World Politics Review

Latest Episodes:

The Pandemic's Overlooked Impact on Digital Rights Nov 11, 2020

Show notes

Many aspects of our response to the coronavirus pandemic have relied on digital technology. Schools and workplaces are moving online, holding classes and meetings using virtual tools. Public health experts are using data analytics and contact tracing apps to slow the contagion. And in some cases, authoritarian governments are using the pandemic as an excuse to impose sweeping restrictions on their citizens that limit their scope for protests and other forms of criticism.

According to researchers at the watchdog group Freedom House, the implications of the pandemic for digital rights worldwide are bleak. The organization released a new report last month as part of an annual series looking at online freedoms, to document what it calls, "The Pandemic's Digital Shadow." This week on Trend Lines, WPR's Elliot Waldman is joined by one of the report's co-authors, Adrian Shahbaz, to discuss COVID-19's indelible impacts on our online lives. Shahbaz is the director for technology and democracy at Freedom House.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

Are Governments Sacrificing Privacy to Fight the Coronavirus Pandemic?

Across Central Asia, Police States Expand Under the Cover of COVID-19

Tech Giants Aren't Doing Enough to Combat Misinformation About COVID-19

Amid China's Coronavirus Lockdown, 'People Don't Believe in Government Anymore'

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

Thailand's Pro-Democracy Protesters Aren't Backing Down Nov 04, 2020

Show notes

For nearly five months, Thailand has been in the throes of a historic pro-democracy uprising. Demonstrators have braved water cannons and arbitrary arrests to challenge the current government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the leader of a 2014 coup who then headed the military junta that ruled Thailand until last year. The protest movement has also broken a longstanding taboo by demanding reforms of Thailand's monarchy, which is protected by one of the world's harshest lèse-majesté laws.

Thailand's king addressed the protests for the first time in rare public comments over the weekend, suggesting he may be open to compromise with the demonstrators. Meanwhile, as with all political unrest in Thailand, the ever-present possibility that the military will step in hangs over the protest movement. Today on Trend Lines, WPR's Elliot Waldman discusses the latest developments from the Thai protests with Tyrell Haberkorn, a professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a 2020 Guggenheim fellow.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

Why Thailand's Protesters Are Up in Arms Against the Monarchy

Why Thailand's Leaderless Protests May Have Already Succeeded

Why the Thai King's Power Grab Could Backfire

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

'Reality Is Catching Up': Edward Luce on Trump, the Election and What Comes After Oct 29, 2020

Show notes

Over the past four years, American politics have been consumed and subsumed by one man: Donald Trump. Since his election in 2016, Trump's disregard for convention has upended the norms of the U.S. presidency and undermined the separation of powers on which America's constitutional system depends. His iconoclastic approach to foreign policy has further frayed the global order the U.S. has historically used to advance its interests, while raising questions about America's commitment and dependability as an ally. Long-standing political partisanship and divisions within the U.S. have become particularly acute in the runup to next week's election, amid heightened anxiety over the potential for tampering and manipulation of the outcome.

In today's big picture Trend Lines interview, Edward Luce joins WPR's editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, to discuss the impact of Trump's four years in office, the atmosphere surrounding next week's election and what's at stake for America and the world. Luce is a columnist and the U.S. national editor for the Financial Times, and has long been a highly regarded observer of American politics, which he has been covering for FT since 2006.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

Trump Is a Bad Joke That America Has Played on Itself—and the World

What to Keep From Trump's Foreign Policy After He's Gone

Even If Biden Wins, America May Still Be Crippled by Trump

What a Biden Win Would Mean for the Future of Multilateralism

Biden's Blind Spots on Foreign Policy Would Cripple America After Trump

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

How to Guard Against Election-Related Misinformation Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

This year's election season in the U.S. has been unusual in many ways, unfolding against the backdrop of a raging global pandemic, a historic economic recession and an incumbent president who is willing to discard America's democratic norms. But there is one thing that has become predictable about recent U.S. elections, and sadly, other polls around the world: the torrent of misinformation that inevitably seems to accompany them.

