Engelsberg Ideas Podcast

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The Engelsberg Ideas Podcast brings together the best writers, thinkers and historians to discuss the biggest issues facing the world today. Hosted by Iain Martin.

Engelsberg Ideas Podcast


    • May 15, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekdays NEW EPISODES
    • 29m AVG DURATION
    • 337 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Engelsberg Ideas Podcast

    The West's lust for liberty

    Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2025 13:37


    The late Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics for almost 40 years, explains why, although the love of liberty is not unique to the West, the lust for liberty is. Read by Helen Lloyd. FURTHER READING: The West's lust for liberty | Christopher Coker Image: Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques-Louis David, 1814. Credit: Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo

    Christianity and the creation of England

    Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2025 59:39


    In this episode of The EI Podcast, the historian Bijan Omrani is joined by EI's Paul Lay to explore the indelible mark Christianity has left on England's identity and culture. FURTHER READING: The tragic decline of Christian rituals | Bijan Omrani Image: South View of Salisbury Cathedral, JMW Turner. Credit: Penta Springs Limited / Alamy Stock Photo 

    How the liberation of France shaped the modern world

    Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2025 17:07


    Agnès Poirier, journalist and broadcaster, examines how the liberation of France in 1944 opened the way for Paris to become a laboratory of ideas. Read by Helen Lloyd. FURTHER READING: The liberation of France made the modern world | Agnès Poirier Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Parisians gather around the Arc de Triomphe as Allied forces liberate the city. Credit: RBM Vintage Images / Alamy Stock Photo.

    China vs the WTO: The Inside Story

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2025 62:38


    EI's Alastair Benn and Paul Lay are joined by Michael Sheridan, author of two books on China and a foreign correspondent for 40 years, to discuss China's rise, its subsequent entry into the international trading system, and its contemporary status as the problem child of our globalised world. FURTHER READING: China and America, the great decoupling | Michael Sheridan Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. This episode of The EI Podcast was hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer was Gareth Jones. Image: An electronics recycling facility in Shanghai, China. Credit: Cavan Images / Alamy Stock Photo 

    Madame Bovary and the problem of desire

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2025 18:26


    Marie Daouda, lecturer in French language and literature at the University of Oxford, shows how the pursuit of apparently 'real' desires comes at the expense of collective truth. The consequences can be disastrous. Read by Helen Lloyd. FURTHER READING: The truth shall set us free | Marie Daouda Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Isabelle Huppert, Madame Bovary 1991. Credit: Collection Christophel / Alamy Stock Photo

    The German key to European liberty

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2025 16:22


    Germany today struggles to muster a serious military response to the Russian challenge. That should trouble keen observers of Europe's history. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815). Napoleon watching the Tsar, the Emperor of Austria and King of Prussia dividing up Europe. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy 

    The making of Trump's worldview

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2025 62:37


    What are the deep roots of Trump's worldview? Can we learn to read Trump's behaviour? And are there opportunities to be had for those who can? EI's Alastair Benn and Paul Lay are joined by Charlie Laderman, Senior Lecturer in International History at King's College London, to discuss how to interpret the Trump White House. This episode was recorded on 7th April. FURTHER READING: How Iran's Tanker War shaped Trump's worldview | Charlie Laderman Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Donald Trump poses for photos above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after taking his Trump Plaza Casino public in New York on June 7, 1995. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Iuliia Osmolovska on how Russia negotiates

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2025 33:42


    Ukrainians are better placed than their Western partners to decode the Russian negotiating style. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Street art in Tbilisi of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin playing chess. Credit: Georg Berg / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Weekly Listen — Juliet Samuel on liberty under attack

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2025 20:09


    Just as generations did before us, we are learning that a belief in liberty is not self-evident and its expansion is not inevitable. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Second world war propaganda poster. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo

    credit photo liberty under attack
    EI Talks... the uses of comedy

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2025 50:39


    What makes us laugh? And why should it matter? EI's Alastair Benn and Paul Lay are joined by the critic Mathew Lyons to discuss the uses of comedy. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Eduard von Grützner's Falstaff, 1873. Credit: INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Roel Sterckx on gazing back to see China's future

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2025 17:38


    We must study the centuries-long history that has forged the DNA of Chinese political thinking and make it part of our conversations about China today. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: The Great Wall of China. Credit: nagelestock.com / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Alexander Lee on the myth of Venice

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2025 22:27


    Liberty was central to the idea of Venice, but was remarkably fragile. The republic had to guard it fiercely and expound it as a tangible way of living for flawed human beings. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Procession in Piazza San Marco by Gentile Bellini, 1496. Credit: Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Weekly Listen — Richard Miles on Spartacus, history's nowhere man

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 7, 2025 19:40


    Spartacus is a figure who floats between history and allegory. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Promotional poster for the film, Spartacus. 1960. Credit: Allstar Picture Library Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Weekly Listen — Mary Elise Sarotte on how a Second Cold War could have been averted

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2025 20:43


    The choice to enlarge NATO was a justifiable response to the geopolitics of the 1990s. The problem was how it happened. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: The 'You are leaving The American Sector' sign at the Checkpoint Charlie crossing point, Berlin Wall. Credit: Greg Balfour Evans / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Talks... the case for Classical music

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2025 56:41


    What makes Classical music special among the arts? And where did it come from? To reckon with the inexhaustible complexity of the western musical tradition, its long history and the roots of its contemporary crises, EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Richard Bratby, the chief classical music critic of The Spectator magazine, and Alexandra Wilson, musicologist and cultural historian. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: A string quartet. Credit: nsf / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Rob Johnson on Ukraine's rich history of resistance

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2025 31:31


    Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was slowed down because of determined, courageous resistance. That success also owed much to Western intelligence on the nature of the Russian attack. External support will remain crucial to the success of the Ukrainian war effort. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Credit: The Motherland Monument in Kyiv. Credit: Ruslan Lytvyn / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Peter Frankopan on the global threat to liberty

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2025 19:11


    Non-western elites are redefining freedom on their own terms, as sovereignty, state security and stability. But the world becoming a lot less free should concern us all. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Eugène Delacroix's 'Painting of Liberty Leading the People'. Credit: Exotica.im 20 / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Talks... the myth and magic of spy fiction

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2025 55:49


    Are we living through a golden age of espionage drama? And what do spy stories tell us about the true nature of the secret world? EI's Alastair Benn is joined by David Omand, ex-head of GCHQ, the British government's world-renowned cyber agency, and author of How Spies Think, Pauline Blistène, an expert on intelligence affairs and spy fiction, and Senior Editor Paul Lay to discuss the enduring popularity and legacy of the spy in fiction. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Gary Oldman in the 2011 film version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Year, based on the novel of John le Carré. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Katja Hoyer on how the GDR fell in love with the West

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2025 18:54


    Citizens of the GDR were exposed to an idealised version of western freedoms made up of luxury shopping, blue jeans and cowboy flicks. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Intershop in Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin. Credit: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Portraits — Daisy Dunn on Pittacus, the good tyrant

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2025 11:52


    After unpromising beginnings and innumerable controversies, Pittacus, seventh-century ruler of Mytilene on Lesbos, should be remembered as one of the great leaders of his age. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: An illustration of Pittacus. Credit: Historical image collection by Bildagentur-online / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Weekly Listen — Merryn Somerset Webb on the power of shareholder democracy

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2025 16:37


    The limited liability company remains the best vehicle for capitalistic endeavour. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Lloyd's coffee house in the City of London. Credit: CPA Media Pte Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Talks... the dawn of the post-literate society

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2025 46:32


    Is the era of mass literacy over? And what might a post-literate society look like? EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Times columnist James Marriott and Senior Editor Paul Lay to discuss the promise and peril of a culture defined by the audiovisual. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Painting of a woman reading by Carl Vilhelm Holsøe. Credit: Vidimages / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Sergey Radchenko on what drives Vladimir Putin

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2025 17:38


    Putin's justifications for invading Ukraine uncannily reflect the motivations of one of Russian literature's most famous antiheroes, Dostoevsky's Rodion Raskolnikov. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Vladimir Putin at an EU-Russia summit in Brussels. Credit: Peter Cavanagh / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Portraits — Tim Marshall on Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, rocket man

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2025 13:50


    The Russian recluse, a scientific self-starter who left school at 14, developed pioneering theories of space travel that anticipated the great feats of the Space Race fifty years later. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Soviet poster featuring a portrait of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935). Credit: Alexeyev Filippov / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Jeremy Jennings on liberty in the shadow of Bonaparte

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2025 18:48


    Benjamin Constant's considered response not only to the mass murder inflicted by the French Revolution, but to the attempt to reduce the whole French population to the condition of willing slaves under Bonaparte's First Empire, provides a diagnosis of the character of many subsequent totalitarian regimes. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine were crowned Emperor and Empress of France on 2 December 1804. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Talks... the case for Classics

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2025 42:48


    Is the study of Latin in peril? And what does the future hold for the ancient inheritance? EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Daisy Dunn, classicist and author, Armand D'Angour, Professor of Classics at Oxford University, and Paul Lay, EI's Senior Editor, to discuss the value of ancient languages. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Giovanni Paolo Panini's painting from circa 1730, The Coliseum amongst Roman Ruins. Credit: incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Francis J. Gavin on how 1970s California created the modern world

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 10, 2025 21:44


    What happened in California in the 1970s played an outsized role in creating the world we live in today – both in the United States and in large parts of the globe – for better or worse. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: 1970s commercial airline advert. Credit: ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Portraits — Alexander Lee on Guittone d'Arezzo, Dante's forgotten muse

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2025 18:18


    At a time of moral and political crisis, the medieval poet pioneered a daring and emotive vernacular style which inspired generations of Italian literature. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: A sketch of Guittone d'Arezzo from the nineteenth century. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

    EI Weekly Listen — Alexander McCall Smith on the writer's right to speak freely

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2024 17:46


    While we may think we have moved beyond the censorship of the past, writers' artistic freedoms are still constrained. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence was the subject of a watershed obscenity trial. Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo.

    EI Talks... the Vietnam War with Fredrik Logevall

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2024 31:48


    EI's Angus Reilly discusses the history and legacy of the Vietnam War with Fredrik Logevall, author of Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Photograph of American troops running towards a chopper during the Vietnam War. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Kori Schake on the price of freedom

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2024 17:33


    The arc of history only bends towards justice when people of goodwill grab hold of it and wrench it in the direction of justice. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The Freedom is Our Religion banner in Maidan Square, Kyiv. Credit: Ali Kerem Yucel / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Portraits — Paul Lay on Thomas Gage, a man of unintended consequences

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2024 12:58


    His intense faith led Thomas Gage to switch his religious allegiance during the tumultuous 17th century - he went on to have an enormous impact on Britain's colonial future. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Title Page from Thomas Gage's The English-American his travail by sea and land: or, A new survey of the West-India's (London 1648)

    EI Weekly Listen — David Butterfield on Epicurus, Lucretius, and the myth of mythlessness

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2024 21:39


    Myths frame and tailor the past in a way that can ground and stabilise a community, however large or small. By situating them within the fabric of history, myths provide a sense of tradition and belonging to rally around. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: A statue of Romulus and Remus on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Credit: Russell Kord / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Talks... the problem with VAR with Daisy Christodoulou

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2024 49:07


    EI's Alastair Benn discusses how technology is transforming the world of sport with Daisy Christodoulou, education expert and author of I Can't Stop Thinking About VAR, an eloquent examination of the use of the video assistant referee (VAR) system in football. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Crystal Palace Fans hold up a banner to protest against VAR. Credit: Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Elisabeth Braw on the importance of understanding the West's adversaries

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2024 18:49


    With deterrence and compellence becoming more crucial than they have been in over three decades, understanding what makes foreign leaders tick is of the utmost importance. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Silhouettes of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Credit: KLYONA / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Portraits — Andrew Roberts on Brendan Bracken, ‘more Churchillian than Churchill'

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2024 11:28


    Andrew Roberts profiles Brendan Bracken, Winston Churchill's faithful and most trusted political adviser. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Winston Churchill leaving Downing Street with Brendan Bracken. Credit:: Fremantle / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Talks... Kissinger's century with Thomas A. Schwartz

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2024 28:32


    EI's Angus Reilly discusses the life and legacy of Henry Kissinger with Thomas A. Schwartz, author of Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: President Gerald Ford and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger conversing in the grounds of the White House in 1974. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Henrik Meinander on Gustaf Mannerheim, leader of a free Finland

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2024 19:54


    Gustaf Mannerheim's rise from a troubled youth to Finland's great wartime leader illustrates how leadership is forged by both personal traits and the unpredictable tides of history. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, centre, discusses strategy against the Russians at his field headquarters on the Finnish-Russian border, April 1942. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Talks... how to deter Russia with Kristjan Prikk and Eitvydas Bajarūnas

