World Politics Review

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Harnessing New Technologies to Financially Empower Women May 26, 2021

Show notes

In 2015, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute found that up to $28 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 if women were allowed to achieve their full economic potential. Yet according to the World Economic Forum, there are more than 70 countries where women are not allowed to open bank accounts or obtain credit. The gender gap in financial account penetration tends to be widest in certain emerging markets, like South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the Middle East.

Even when financial services are available to them, women often face bias and discrimination at various stages of the lending process. But the emergence of new financial technology companies and mobile credit platforms, accessible with just a few taps on a mobile phone, could change that, offering loans even to women with little or no credit history. The nonprofit Women's World Banking recently released a report finding that, "For women, who have historically been the victims of unconscious bias in lending decisions, algorithm-enabled credit decisions could create a level playing field." However, tapping into that potential will require addressing the myriad forms of bias that can creep into artificial intelligence algorithms.

This week on Trend Lines, Mary Ellen Iskendarian, president and CEO of Women's World Banking, joins WPR's Elliot Waldman to discuss the promise and perils of financial technology for women's economic empowerment.

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.

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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 Saudi-Iran Détente and the Israel-Hamas War May 19, 2021

Show notes

In April 2018, Saudi Arabia's crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, said in an interview with The Atlantic that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "makes Hitler look good." MBS, as the crown prince is widely known, also dismissed the possibility of any talks between the two regional rivals.

Just three years later, MBS has changed his tune, saying in a recent television interview that he hopes to "build a good and positive relationship with Iran." His remarks came amid reports that the two sides were in the early stages of negotiations to deescalate tensions, which both Riyadh and Tehran subsequently confirmed.

It was the latest hopeful sign that some of the region's most lasting and damaging conflicts like as the war in Yemen, could be brought to an end, even as intense fighting has flared up again between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants based in Gaza.

This week on Trend Lines, Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, joins WPR's Elliot Waldman to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

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 Greens' Activist Vision for German Foreign Policy May 12, 2021

Show notes

Voters in Germany will go to the polls in September for elections that will be unusually consequential for the country's foreign and defense policy. Chancellor Angela Merkel is retiring after almost 16 years in the position, and three major parties recently announced their candidates to replace her.

Much attention has focused on one of the candidates in particular: Annalena Baerbock of the Green party, which is surging in popularity and is likely to enter government as part of a coalition in the fall. This could allow the Greens to exercise influence over decision-making in Berlin. What would that mean for Germany's approach to foreign policy and defense issues in the post-Merkel era? This week on Trend Lines, WPR's Elliot Waldman digs into this question and more with Claudia Major, head of the international security research division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

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.

Cubans Are Still Waiting for Something New From Biden May 06, 2021

Show notes

During his campaign for the presidency last year, Joe Biden pledged to reverse what he called "the failed Trump policies" toward Cuba. But now, Biden's White House is signaling that it is in no hurry to lift the severe sanctions and other measures imposed on Cuba by former President Donald Trump, much less return to the historic detente with Cuba that was pioneered by Biden's old boss, former President Barack Obama.

As the Biden administration bides its time, Cuba's aging leaders have passed the baton to a new generation. At the Communist Party's eighth congress last month, Raul Castro stepped down as party chief, marking a transition of power to a new generation of leaders born after the 1959 revolution. But that new generation was careful to telegraph that it does not plan to change Cuba's political system or alter the government's heavy-handed approach to dissent.

This week on Trend Lines, WPR's Elliot Waldman is joined by Michael Bustamante, an assistant professor of Latin American History at Florida International University, to discuss the outlook for U.S.-Cuba ties and what the Biden administration's cautious approach might means for the island. Bustamante's latest book, just published in March, is "Cuban Memory Wars: Retrospective Politics in Revolution and Exile."

Relevant Articles on WPR:

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 Myths and Realities of China's Digital Currency Apr 28, 2021

Show notes

Since last year, authorities in China have been conducting pilot programs for the country's new digital currency. The project, which Beijing has been researching since 2014, is an example of what's known as a central bank digital currency, which a number of other countries are experimenting with, but few of them are at as advanced a stage as China. A top official at China's central bank recently expressed hope that the digital yuan would be ready for testing with foreign visitors and athletes during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Beijing's progress on its digital currency has led some commentators to fret that it could erode the primacy of the U.S. dollar in the global financial system. Those concerns are exaggerated, says Yaya Fanusie, an adjunct senior fellow in the Energy, Economics and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. But as he and his co-author, Emily Jin, explain in a recent report, that doesn't mean the digital yuan isn't worth keeping an eye on for other reasons. This week on Trend Lines, Fanusie joins WPR's Elliot Waldman for a conversation about what China's digital currency is—and what it's not.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

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 U.S. Military and the Legacy of Afghanistan Apr 21, 2021

Show notes

When U.S. President Joe Biden announced his decision last week to fully withdraw American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, he justified it in part by pointing to an agreement signed by the Trump administration committing the U.S. to withdrawing by May 1. But he spent more time highlighting the disconnect between the original reasons the U.S. deployed its military to Afghanistan and the reasons now being used to justify its continued presence. "War in Afghanistan," he said, "was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking."

And yet, as Biden acknowledged in his speech, that is just what the "Forever War" has become, with U.S. soldiers now serving in Afghanistan who had not been born at the time of the attacks of 9/11. What impact has this long and in many ways forgotten war had on the U.S. military? And what has it meant for the role of the military in American society?

In today's Trend Lines interview, Andrew Exum joins WPR's editor-in-chief Judah Grunstein to discuss those questions and more. Exum is a partner at Hakluyt & Company, a global advisory firm. From 2015 to 2017, he served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy. He began his career as an officer in the U.S. Army, leading platoons of both light infantry and Army Rangers in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2009, he returned to Afghanistan to serve as a civilian adviser. He was also a long-time WPR contributor and weekly columnist.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

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.

Can Biden Go Big on Arms Control With Russia? Apr 14, 2021

Show notes

One of President Joe Biden's first actions after taking office in January was to agree with Russian President Vladimir Putin on extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Better known as New START, it is the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between Washington and Moscow, verifiably limiting each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed delivery systems.

The renewal of New START was widely welcomed by experts, given its important role in limiting the number of deployed nuclear weapons in the world. In a phone call this week, Biden and Putin discussed their intent to pursue further arms control talks, "building on the extension of the New START Treaty," according to the White House's readout. But it remains unclear how much further progress is possible, given the broader tensions in the U.S.-Russia relationship.

This week on Trend Lines, WPR's Elliot Waldman is joined by Sarah Bidgood, the director of the Eurasia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California. They discuss how the U.S. and Russia might be able to draw on the experiences of Cold War-era policymakers and negotiators to make progress on nuclear arms reduction, as well as Biden's arms control and nonproliferation agenda more broadly.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

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.

Matt Duss on a Progressive U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda Apr 07, 2021

Show notes

Throughout Donald Trump's presidency, a recurring theme among the Washington foreign policy establishment was how to repair the damage he was doing to America's global standing. For many, particularly the centrist current of the Democratic party, that meant restoring the traditional approach to American foreign policy that Trump consistently undermined during his four years in office.

But some figures on the party's more progressive left wing saw returning to the status quo ante as insufficient. People like Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ro Khanna, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders, began expanding the range of policy discussions and debates, in an attempt to advance a progressive foreign policy agenda.

When Joe Biden won the presidential election last November, there was some question over whether this progressive agenda would be reflected in his foreign policy appointments. For now, it seems the Biden administration has opted for a centrist establishment team. But the push for a progressive U.S. foreign policy agenda isn't going anywhere. If anything, it's gathering strength.

This week on Trend Lines, Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, joins WPR editor-in-chief Judah Grunstein to discuss his vision for a progressive U.S. foreign policy.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

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.

Rerun: Dealing With an 'Infinitely More Assertive China' Mar 31, 2021

Show notes

This week on Trend Lines, Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister of Australia, joins WPR editor-in-chief Judah Grunstein to discuss the nature of the challenge China poses to the West, the implications of Xi Jinping's rule, and the future prospects of both China's rise and America's global leadership role.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

When It Comes to Soft Power, China Is Already Outpacing the U.S.

Beijing Will Come to Regret the End of Hong Kong's Autonomy

As China Rises and U.S. Influence Wanes, Australia Aims for Self-Reliance

China's Coronavirus Outbreak Exposes the Limits of Xi's Centralized Power

Is China's Repressive Turn Under Xi a Sign of Strength—or Weakness?

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.

Rebooting U.S. Diplomatic Engagement in Africa Mar 24, 2021

Show notes

"Where the state is absent or weak, non-state actors, such as religious movements and institutions, traditional ethnic polities, militant organizations, or combinations of all three, take its place, some for better, some for worse." Those are the words of former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell, in his new book, "Nigeria and the Nation-State: Rethinking Diplomacy with the Post-Colonial World." In it, he argues that U.S. diplomats should focus on working more with traditional, religious and local leaders—where real power often rests—and less with foreign ministries and weak heads of state.

Campbell is currently Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He joins WPR's Elliot Waldman on Trend Lines this week to discuss the ideas he lays out in his book, and what the U.S. needs to do to implement them.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

The U.S. Can Still Promote Democracy in Africa

Why the U.S. Needs a Different Approach in Mali

Why Africa's Future Will Determine the Rest of the World's

America's Downsized Relationship With Africa Is About to Go Totally Adrift

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.

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