At the same time, the modalities of how misinformation spreads aren't necessarily consistent across elections. According to Shelby Grossman, a political scientist and research scholar at the Stanford Internet Observatory, foreign influence operations are becoming more sophisticated, and the unintentional spread of misinformation can be just as pernicious. She joins WPR's Elliot Waldman on the Trend Lines podcast this week to break down the latest trends in online misinformation and some of the things voters should watch out for on Election Day and thereafter.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

There's No Denying Russia's Election Interference, Unless You're Trump

Tech Giants Aren't Doing Enough to Combat Misinformation About COVID-19

The Sorry State of U.S. Election Security Makes Foreign Interference Inevitable

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

Russia Faces a Reckoning on Its Periphery Oct 21, 2020

Show notes

Despite President Vladimir Putin's efforts to project the image that Russia is a productive and internationally engaged great power, recent developments on the country's periphery suggest, if anything, a decline in the Kremlin's influence. In Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko is clinging to power despite the regular chants from thousands of protesters demanding he resign. Intense fighting has erupted again between Armenia and Azerbaijan, over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. And Kyrgyzstan is in chaos after protests forced the country's Russia-friendly leader, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, to resign last week.

This week on Trend Lines, WPR's Elliot Waldman is joined by Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, to discuss Putin's response to the rapidly unfolding crises in Russia's "near abroad."

Relevant Articles on WPR:

Can Russia Steer the Endgame in Nagorno-Karabakh to Its Advantage?

How Russia's Putin Could Respond to the Protests in Belarus

Making Sense of the Arrest of Russian Mercenaries in Belarus

Russia Is Getting More Than It Bargained For in Libya and Syria

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

South America's New Era of Pragmatism Oct 16, 2020

Show notes

Over the past two decades, perhaps no region of the world has seen such a dramatic reversal of fortune as South America. Beginning in 1999, a political shift to the left combined with an economic boom allowed governments across the continent to make dramatic inroads in the fight against poverty. The region's transformation was held up as a model of what governments can achieve when they make addressing inequality a central priority. But beginning in 2013, the end of the commodities boom led to slowed growth and, in some cases, political instability, calling into question the sustainability of the previous decade's gains.

In today's big picture Trend Lines interview, Frida Ghitis joins WPR's editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, to discuss the changes the past two decades have brought to South America, and where they leave the region today as it faces long-standing challenges exacerbated by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Frida is a contributing columnist at The Washington Post, as well as a frequent on-air analyst and commentator on several radio and television outlets, including CNN and CNN en Espanol. She has been a WPR contributor since 2006, and her weekly column appears every Thursday. You can sign up for her weekly newsletter, Insight by Frida Ghitis.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

How Biden Would Change U.S. Policy in Latin America

Latin America's Anti-Corruption Drive Has Stalled at the Worst Possible Time

The Crisis in Bolivia Roils a Rapidly Changing Latin America

If Chile Can Erupt Over Inequality, Anywhere Can

South America Is at a Turning Point, but the 'Pink Tide' Isn't Coming Back

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

The Case for Reopening America's Doors to Refugees Oct 14, 2020

Show notes

Late last month, President Donald Trump told Congress that his administration plans to further slash the ceiling for refugee admissions during the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1, to 15,000 from an already historically low 18,000. The new limit is less than one-seventh the 110,000 slots that former President Barack Obama approved in 2016. As The New York Times put it, Trump has "virtually sealed off a pathway for the persecuted into the country and obliterated the once-robust American reputation as a sanctuary for the oppressed."

This comes as the number of refugees worldwide continues to grow. According to the United Nations, there are currently around 80 million forcibly displaced people around the world, including 26 million refugees and more than 4 million asylum-seekers. Trump's opponent in next month's presidential election, Joe Biden, has said he will raise the cap on refugees to 125,000. But should he win, he will have his work cut out for him in repairing the U.S. refugee program.

