean in practice?
In today's episode, we explore what a feminist foreign policy would mean for the United States and how a feminist foreign policy is one that necessarily must also embrace multilateralism.
Guest: Devon Cone, Senior advocate for women and girls at Refugees International.
The pandemic has been described as a mass extinction event for journalism. This is true in the United States, Europe and the developed world but even more so in poorer countries.
A free and independent media is a key guardrail for a free and open society -- yet many media organizations in the developing world are struggling to stay afloat.
Guest: Nishant Lalwani, managing director of Luminate, and driving force behind a new International Fund for Public Interest Media.
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In early November, a civil war broke out in the Tigray region in Ethiopia. The conflict pitted the federal government and its allies against the regional government of Tigray, known as the TPLF.
Since then the fighting has gotten worse and the humanitarian impact for people living in Tigray has been catastrophic.
Guest: William Davison, a senior analyst for Ethiopia for International Crisis Group discusses how and why this conflict started, and where it may be headed next.
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On February 1st, the Burmese military mounted a coup, deposing and detaining the civilian leadership of the country. The military arrested the de-facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other key members of her ruling party.
This coup is a major setback for Myanmar's transition to democracy and a key foreign policy challenge for the new Biden administration.
Why was there a coup in Myanmar and what happens next?
Guest: John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director Human Rights Watch.
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On February 24 the very first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine from COVAX arrived in Ghana. COVAX is the international cooperative effort around the development and distribution safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Ghana became the first country to receive COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX when 600,000 doses landed at the airport in Accra.
On hand to receive these doses was an old friend of mine, Owusu Akoto. He is the founder and CEO of a Ghanian cold chain logistics company called Freezelink.
It was an historic day for COVAX, a hopeful day for Ghana and an exciting moment for my friend who started this company just a couple years ago as a social enterprise to combat food waste in Ghana. He explains the sometimes unheralded role that cold chain technologies and logistics play in a country's economic and social development.
The conflict in Yemen is entering a new phase. The Houthi rebel group that controls much of the country is launching a new offensive in an oil rich region of the country. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has breathed new life into international diplomatic efforts to end the war by ending US support to the Saudi Arabia lead military campaign. This episode examines how the Yemen conflict has evolved over the years and where it may be headed next.
Guest: Gregory D. Johnsen, Brookings Institute and former member of the UN Security Council's Panel of Experts on Yemen.
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