Podcasts about bertelsmann foundation

Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Volker Then, an independent Senior Impact Analyst who is launching a start-up company on Comprehensive Impact Measurement together with a coalition of impact partners. From 2022 to 2024, Volker was Founding Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Executive Board of Fondazione AIS (Advancing Impact and Sustainability) in Bologna. Earlier in his career, Volker was Executive Director of the Centre for Social Investment at Heidelberg University for 15 years and also served as Director Philanthropy and Foundations at the Bertelsmann Foundation. He is a former member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the OECD's Global Action “Social and Solidarity Economy” and served on the National Advisory Board of the G7-Social Impact Investment Task Force. Impact is a big word nowadays – maybe even a buzzword – and people in our space are using it broadly and frequently. But it's not clear that everyone has a clear shared definition of the term. Volker provides his definition of “impact”, especially as it relates to enterprise families and the objectives they set for themselves with regard to fulfilling the purpose of their wealth and their family capital. One of the greatest challenges, and opportunities, in the world of impact is the measurement of the effectiveness and outcomes of impact initiatives. Volker talks about the latest thinking and work that is being done in this area, especially the thought leadership and development he has been spearheading in his prior role at Fondazione AIS and now in his current venture. Volker offers his tips and suggestions for enterprise families who are just starting or are early in their impact journey, focusing on what he recommends they do to get better educated and equipped to realize their impact ambitions. He then turns to enterprise families who are more advanced and have a developed impact framework and strategy, sharing his advice on what they can do to further the reach and consequence of their impact programs and strategies. Don't miss this enlightening conversation with one of the foremost thought leaders in the realm of impact definition and measurement.

In late February in DC, I attended the US premiere of the Bertelsmann Foundation of North America produced documentary “Lithium Rising”, a movie about the extraction of essential rare minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt. Afterwards, I moderated a panel featuring the movie's director Samuel George, the Biden US Department of Energy Director Giulia Siccardo and Environmental Lawyer JingJing Zhang (the "Erin Brockovich of China"). In post Liberation Day America, of course, the issues addressed in both “Lithium Rising” and our panel discussion - particularly US-Chinese economic rivalry over these essential rare minerals - are even more relevant. Tariffs or not, George's important new movie uncovers the essential economic and moral rules of today's rechargeable battery age. FIVE TAKEAWAYS* China dominates the critical minerals supply chain, particularly in refining lithium, cobalt, and nickel - creating a significant vulnerability for the United States and Western countries who rely on these minerals for everything from consumer electronics to military equipment.* Resource extraction creates complex moral dilemmas in communities like those in Nevada, Bolivia, Congo, and Chile, where mining offers economic opportunities but also threatens environment and sacred lands, often dividing local populations.* History appears to be repeating itself with China's approach in Africa mirroring aspects of 19th century European colonialism, building infrastructure that primarily serves to extract resources while local communities remain impoverished.* Battery recycling offers a potential "silver lining" but faces two major challenges: making the process cost-effective compared to new mining, and accumulating enough recycled materials to create a closed-loop system, which could take decades.* The geopolitical competition for these minerals is intensifying, with tariffs and trade wars affecting global supply chains and the livelihoods of workers throughout the system, from miners to manufacturers. FULL TRANSCRIPTAndrew Keen: Hello, everybody. Last year, we did a show on a new book. It was a new book back then called Cobalt Red about the role of cobalt, the mineral in the Congo. We also did a show. The author of the Cobalt Red book is Siddharth Kara, and it won a number of awards. It's the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. We also did a show with Ernest Scheyder, who authored a book, The War Below, Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives. Lithium and cobalt are indeed becoming the critical minerals of our networked age. We've done two books on it, and a couple of months ago, I went to the premiere, a wonderful new film, a nonfiction documentary by my guest Samuel George. He has a new movie out called Lithium Rising and I moderated a panel in Washington DC and I'm thrilled that Samuel George is joining us now. He works with the Bertelsmann Foundation of North America and it's a Bertelsman funded enterprise. Sam, congratulations on the movie. It's quite an achievement. I know you traveled all over the world. You went to Europe, Latin America, a lot of remarkable footage also from Africa. How would you compare the business of writing a book like Cobalt read or the war below about lithium and cobalt and the challenges and opportunities of doing a movie like lithium rising what are the particular challenges for a movie director like yourself.Samuel George: Yeah, Andrew. Well, first of all, I just want to thank you for having me on the program. I appreciate that. And you're right. It is a very different skill set that's required. It's a different set of challenges and also a different set of opportunities. I mean, the beauty of writing, which is something I get a chance to do as well. And I should say we actually do have a long paper coming out of this process that I wrote that will probably be coming out in the next couple months. But the beauty of writing is you need to kind of understand your topic, and if you can really understand your topics, you have the opportunity to explain it. When it comes to filming, if the camera doesn't have it, you don't have it. You might have a sense of something, people might explain things to you in a certain way, but if you don't have it on your camera in a way that's digestible and easy for audience to grasp, it doesn't matter whether you personally understand it or not. So the challenge is really, okay, maybe you understand the issue, but how do you show it? How do you bring your audience to that front line? Because that's the opportunity that you have that you don't necessarily have when you write. And that's to take an audience literally to these remote locations that they've never been and plant their feet right in the ground, whether that be the Atacama in Northern Chile, whether that'd be the red earth of Colwaisy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And that's the beauty of it, but it takes more of making sure you get something not just whether you understand it is almost irrelevant. I mean I guess you do need to understand it but you need to be able to draw it out of a place. It's easier when you're writing to get to some of these difficult places because you don't have to bring 900 pounds of equipment and you can kind of move easier and you're much more discreet. You can get places much easier as you can imagine, where with this, you're carrying all this equipment down. You're obvious from miles away. So you really have to build relationships and get people to get comfortable with you and be willing to speak out. So it's different arts, but it's also different rewards. And the beauty of being able to combine analysis with these visuals is really the draw of what makes documentary so magic because you're really kind of hitting different senses at the same time, visual, audio, and combining it to hopefully make some sort of bigger story.Andrew Keen: Well, speaking, Sam, of audio and visuals, we've got a one minute clip or introduction to the movie. People just listening on this podcast won't get to see your excellent film work, but everybody else will. So let's just have a minute to see what lithium rising is all about. We'll be back in a minute.[Clip plays]Andrew Keen: Here's a saying that says that the natural resources are today's bread and tomorrow's hunger. Great stuff, Sam. That last quote was in Spanish. Maybe you want to translate that to English, because I think, in a sense, it summarizes what lithium rising is about.Samuel George: Right. Well, that's this idea that natural resources in a lot of these places, I mean, you have to take a step back that a lot of these resources, you mentioned the lithium, the cobalt, you can throw nickel into that conversation. And then some of the more traditional ones like copper and silver, a lot are in poor countries. And for centuries, the opportunity to access this has been like a mirage, dangled in front of many of these poor countries as an opportunity to become more wealthy. Yet what we continue to see is the wealth, the mineral wealth of these countries is sustaining growth around the world while places like Potosí and Bolivia remain remarkably poor. So the question on their minds is, is this time gonna be any different? We know that Bolivia has perhaps the largest lithium deposits in the world. They're struggling to get to it because they're fighting amongst each other politically about what's the best way to do it, and is there any way to it that, hey, for once, maybe some of this resource wealth can stay here so that we don't end up, as the quote said, starving. So that's where their perspective is. And then on the other side, you have the great powers of the world who are engaged in a massive competition for access to these minerals.Andrew Keen: And let's be specific, Sam, we're not talking about 19th century Europe and great powers where there were four or five, they're really only two great powers when it comes to these resources, aren't they?Samuel George: I mean, I think that's fair to say. I think some people might like to lump in Western Europe and the EU with the United States to the extent that we used to traditionally conceive of them as being on the same team. But certainly, yes, this is a competition between the United States and China. And it's one that, frankly, China is winning and winning handily. And we can debate what that means, but it's true. I showed this film in London. And a student, who I believe was Chinese, commented, is it really fair to even call this a race? Because it seems to be over.Andrew Keen: Yeah, it's over. You showed it at King's College in London. I heard it was an excellent event.Samuel George: Yeah, it really was. But the point here is, to the extent that it's a competition between the United States and China, which it is, China is winning. And that's of grave concern to Washington. So there's the sense that the United States needs to catch up and need to catch up quickly. So that's the perspective that these two great powers are going at it from. Whereas if you're the Democratic Republic of Congo, if you are Bolivia, if your Chile, you're saying, what can we do to try to make the most of this opportunity and not just get steamrolled?Andrew Keen: Right. And you talk about a grave concern. Of course, there is grave concern both in Washington, D.C. and Beijing in terms of who's winning this race for these natural resources that are driving our networked age, our battery powered age. Some people might think the race has ended. Some people may even argue that it hasn't even really begun. But of course, one of the biggest issues, and particularly when it comes to the Chinese, is this neocolonial element. This was certainly brought out in Cobalt Red, which is quite a controversial book about the way in which China has essentially colonized the Congo by mining Cobalt in Congo, using local labor and then shipping out these valuable resources back to China. And of course, it's part of a broader project in Africa of the Chinese, which for some critics actually not that different from European 19th century colonialism. That's why we entitled our show with Siddharth Kara, The New Heart of Darkness. Of course, the original Heart of darkness was Joseph Conrad's great novel that got turned into Apocalypse Now. Is history repeating itself, Sam, when it comes to these natural resources in terms of the 19th-century history of colonialism, particularly in Africa?Samuel George: Yeah, I mean, I think it's so one thing that's fair to say is you hear a lot of complaining from the West that says, well, look, standards are not being respected, labor is being taken advantage of, environment is not being taken care of, and this is unfair. And this is true, but your point is equally true that this should not be a foreign concept to the West because it's something that previously the West was clearly engaged in. And so yes, there is echoes of history repeating itself. I don't think there's any other way to look at it. I think it's a complicated dynamic because sometimes people say, well, why is the West not? Why is it not the United States that's in the DRC and getting the cobalt? And I think that's because it's been tough for the United states to find its footing. What China has done is increasingly, and then we did another documentary about this. It's online. It's called Tinder Box Belt and Road, China and the Balkans. And what we increasingly see is in these non-democracies or faulty democracies that has something that China's interested in. China's willing to show up and basically put a lot of money on the table and not ask a whole lot of questions. And if the West, doesn't wanna play that game, whatever they're offering isn't necessarily as attractive. And that's a complication that we see again and again around the world and one, the United States and Europe and the World Bank and Western institutions that often require a lot of background study and open tenders for contracts and democracy caveats and transparency. China's not asking for any of that, as David Dollar, a scholar, said in the prior film, if the World Bank says they're going to build you a road, it's going to be a 10-year process, and we'll see what happens. If China says they'll build you a road a year later, you'll have a road.Andrew Keen: But then the question sound becomes, who owns the road?Samuel George: So let's take the Democratic Republic of the Congo, another great option. China has been building a lot of roads there, and this is obviously beneficial to a country that has very limited infrastructure. It's not just to say everything that China is doing is bad. China is a very large and economically powerful country. It should be contributing to global infrastructure. If it has the ability to finance that, wonderful. We all know Africa, certain African countries can really benefit from improved infrastructure. But where do those roads go? Well, those roads just happen to conveniently connect to these key mineral deposits where China overwhelmingly owns the interest and the minerals.Andrew Keen: That's a bit of a coincidence, isn't it?Samuel George: Well, exactly. And I mean, that's the way it's going. So that's what they'll come to the table. They'll put money on the table, they'll say, we'll get you a road. And, you know, what a coincidence that roads going right by the cobalt mine run by China. That's debatable. If you're from the African perspective, you could say, look, we got a road, and we needed that road. And it could also be that there's a lot of money disappearing in other places. But, you know that that's a different question.Andrew Keen: One of the things I liked about Lithium Rising, the race for critical minerals, your new documentary, is it doesn't pull its punches. Certainly not when it comes to the Chinese. You have some remarkable footage from Africa, but also it doesn't pull its punches in Latin America, or indeed in the United States itself, where cobalt has been discovered and it's the indigenous peoples of some of the regions where cobalt, sorry, where lithium has been discovered, where the African versus Chinese scenario is being played out. So whether it's Bolivia or the western parts of the United States or Congo, the script is pretty similar, isn't it?Samuel George: Yeah, you certainly see themes in the film echoed repeatedly. You mentioned what was the Thacker Pass lithium mine that's being built in northern Nevada. So people say, look, we need lithium. The United States needs lithium. Here's the interesting thing about critical minerals. These are not rare earth minerals. They're actually not that rare. They're in a lot of places and it turns out there's a massive lithium deposit in Nevada. Unfortunately, it's right next to a Native American reservation. This is an area that this tribe has been kind of herded onto after years, centuries of oppression. But the way the documentary tries to investigate it, it is not a clear-cut story of good guy and bad guy, rather it's a very complicated situation, and in that specific case what you have is a tribe that's divided, because there's some people that say, look, this is our land, this is a sacred site, and this is going to be pollution, but then you have a whole other section of the tribe that says we are very poor and this is an opportunity for jobs such that we won't have to leave our area, that we can stay here and work. And these kind of entangled complications we see repeated over and over again. Cobalt is another great example. So there's some people out there that are saying, well, we can make a battery without cobalt. And that's not because they can make a better battery. It's because they want to avoid the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But that cobalt is providing a rare job opportunity. And we can debate the quality of the job, but for the people that are working it, as they say in my film, they say, look, if we could do something else, we would do it. But this is all there is. So if you deprive them of that, the situation gets even worse. And that something we see in Northern Chile. We see it in Nevada. We see in Africa. We see it in Indonesia. What the film does is it raises these moral questions that are incredibly important to talk about. And it sort of begs the question of, not only what's the answer, but who has the right to answer this? I mean, who has right to speak on behalf of the 10 communities that are being destroyed in Northern Chile?Andrew Keen: I have to admit, I thought you did a very good job in the film giving everybody a voice, but my sympathy when it came to the Nevada case was with the younger people who wanted to bring wealth and development into the community rather than some of the more elderly members who were somehow anti-development, anti-investment, anti mining in every sense. I don't see how that benefits, but certainly not their children or the children of their children.Samuel George: I guess the fundamental question there is how bad is that mine going to be for the local environment? And I think that's something that remains to be seen. And one of the major challenges with this broader idea of are we going to greener by transitioning to EVs? And please understand I don't have an opinion of that. I do think anywhere you're doing mining, you're going to have immediate consequences. The transition would have to get big enough that the external the externalities, the positive benefits outweigh that kind of local negativity. And we could get there, but it's also very difficult to imagine massive mining projects anywhere in the world that don't impact the local population. And again, when we pick up our iPhone or when we get in our electric vehicle, we're not necessarily thinking of those 10 villages in the Atacama Desert in Chile.Andrew Keen: Yeah, and I've been up to the Atacama's, perhaps the most beautiful part in the world I've ever seen. It's nice. I saw the tourist side of it, so I didn't see the mining. But I take your point. There is one, perhaps, the most positive section of the film. You went to France. I think it was Calais, you took your camera. And it seems as if the French are pioneering a more innovative development of batteries which benefit the local community but also protect them environmentally. What did you see in northern France?Samuel George: Point, and that gets back to this extractive cycle that we've seen before. Okay, so northern France, this is a story a lot of us will know well because it's similar to what we've see in the Rust Belt in the United States. This is an industrial zone, historically, that faced significant deindustrialization in recent decades and now has massive problems with unemployment and lack of job opportunities, as one of the guys says in the film. Nothing's open here anymore except for that cafe over there and that's just because it has gambling guy. I couldn't have said it any better. This EV transition is offering an opportunity to bring back industrial jobs to whether it's Northern France or the United States of America. So that is an opportunity for people to have these more advanced battery-oriented jobs. So that could be building the battery itself. That could be an auto manufacturing plant where you're making EV electric vehicles. So there is job creation that's happening. And that's further along the development stage and kind of higher level jobs. And we meet students in France that are saying, look, this is an opportunity for a career. We see a long-term opportunity for work here. So we're really studying batteries and that's for university students. That's for people maybe 10, 15 years older to kind of go back to school and learn some skills related to batteries. So there is job creation to that. And you might, you may be getting ready to get to this, but where the real silver lining I think comes after that, where we go back to Georgia in the United States and visit a battery recycling plant.Andrew Keen: Right, yeah, those two sections in the movie kind of go together in a sense.Samuel George: Right, they do. And that is, I think, the silver lining here is that these batteries that we use in all of these appliances and devices and gadgets can be recycled in such a way that the cobalt, the lithium, the nickel can be extracted. And it itself hasn't degraded. It's sort of funny for us to think about, because we buy a phone. And three years later, the battery is half as good as it used to be and we figure well, materials in it must be degrading. They're not. The battery is degrading, the materials are fine. So then the idea is if we can get enough of this in the United States, if we can get old phones and old car batteries and old laptops that we can pull those minerals out, maybe we can have a closed loop, which is sort of a way of saying we won't need those mines anymore. We won't have to dig it up. We don't need to compete with China for access to from Bolivia or Chile because we'll have that lithium here. And yes, that's a silver lining, but there's challenges there. The two key challenges your viewers should be aware of is one, it's all about costs and they've proven that they can recycle these materials, but can they do it in a way that's cheaper than importing new lithium? And that's what these different companies are racing to find a way to say, look, we can do this at a way that's cost effective. Then even if you get through that challenge, a second one is just to have the sheer amount of the materials to close that loop, to have enough in the United States already, they estimate we're decades away from that. So those are the two key challenges to the silver lining of recycling, but it is possible. It can be done and they're doing it.Andrew Keen: We haven't talked about the T word, Sam. It's on everyone's lips these days, tariffs. How does this play out? I mean, especially given this growing explicit, aggressive trade war between the United States and China, particularly when it comes to production of iPhones and other battery-driven products. Right. Is tariffs, I mean, you film this really before Trump 2-0, in which tariffs were less central, but is tariffs going to change everything?Samuel George: I mean, this is just like so many other things, an incredibly globalized ecosystem and tariffs. And who even knows by the time this comes out, whatever we think we understand about the new tariff scenario could be completely outdated.Andrew Keen: Guaranteed. I mean, we are talking on Wednesday, April the 9th. This will go out in a few days time. But no doubt by that time, tariffs will have changed dramatically. They already have as we speak.Samuel George: Here's the bottom line, and this is part of the reason the story is so important and so timely, and we haven't even talked about this yet, but it's so critical. Okay, just like oil, you can't just dig oil out of the ground and put it in the car. It's got to be refined. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, it's got be refined as well. And the overwhelming majority of that refining occurs in China. So even your success story like France, where they're building batteries, they still need to import the refined critical minerals from China. So that is a massive vulnerability. And that's part of where this real fear that you see in Washington or Brussels is coming from. You know, and they got their first little taste of it during the COVID supply chain meltdown, but say in the event where China decided that they weren't gonna export any more of this refined material it would be disastrous for people relying on lithium devices, which by the way, is also the military. Increasingly, the military is using lithium battery powered devices. So that's why there's this urgency that we need to get this on shore. We need to this supply chain here. The problem is that's not happening yet. And okay, so you can slap these tariffs on and that's going to make this stuff much more expensive, but that's not going to automatically create a critical mineral refining capacity in the United States of America. So that needs to be built. So you can understand the desire to get this back here. And by the way, the only reason we're not all driving Chinese made electric vehicles is because of tariffs. The Chinese have really, really caught up in terms of high quality electric vehicles at excellent prices. Now, the prices were always good. What's surprising people recently is the