Today on Trend Lines, WPR's Elliot Waldman is joined by Meredith Owen, interim director of policy and advocacy in the Immigration and Refugee Program at Church World Service, to discuss the Trump administration's campaign to undermine the U.S. refugee program and what it will take to rebuild it.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

Trump's Latest Immigration Restrictions Are Ill-Advised—and Un-American

Has the World Learned the Lessons of the 2015 Refugee Crisis?

The World Has Lost the Will to Deal With the Worst Refugee Crisis Since World War II

The Failed Assumptions Behind Central America's Refugee Crisis

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

'The World Has Moved On': Carl Bildt on the EU in the Trump Era—and After Oct 09, 2020

Show notes

Strategic autonomy has long been a recurring refrain for advocates of a more forceful European Union on the global stage. Upon taking office in December 2019, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that hers would be a "geopolitical commission." The sense of urgency has only grown since then. Ongoing tensions with Russia over its role in Eastern Europe and new ones with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean have called attention to the threats the EU faces in its own neighborhood. Managing strained ties with the United States and defining the new terms of relations with the post-Brexit United Kingdom have called into question long-standing partnerships. And a fast-emerging reassessment of the challenge posed by China has underscored the importance of the EU becoming a rule-maker, not a rule-taker in the shifting world order.

In today's big picture Trend Lines interview, WPR editor-in-chief Judah Grunstein is joined by Carl Bildt to discuss these and other challenges facing the EU, as well as the obstacles to its efforts to become a more assertive actor, both in its neighborhood and beyond. Mr. Bildt is a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden. During his career as an international diplomat, he also served as the EU's special envoy to the former Yugoslavia and high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the U.N. special envoy for the Balkans, and the co-chair of the Dayton Peace Conference. He is currently co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

In a Multipolar World, Will the EU Be Seated at the Table—or Served on It?

Europe Wants 'Strategic Autonomy,' but That's Much Easier Said Than Done

NATO at 70: Toward European Strategic Responsibility

From Naive to Realist? The EU's Struggles With China

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance jo urnalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

How Southeast Asia Is Navigating China's Rise Oct 07, 2020

Show notes

With every major religion in the world represented, and political systems that range from relatively open democracies to authoritarian one-party states, Southeast Asia is one of the most spectacularly diverse regions in the world. It stretches from the highlands of northern Myanmar to the beaches of southern Thailand and the Philippines, and includes low-income economies like Laos and Cambodia, as well as Singapore, one of the wealthiest places in the world on a per capita basis.

Each of the 11 countries in this multifarious region, though, face a common foreign policy challenge: how to deal with the political and economic juggernaut to their north, China. Today on Trend Lines, WPR's Elliot Waldman is joined by journalist Sebastian Strangio to discuss his new book, "In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century."

Relevant Articles on WPR:

Vietnam, Under Increasing Pressure From China, Mulls a Shift Into America's Orbit

Why Is China Pressing Indonesia Again Over Its Maritime Claims?

Laos, Trying to Build Its Way to an Economic Boom, Could Be Sunk by Debt

Mahathir Positions Malaysia as a Check on China's Ambitions in Southeast Asia

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance jo urnalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

The Preexisting Conditions That Doomed Britain's COVID-19 Response Oct 02, 2020

Show notes

The U.K. this week recorded its highest single-day increase in new coronavirus cases so far, and its biggest one-day death toll since July. Today on Trend Lines, The Atlantic's Tom McTague joins WPR's Elliot Waldman to discuss the structural failures that undermined Britain's COVID-19 response.

If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you've read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get our uncompromising analysis delivered straight to your inbox. The newsletter offers a free preview article every day of the week, plus three more complimentary articles in our weekly roundup every Friday. Sign up here. Then subscribe.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

For the U.K. and Ireland, Brexit and COVID-19 Are a Perfect Storm

Will Ireland and the U.K.'s Divided Responses to COVID-19 Fuel Irish Unification?

'It Was Always Going to Be Horrible.' Britain's Former Top Emergency Planner on COVID-19

Boris Johnson Is Hurtling the U.K. Toward Another Brexit Cliff

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance jo urnalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected