Ecfr Clips

How can we understand current-day Russia against the background of history? Is the monopolisation of power and lack of checks and balances on a level unique to Russia? Was Russia’s foreign policy trajectory predestined and if not, what were the crucial turning points that brought it to where it is today? And is Russian foreign policy changing irreversibly?   ECFR’s new podcast on Russia, “Under the Overcoat”, explores the deeper trends beneath the surface of daily politics. To look at the history of Russia’s foreign policy and what its future might be, our host Kadri Liik is joined by ECFR visiting fellow Kirill Shamiev and Sergey Radchenko, Wilson E. Schmidt distinguished professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In September 2024, the United Nation’s Summit of the Future is set to take place – a crucial moment to mend “eroded trust” between peoples, countries, and generations. Europe's role on the world stage is constantly adapting to the fluidity of the global geopolitical space. Traditional views of multilateralism are being rethought, and Europe is exploring its role in fostering meaningful international cooperation on many global issues.  In this final episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group and Arancha González Laya, former Spanish foreign minister and current dean of the Science Po Paris School of International Affairs. They revisit previous discussions of the Europe Listens series and, looking ahead, ask how the European Union can continue playing a meaningful role on the global stage. This podcast was recorded on 19 March 2024. Other episodes of this show: Europe Listens – seasons 1-3 Fu

To achieve the ambitions of the European Green Deal, the European Commission insists that healthy oceans and a sustainable maritime economy are crucial. With rising demand for minerals from various sectors, including to advance the green transformation, many expect we are on the brink of the biggest gold rush in history – deep beneath the ocean surface. In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Pradeep Singh, environmental lawyer and fellow at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam. What are the key resources in the seabed? Is deep seabed mining more of an opportunity or a risk? How can the European Union and its global partners help to guard against the known and unknown dangers of deep seabed mining?  This podcast was recorded on 4 March 2024. Other episodes of this season: Episode 1: Protecting the high seas with Essam Yassin MohammedFurther reading: The European Union and seabed mining by Pradeep A. Singh, Virginie Tassin C

Around 70 per cent of our planet is covered by the ocean, of which two-thirds fall beyond national jurisdiction. After decades of discussions and negotiations, states adopted the so-called High Seas Treaty in September 2023. The treaty aims to increase the governance of the world’s oceans and tackle common challenges such as environmental degradation, illegal fishing, and preserving our marine resources sustainably.   To kick off the third season of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Essam Yassin Mohammed, director general of WorldFish and senior director of aquatic food at CGIAR, a global partnership that unites international organisations engaged in research about food security. What are the most pressing challenges when navigating the realm of ocean governance? What other developments or multilateral initiatives in ocean governance are on the horizon for the European Union and its allies?This podcast was recorded on 28 February 2024. Other episodes of this sea

What is the mood in Russian society after two years of war? How can we understand what is happening? Expressing meaningful dissent can land Russians in jail, yet a huge number of people attended the funeral of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, taking huge personal risk. In this episode, we discuss public opinion in Russia in the run-up to the presidential election and after Navalny’s death.     ECFR’s new podcast on Russia, “Under the Overcoat”, explores the deeper trends beneath the surface of daily politics. To examine public opinion in Russia, our host Kadri Liik is joined by Ksenia Luchenko, ECFR visiting fellow, and Alexei Levinson, head of the sociocultural research department at the Levada Center.    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we delve into how the Russian economy transitioned into a wartime economy. What does the structure of the Russian economy and the 2024 state budget reveal about Putin's strategy? Does the Kremlin possess sufficient resources for a long war? Will Russia persist in gradually nationalising remaining foreign assets? Will the government seize the assets of Russian business figures who have not explicitly endorsed the war? How does this affect the sentiment of large and small businesses in Russia? ECFR’s new podcast on Russia, “Under the Overcoat”, explores the deeper trends beneath the surface of daily politics. To dive deeper into Russia’s economy during war, our host Kadri Liik is joined by Mikhail Komin, ECFR visiting fellow, and Andrei Yakovlev, economist and fellow at German research institute Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we analyse who is really in charge of the Russian military and its nuclear weapons. The answer is far from simple. Does Putin have overwhelming control or does the military have a decisive say? What are the implications of civil-military relations on Russia's foreign policy, defense reform, and domestic politics? And who ultimately controls the Russia’s nuclear weapons? ECFR’s new podcast on Russia, “Under the Overcoat”, explores the deeper trends beneath the surface of daily politics. To investigate who controls the Russian military and security services, our host Kadri Liik is joined by Kirill Shamiev, ECFR visiting fellow, and Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fourth episode of ECFR’s WOMENP mini-series, recorded during the 2023 Doha Forum, looks at the regional reverberations of the war in Gaza, particularly from the perspective of key Arab Gulf monarchies such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The podcast unpacks how these countries have reacted to the 7 October attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza, the prospects of ongoing normalisation deals and negotiations between Arab Gulf monarchies and Israel, domestic dynamics in these countries, and potential future scenarios. How is Qatar managing the new cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine, and what role has it played? How have different Gulf countries positioned themselves on the war in Gaza? What is the state of Saudi-Israeli negotiations following the 7 October attacks?In this episode, ECFR’s Cinzia Bianco speaks to Dania Thafer, executive director of the Gulf International Forum and lecturer at Georgetown University and Elham Fakhro, associate fellow at the Middle East and North Afri

How do Russian officials "coexist" with the war nearly two years after the invasion? How has the bureaucratic system adapted to the requirements of the war? Do officials who openly endorse the invasion or are deployed to work in occupied territories receive better roles or resources ? Does the relative efficiency of the Russian bureaucracy boost the Kremlin’s capacity to sustain the conflict?ECFR’s new podcast on Russia, “Under the Overcoat”, will explore the deeper trends beneath the surface of daily politics. To investigate the role of Russian bureaucrats, our host Kadri Liik is joined by ECFR visiting fellow Mikhail Komin and Russian political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann. Bookshelf: Legislation as a Political Process and Practical Political Science: A Guide to Contact with RealityNomenklatura by Voslenskiy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Russian Orthodox Church is supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine in its sermons, sending priests to the front, and collecting humanitarian aid for soldiers and the occupied Ukrainian territories. It is also involved in the administration of the occupied territories and in promoting propaganda narratives abroad. So why did the head of the Church, Patriarch Kirill, bet on Putin? How influential is the Church in Russian politics and society? What will happen to it after the war and will it survive Putin's regime? ECFR’s new podcast on Russia, “Under the Overcoat”, will explore the deeper trends beneath the surface of daily politics. To dive deeper into the role of the Russian Orthodox Church, our host Kadri Liik is joined by ECFR visiting fellow Ksenia Luchenko and Alexander Agadjanian, a senior research fellow at Yerevan State University. Bookshelf: Daniel Stein, Interpreter: A Novel | Ludmila Ulitskaya La Sainte Russie contre l’Occident Everyday Religiosity and the Politics of Belonging in Ukraine | Catherin

On 1 September, Russian high schools transitioned to new "patriotic" history textbooks authored by one of Russia's staunchest conservatives, former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky. How do these textbooks mirror the core tenets of the Russian regime's ideology? What stance do they take on figures like Stalin, the dissolution of the USSR, and Russia’s war in Ukraine? What narratives will Russian students be exposed to based on these textbooks? How has the Russian and Soviet history curriculum changed in the past?ECFR’s new podcast on Russia, “Under the Overcoat”, will explore the deeper trends beneath the surface of daily politics. For a closer look at history, our host Kadri Liik is joined by ECFR visiting fellows Ksenia Luchenko, Kirill Shamiev, and Mikhail Komin. Bookshelf: The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian RevolutionSoldiers and the Soviet State: Civil-Military Relations from Brezhnev to Gorbachev | Timothy J. ColtonEverything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet GenerationAlex

The third episode of ECFR’s WOMENP mini-series looks at domestic dynamics and the human rights situation in Iran a year after nationwide protests erupted following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, in police custody. The podcast unpacks how power dynamics between state and society have shifted since, and its implications on the country’s leadership. How have Iranians continued with acts of resistance and civil disobedience despite the large scale crackdown by authorities? How has the West has responded, and what more can European countries do to tangibly support activists and human rights defenders inside Iran?In this episode, ECFR's Ellie Geranmayeh speaks to Tara Sepehri Far, Iran and Kuwait researcher, Middle East and North Africa division, Human Rights Watch; Sussan Tahmasebi, executive director, FEMENA; and Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House. This podcast was recorded on 30 August 2023. Suggested reading by experts: The Protests Inside Iran’s Gi

The global space economy is worth a whopping $469 billion, and growing fast. Commercial interests are proliferating; more and more countries are launching satellites into space. Some African leaders aspire for their continent to become a knowledge, technology, and manufacturing hub for this new space age and to leverage space technologies to advance economic development. They are looking for global partners to join them in this quest.In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Ruvimbo Samanga, a space law and policy advisor at Access Partnership, a global tech advisory firm. How can Africans and Europeans benefit from cooperating on space access and technologies, and what pitfalls should they look out for? What is “space junk” and how might a clean-up effort work in practice? And how can the EU’s space law best promote responsible behaviour on Earth and in outer space?This podcast was recorded on 7 July 2023.Other episodes of this season:Episode 1: Overcoming the global di

On 8 January 2023, following a contentious national election, protestors attacked government buildings in Brazil’s capital. The riots were preceded by years of online disinformation, targeting lawmakers and the country’s electoral process. Striking parallels with the storming of the US Capitol two years prior underline the role that transnational networks play in pushing disinformation globally, and that of big tech standing idly by (at best).In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Flora Rebello Arduini, campaign director, disinformation researcher, and big-tech watcher at Ekō, a global non-profit organisation advancing corporate accountability. How does online disinformation affect Brazilian politics? What role do social media giants play in spreading fake news? And how can companies, legislators, and civil society in Brazil and Europe stem the tide of AI-powered disinformation in the future?This podcast was recorded on 16 June 2023.Other episodes of this season:Episo

Digital technologies are set to transform African economies. Yet, only 40 per cent of Africans accessed the internet in 2022 – well below the proportion in the world’s other regions. Technological as well as socio-economic factors drive this digital divide, and US-Chinese competition risks making it worse.To kick off the second season of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Jane Munga, a fellow in the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former digital policy advisor to the government of Kenya. What are the most pressing priorities for African countries to overcome the global digital divide? How does Europe’s digital diplomacy compare to US and Chinese tech giants’ approaches? And what is Africa’s vision for “digital sovereignty”?This podcast was recorded on 8 August 2023.Other episodes of this season:Episode 2: Combatting online disinformation with Flora Rebello Arduini Episode 3: Governing outer space with Ruvimbo SamangaFurther reading:How the United

The second episode of ECFR’s WOMENP mini-series considers the geo-economic trends in the Middle East and emerging opportunities following recent developments, such as the detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the new government in Iraq almost one year after its formation. Does Iran seek and stand to benefit economically from the opening with the Arab world? How do broader dynamics, including the United States’ sanctions framework limit these prospects? In which areas would investments by the Gulf Cooperation Council in Iran benefit the Iranian people? Will Iraq be a testing ground for economic cooperation? In this episode, ECFR’s Ellie Geranmayeh speaks to Nadereh Chamlou, non-resident senior fellow, Atlantic Council and Sheikha Najla Al Qassimi, director of the Global Affairs Division, Dubai Public Policy Research Centre (B’huth). This podcast was recorded on 12 July 2023. Suggested reading by experts: Liberalism and Its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama A political economy of the Middle East by Alan Ric

China is becoming ever more important to global affairs. But political and geopolitical challenges, as well as the covid-19 pandemic, have diminished Europeans’ ability to engage with Chinese thinkers and understand their views and ideas about the world. In this mini-series, Mark Leonard and Janka Oertel try to change that by engaging in conversations with some of the best Chinese academics, researchers, writers, and journalists on diverse topics in Chinese internal debates that matter most to Europeans.  --  In this episode, we are joined by research assistant professor of political science at Tsinghua University, Duan Jiuzhou, who is an expert on the Middle East and North Africa with a special interest in civil-military relations and the political economy of development. Duan talks us through how Chinese scholars view the dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as China’s role in the region. Which countries do Chinese experts view as the major players? What does the Saudi-Iranian detente mean

China is becoming ever more important to global affairs. But political and geopolitical challenges, as well as the covid-19 pandemic, have diminished Europeans’ ability to engage with Chinese thinkers and understand their views and ideas about the world. In this mini-series, Mark Leonard and Janka Oertel try to change that by engaging in conversations with some of the best Chinese academics, researchers, writers, and journalists on diverse topics in Chinese internal debates that matter most to Europeans.   --   In our fourth episode, we are joined by one of China’s leading scholars in Sino-American relations and east Asian security, Professor Wang Dong, from the School of International Studies and the Institute for Global Health and Development at Peking University. Wang talks us through the current tensions between Washington and Beijing, as well as giving his thoughts on their future trajectory. What are the main reasons for the deterioration of bilateral ties between China and the United States? How can th

The first episode of ECFR’s WOMENP mini-series brings together leading experts to discuss what can be expected from Iran and Saudi Arabia’s de-escalation after the two countries signed an agreement to normalise relations last March and following the recent Arab League Summit. What are Iran and Saudi Arabia hoping to achieve with this deal, especially in view of the US election next year? What factors changed to lead Saudi Arabia to the table? Is there consensus in Iran on the de-escalation and normalisation with Riyadh? How does the region view Iran following the latest nationwide protests? In this episode, ECFR’s Ellie Geranmayeh speaks to Roxane Farmanfarmaian, lecturer in international politics, Cambridge University; Yasmine Farouk, non-resident scholar, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Dania Thafer, executive director, Gulf International Forum; and Sanam Vakil, director, MENA programme, Chatham House. This podcast was recorded on 22 May 2023. Must read and see items sugg

Beyond the UN formats, countries around the world are forging hundreds of bilateral and multilateral agreements to advance the clean energy transition. India has emerged as a prominent player in these initiatives, with prime minister Narendra Modi describing his country’s potential in green energy as no less than a “goldmine”. Since 2016, India and the EU have set up new schemes to deepen their green technology partnership, and they could go even further. In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Dhanasree Jayaram, assistant professor of geopolitics and international relations and co-coordinator of the Centre for Climate Studies at Manipal Academy of Higher Education in Karnataka, India. How do India and the EU benefit from cooperating on green technology, and what issues and potential obstacles should they need be mindful of? What role do grassroots initiatives and India’s private sector play in advancing its green transition? And what is the relation between democracy