Carnegie Council Video Podcast

Whether it's rigging elections in Hong Kong, arresting activists in Venezuela, restricting voting access in the U.S., silencing the opposition in Belarus, or censorship in Burma, there can be no doubt that democracy is under assault. For Global Ethics Day, Carnegie Council hosted a panel featuring activists fighting on the frontlines to uphold and strengthen democracy. What can individual citizens do to support democracy? What's the role of international organizations?   For more, go to carnegiecouncil.org.

In the 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, national security decisions have tested the values of American democracy. This panel, hosted by Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal, examines lessons learned from the past two decades of conflict and the role that ethical action must play in helping to provide security while adhering to democratic principles. National security experts N. W. Collins, Sean McFate, and General Joseph Votel share their thoughts on these critical issues.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will affect the socio-economic development of nations across the globe. Caribbean countries are particularly susceptible because they tend to be labor intensive economies and are therefore at risk of significant economic and social disruption from automation and artificial intelligence. Three experts in this space--Cordel Green, Stacey Russell, and Erica Simmons--discuss these issues and much more.

What is grand strategy? What differentiates it from normal strategic thought? What, in other words, makes it "grand"? In answering these questions, most scholars have focused on diplomacy and warfare, but the most thorough interpretations consider the bases of peace and security--including gender, race, the environment, and a wide range of cultural, social, political, and economic issues. Oregon State's Christopher McKnight Nichols, editor of "Rethinking American Grand Strategy," will joins Senior Fellows Nikolas Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin to discuss these issues and much more.

The post-World War II liberal order faces unprecedented upheaval as countries and their leaders retreat from globalism, embrace nationalism, and attack democratic norms. Whether it's Bolsonaro in Brazil, Orbán in Hungary, or Modi in India--illiberalism is on the rise. Carnegie Council President Joel H. Rosenthal hosts a virtual panel to assess the current threats against democracy in Brazil, Hungary, and India; discuss steps to support a revival of democratic values globally; and finally, examine the question: Is democracy an ethical standard?

Artificial intelligence is impacting and will impact Africa as profoundly as any continent on Earth. While some African nations struggle with limited access to the Internet, others are leaping into the digital economy with Smart Cities. Access for all, digital literacy, and capacity-building remain as challenges. How through AI and ethics can prospects for all of Africa be improved?

In recent years, the discussion on "AI ethics" has succeeded in mainstreaming principles to limit the risks that would otherwise arise from the unrestricted use of AI, particularly with regards to privacy, safety, and equality. But it may have overlooked a much more fundamental question: what are the limits of "AI ethics"? Experts Meredith Broussard, Karen Hao, and Safiya Umoja Noble join Senior Fellow Arthur Holland Michel to discuss this question.

As the world still struggles to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Senior Fellow Alexander Görlach discusses his book "Homo Empathicus," the role of empathy in politics, and China and human rights. How can the Biden administration get American democracy back on the right track? How should democracies respond to China and author autocratic nations?

U.S.-China competition is one of the defining stories of this era, but it has stopped short of violence, for now. In the novel "2034," Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO supreme allied commander, and Elliot Ackerman, a best-selling author and former Marine, imagine a naval clash between the two nations in the South China Sea in the next decade--and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration. In this talk with "Doorstep" co-hosts Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev, Stavridis and Ackerman will discuss a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid.

In these clips from the first session of the International Congress for the Governance of AI, Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, assistant secretary-general at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Lord Timothy Clement-Jones, co-chair of the UK's All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI, discuss what comprehensive and trustworthy governance of this emerging technology looks like. Then Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow Wendell Wallach summarizes the day's sessions and gives of a preview of the second session on April 13.

In 2015, Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University, applied to become a sworn, armed reserve police officer with the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department. In this talk with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal, Brooks gives an inside look at policing in a big city from her view as an academic and journalist who is "fascinated by the relationship between law and violence."

In his long career as a journalist covering the Cold War and its aftermath, best-selling author Robert D. Kaplan often crossed paths with Bob Gersony. A high school dropout later awarded a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, Gersony conducted on-the-ground research for the U.S. government in virtually every war and natural-disaster zone in the world. In conversation with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal, Kaplan discusses the powerful example that Gersony set of how American diplomacy should be conducted.

The pandemic has made us all shockingly aware of the way that a highly infectious disease exposes the moral frailties of our social systems. In this virtual event moderated by Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow Wendell Wallach, leading ethicists and historians discuss their work, how it has been affected by the pandemic, and what lessons we may take away from this global crisis.

Many shifts in the right vs. wrong pendulum are affected by advances in technology. In his new book "Right/Wrong," Juan Enriquez reflects on the evolution of ethics in a technological age. How will accelerating technology challenge and flip your ideas of right and wrong? What are we doing today that will be considered abhorrent tomorrow because of tech change?

In recent years, the global discussion on "AI ethics" has succeeded in mainstreaming key principles to limit the risks that would otherwise arise from the unrestricted and unconsidered use of artificial intelligence. But it may have overlooked a much more fundamental and uncomfortable question: What are the limits of "AI ethics"? This panel discussion, hosted by Senior Fellow Arthur Holland Michel, looks at this question and much more.

As the race for COVID–19 vaccines enters its next stage, we are faced with broad ethical challenges. How should countries plan for distribution and allocation? What can and should be done to bolster trust in the vaccines? Public health experts Ruth Faden, Nicole Hassoun, Clive Meanwell, and Reed Tuckson discuss these questions in this webinar moderated by Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.

In the fourth and final installment of "The United Nations at 75: Looking Back to Looking Forward," host Margaret P. Karns speaks with Bertrand Ramcharan, former acting high commissioner for human rights. In this candid talk, Ramcharan discusses why he thinks the "UN human rights system is in crisis" and details the complicated role of the high commissioner. Plus, ahead of the 72nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he explains why it is "the rallying document of our civilization."

Civil disobedience is a storied political tradition. Can it empower today's activists? How should we understand the connection between protest and democracy? Citing movements from the recent past and using empirical data, Harvard Kennedy School's Professor Chenoweth and The New School's Professor Woodly address the relationship between forms of resistance and successful progressive reform and detail how the Movement for Black Lives is putting these ideas into practice around the world.

Following up on the AI & Equality Initiative's first webinar on artificial intelligence and the future of work, Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow Wendell Wallach and Dr. Christina Colclough, founder of The Why Not Lab, build on that discussion with a conversation about the future of the worker. How can new technology be used to empower workers? What are some progressive strategies and policies that can help to reach this goal?

In the third episode of "The United Nations at 75: Looking Back to Look Forward," host Margaret P. Karns and Noeleen Heyzer, former executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, discuss the role of women in the UN over the years. Heyzer speaks about the Beijing Women's Conference; Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security; and the prospects for increasing gender equality in the UN system in the decades to come.

In the second episode of this podcast series marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, host Margaret Karns, professor emerita at the University of Dayton, speaks with University of Massachusetts Boston's Dr. Maria Ivanova about the UN's efforts on climate change, focusing on the role of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as an anchor institution on these issues. What are the UN's biggest successes when it comes to the environment?

In the first episode of this new podcast series marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, host Margaret Karns, professor emerita at the University of Dayton, speaks with David M. Malone, rector of United Nations University, about the Security Council, the Sustainable Development Goals, peacekeeping, and more. How can the UN continue to evolve along with the changing nature of international relations?

Can artificial intelligence (AI) be deployed in ways that enhance equality, or will these systems exacerbate existing structural inequalities and create new ones? In this webinar McKinsey Global Institute's James Manyika and Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow Wendell Wallach delve into questions concerning the ethical implications of AI, the present and future of work in the United States and Europe, and the evolution of the social contract.

Polling data suggests that the American public is not in favor of isolationism, but wants to adjust the terms of U.S. engagement. In this webinar, the Atlantic Council's Ash Jain and Senior Fellows Nikolas Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin assess the “democratic community” approach. Will deepening cooperation with an alliance of democracies be the way forward?

In this "Protests in Perspective" webinar, moderated by Williams University's Professor Neil Roberts, South African government official Michael Canham and University of Chicago's Professor Adom Getachew discuss the 2020 protests in an international and historical context. What can the Movement for Black Lives learn from the anti-apartheid movement? What makes the African American struggle so resonant with minorities and oppressed people around the world?

Foreign policy may not be in the headlines when it comes to Biden vs. Trump, but U.S-China competition and questions about America's role in the world are deeply tied in to "front-page" topics like the pandemic, the economy, and political ideology. In a talk moderated by Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev, the Atlantic Council's Ali Wyne discusses how "great power competition" is shaping the 2020 election.

The aftershocks of World War II did not end with German capitulation in May 1945. Millions were displaced, including concentration camp survivors, POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and Nazi collaborators. Many eventually returned home, but "the lost million" did not. Author David Nasaw and Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal discuss this forgotten chapter in history and its relevance to today.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Christopher Hill, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, among other nations, and Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev discuss U.S.-Asian relations in the context of the 2020 election. How concerned should Americans be about China's aggressive foreign policy? What's the effect on allies like Japan and South Korea? How can diplomacy help to defuse some of the rising tensions?

The killing of George Floyd and the wave of protests that followed bring to life the current struggle for civil rights, human rights, and social justice. Why did the protests go global? How does the history of global responses to American injustice inform our understanding of contemporary developments? Emory's Mary L. Dudziak and Wisconsin's Brenda Gayle Plummer share their thoughts in this fascinating discussion.

Professor Derek Reveron, chair of the U.S. Naval War College's National Security Affairs Department, discusses how subnational and transnational forces--namely, the COVID-19 pandemic--intersect with national security in this conversation with Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev. What are the implications for how politicians and policymakers conceptualize American foreign and defense policy in the 2020s?

How have conversations in the immigration rights community shifted since this round of Black Lives Matter protests started? In this new environment, what are some tangible policy changes a more progressive administration could enact in the United States? Senior Fellow Kavitha Rajagopalan offers a nuanced perspective on the many connections between immigration and systemic racism in the United States.

Patrick Gaspard, president of Open Society Foundations, discusses the role of young people and civil society in this historic summer in the United States in this inspiring and wide-ranging conversation with Jonathan Becker, vice chancellor of the Open Society University Network. What does "radical citizenship" mean? How can we stay hopeful and engaged in the fight for equality across the globe?

Molly O'Toole, immigration and security reporter at the "Los Angeles Times," discusses Trump's "Remain in Mexico" asylum policy and its many ethical and legal issues. What's the status of challenges against this policy? How has it been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic? Plus, she draws some connections between the George Floyd protests against policy brutality and the issues that migrants face at the border.

Due to COVID-19, significant restrictions have been placed on freedoms to move about in many nations. Philosopher Christian Barry explores how the costs of these lockdowns can be weighed in a morally plausible way against the costs arising from increased spread of the virus. Many issues come back to a central question: Under what circumstances can some people be expected, even compelled, to bear costs for the sake of others?

The last decade has witnessed a vibrant public discussion about how to safely, ethically, and legally integrate complex artificial intelligence (AI) into modern life, particularly in the sphere of security, says Senior Fellow Arthur Holland Michel. How do we learn to trust AI systems that we don't understand? What are the implications of this new technology as many nations confront a combination of mass protests and the pandemic?

What do Americans think about the role the United States should be playing in the world? How do they conceive of the different trade-offs between domestic and international affairs, among competing options and sets of interests and values? The Chicago Council on Global Affairs' Dina Smeltz and Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah share the results of surveys from their organizations in this conversation with Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev.

The rapid development of emerging technologies like AI signaled a new inflection point in human history, accompanied by calls for agile international governance. With the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic however, there is a new focal point in the call for ethical governance. Senior Fellow Wendell Wallach discusses his work on these issues in this interactive webinar with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended daily life for everyone. From large corporations to small non-profits to schools to the military, leaders at all types of organizations are struggling to manage the fear and uncertainty that comes with this crisis. What are the best principles for leading amidst this chaos? Senior Fellow Jeff McCausland, a retired U.S. Army colonel, shares his strategies and historical examples of extraordinary leadership.

In this fascinating conversation with Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal, historian Ted Widmer looks back on 13 pivotal days in Abraham Lincoln's life in 1861--the basis for his new book "Lincoln on the Verge." How would American and world history be different without Lincoln's ethical leadership? And as the U.S. struggles through the COVID-19 pandemic, what can the Civil War era teach us about political divisiveness in 2020?

If global interconnections begin to fray in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, what happens to the ethical underpinnings of international relations? Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev and Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal discuss this important question and much more as solidarity begins to weaken among European Union and NATO states.

With record-breaking winter warmth in Europe, catastrophic fires in Australia, and deadly flooding in Indonesia, we are deep into a climate crisis. In this wide-ranging talk, Janos Paztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), talks about his organization's work on the governance of emerging climate altering technologies.

How much do morals matter for U.S. presidents when it comes to international affairs? What are the ethics of "America First" or 2003 invasion of Iraq? Joseph Nye, former dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, works through each presidency from FDR to Trump and scores their foreign policy on three ethical dimensions of their intentions, the means they used, and the consequences of their decisions.

With artificial intelligence embedded into social media, credit card transactions, GPS, and much more, how can we train it to act in an ethical, fair, and unbiased manner? What are the theories and philosophies behind AI systems? IBM Research's Francesca Rossi discusses her work helping to ensure that the technology is "as beneficial as possible for the widest part of the population."

Over the course of a generation, algorithms have gone from mathematical abstractions to powerful mediators of daily life. They have made our lives more efficient, yet are increasingly encroaching on our basic rights. UPenn's Professor Michael Kearns shares some ideas on how to better embed human principles into machine code without halting the advance of data-driven scientific exploration.

How can established powers manage the peaceful rise of new great powers? Bard's Michelle Murray offers a new answer to this perennial question, arguing that power transitions are principally social phenomena whereby rising powers struggle to obtain recognition as world powers. How can this framework help us to understand the economic and military rivalry between United States and China?

Can new developments in solar technology put the United States on track to produce 50 percent of its energy with renewables by 2030? What global citizen actions need to be undertaken to help reach this goal? Eban Goodstein, director of Bard Center for Environmental Policy, answers these questions and more in this hopeful and informative talk.

Larry Diamond's core argument is stark: the defense and advancement of democratic ideals relies on U.S. global leadership. If the U.S. does not reclaim its traditional place as the keystone of democracy, today's authoritarian trend could become a tsunami that could provide an opening for Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and their admirers to turn the 21st century into a dark time of surging authoritarianism.

The original idea of the Internet was for it be a "free speech nirvana," but in 2019, the reality is quite different. Authoritarians spread disinformation and extremists incite hatred, often on the huge, U.S.-based platforms, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. David Kaye, UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion & expression, details the different approaches to these issues in Europe and the United States and looks for solutions in this informed and important talk.

What is the current state of the academic-policy gap and why should we care? What progress has been made in bridging this gap? What more can be done? Notre Dame's Michael Desch, founding director of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs, and George Washington's Henry Farrell, an editor and writer at the "Washington Post"-affiliated "Monkey Cage" blog, engage in a thoughtful and spirited debate on the relevance of political science today.

China is radically expanding its strategy to wield influence in the domestic politics of other countries. This information campaign is designed partly to bolster China's power but also to undermine the space for rights and democracy in other states, and to potentially support pro-China authoritarian leaders. Don't miss this in-depth discussion that details how this is happening worldwide, what it means for the future, and what we can do about it.

There is skepticism about the core values of U.S. policy from both sides, says Ash Jain of the Atlantic Council, and the international order is under siege as never before. The Atlantic Council has launched an initiative aimed at revitalizing the rules-based democratic order and rebuilding bipartisan support among policymakers and the broader public. In this important discussion Jain explains the initiative's objectives and grapples with the audience's questions on how to move forward.