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2024 26:48


    EI's Paul Lay discusses how the Baltic states have survived, and thrived, in the shadow of Russian aggression, with Kristjan Prikk, Estonia's Ambassador to the United States and Eitvydas Bajarūnas, a former Lithuanian senior diplomat, who has served as the Ambassador to Sweden, Russia and the UK. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: A new Iron Curtain in Europe. Credit: aleksey Shirmanov / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Rory Medcalf on the Australian way of war and peace

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2024 27:13


    Australia stands at the forefront of democratic resistance against China's expanding influence, reshaping its strategy and alliances to meet the challenges of a contested Indo-Pacific. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Two US Air Force B-2 Spirits fly alongside four Royal Australian Air Force EA-18G Growlers and a RAAF E-7A Wedgetail, August 2022. Credit: UPI / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Talks... the making of the post-Wall world with Mary Elise Sarotte

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2024 25:18


    The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 offered opportunities to reset relations between East and West. EI's Paul Lay discusses how these opportunities were squandered with Mary Elise Sarotte, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Distinguished Professor of Historical Studies at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: The fall of the Berlin Wall. Credit: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Weekly Listen — Andreas Rödder on Konrad Adenauer and the German realignment

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2024 17:16


    Konrad Adenauer combined Realpolitik and German values and interests with international cooperation. The multilaterally integrated, co-operative nation state he championed was a fundamental innovation in European history. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: German statesman Konrad Adenauer depicted on a coin. Credit: VPC Coins Collection / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Portraits — Maria Golia on Carl Akeley, early pioneer of wildlife photography

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2024 14:25


    Maria Golia profiles Carl Akeley, an inventor, sculptor, and taxidermist. His life's lessons still echo in the effort to conserve wildlife. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Wildlife photographer Carl Ethan Akeley photographed in 1926. Credit: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery / Public Domain

    EI Talks... the lessons of the 1968 presidential election with Luke A. Nichter

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2024 46:08


    EI's Angus Reilly is joined by Luke A. Nichter, author of The Year that Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968, to discuss Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and the battle for the future of America in a year that offers notable parallels to the election of 2024. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Television presenter Frank Reynolds covering the 1968 election. Credit: Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Kenneth Payne asks: will machines make strategy?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2024 22:02


    The emergence of Artificial Intelligence capable of deducing human intentions signals a new frontier in technology that could transform the world of strategy, diplomacy and warfare. Read by Helen Lloyd. TV screens showing the live broadcast of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match at Yongsan Electronic Technology Land in Seoul, South Korea. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Talks... why Europe needs a grand strategy with Marina E. Henke

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2024 20:43


    EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Marina E. Henke, Professor of International Relations at the Hertie School, Berlin, to discuss how Europe can defend itself from the latest threats and thrive in a contested world. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Conflict in Europe. Credit: Kirill Makarov / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Alina Polyakova on Ukraine and the future of US global leadership

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2024 13:03


    If Russia is allowed to walk away with any of its ill-gotten gains in Ukraine, the deterrent power of the United States and the transatlantic alliance will be lost. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The flags of the United States and Ukraine flying side by side. Credit: Todd Bannor / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Portraits — Adrian Wooldridge on Philippa Fawcett, wrangler extraordinaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2024 14:10


    Adrian Wooldridge profiles Philippa Fawcett, the first female Senior Wrangler at Cambridge University and a trailblazer for women's achievement in a nascent meritocratic society. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: 1890 engraving of Philippa Fawcett, the first female Senior Wrangler. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    EI Weekly Listen — Philip Zelikow on the study of statecraft

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2024 21:13


    The study of statecraft would profit by spending less time on ‘should' and more time on ‘how'. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Woodrow Wilson delivering a Christmas address to soldiers of the A.E.F. Langres, Haute Marne, France, December 1918. Credit: Hum Images / Alamy Stock Photo

    EI Talks... how to win Cold War II with Dmitri Alperovitch

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2024 29:18


    EI's Paul Lay is joined by Dmitri Alperovitch, leading geopolitical analyst, entrepreneur, and co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, to discuss the parallels between US-Soviet rivalry and that of the US and China. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: The US and Chinese flags on stacked containers. Credit: Christian Ohde / Alamy Stock Photo 

    EI Weekly Listen — Kristin Ven Bruusgaard on the paradox of nuclear strategy

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024 17:01


    The vision of nuclear strategy as a means to prevent war remains a powerful but contested idea in international politics. As global rivalries intensify and nuclear arsenals expand, the risk of conflict seems more pronounced than ever. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A photograph of nuclear testing at Pacific Island test sites. Credit: EMU history / Alamy Stock Photo 

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