quality is there, but they've basically been tariffed out of the United States. And actually the Biden administration was in part behind that. And it was sort of this tension because on the one hand, they were saying, we want a green revolution, we want to green revolution. But on the other hand, they were seeing these quality Chinese electric vehicles. We're not gonna let you bring them in. But yeah, so I mean, I think the ultimate goal, you can understand why a country that's convinced that it's in a long term competition with China would say we can't rely on Chinese refined materials. Slapping a tariff on it isn't any sort of comprehensive strategy and to me it almost seems like you're putting the horse before the cart because we're not really in a place yet where we can say we no longer need China to power our iPhone.Andrew Keen: And one of the nice things about your movie is it features miners, ordinary people living on the land whose lives are dramatically impacted by this. So one would imagine that some of the people you interviewed in Bolivia or Atacama or in Africa or even in Georgia and certainly in Nevada, they're going to be dramatically impacted by the tariffs. These are not just abstract ideas that have a real impact on people's lives.Samuel George: Absolutely. I mean, for decades now, we've built an economic system that's based on globalization. And it's certainly true that that's cost a lot of jobs in the United States. It's also true that there's a lot jobs and companies that have been built around global trade. And this is one of them. And you're talking about significant disruption if your global supply chains, as we've seen before, again, in the COVID crisis when the supply chains fall apart or when the margins, which are already pretty slim to begin with, start to degrade, yeah, it's a major problem.Andrew Keen: Poorly paid in the first place, so...Samuel George: For the most part, yeah.Andrew Keen: Well, we're not talking about dinging Elon Musk. Tell us a little bit, Sam, about how you made this movie. You are a defiantly independent filmmaker, one of the more impressive that I know. You literally carry two large cameras around the world. You don't have a team, you don't have an audio guy, you don't ever sound guy. You do it all on your own. It's quite impressive. Been you shlep these cameras to Latin America, to Southeast Asia, obviously all around America. You commissioned work in Africa. How did you make this film? It's quite an impressive endeavor.Samuel George: Well, first of all, I really appreciate your kind words, but I can't completely accept this idea that I do it all alone. You know, I'm speaking to you now from the Bertelsmann Foundation. I'm the director of Bertelsman Foundation documentaries. And we've just had this fantastic support here and this idea that we can go to the front line and get these stories. And I would encourage people to check out Bertelsmen Foundation documentation.Andrew Keen: And we should have a special shout out to your boss, my friend, Irene Brahm, who runs the BuzzFeed Foundation of North America, who's been right from the beginning, a champion of video making.Samuel George: Oh, absolutely. I mean, Irene Brahm has been a visionary in terms of, you know, something I think that we align on is you take these incredibly interesting issues and somehow analysts manage to make them extraordinarily boring. And Irene had this vision that maybe it doesn't have to be that way.Andrew Keen: She's blushing now as she's watching this, but I don't mean to make you blush, Sam, but these are pretty independent movies. You went around the world, you've done it before, you did it in the Serbian movie too. You're carrying these cameras around, you're doing all your own work, it's quite an achievement.Samuel George: Well, again, I'm very, very thankful for the Bertelsmann Foundation. I think a lot of times, sometimes people, when they hear a foundation or something is behind something, they assume that somebody's got an ax to grind, and that's really not the case here. The Bertelsman Foundation is very supportive of just investigating these key issues, and let's have an honest conversation about it. And maybe it's a cop-out, but in my work, I often don't try to provide a solution.Andrew Keen: Have you had, when we did our event in D.C., you had a woman, a Chinese-born woman who's an expert on this. I don't think she's particularly welcome back on the mainland now. Has there been a Chinese response? Because I would say it's an anti-Chinese movie, but it's not particularly sympathetic or friendly towards China.Samuel George: And I can answer that question because it was the exact same issue we ran into when we filmed Tinder Box Belt and Road, which was again about Chinese investment in the Balkans. And your answer is has there been a Chinese reaction and no sort of official reaction. We always have people sort of from the embassy or various affiliated organizations that like to come to the events when we screen it. And they're very welcome to. But here's a point that I want to get across. Chinese officials and people related to China on these issues are generally uniformly unwilling to participate. And I think that's a poor decision on their part because I think there's a lot they could say to defend themselves. They could say, hey, you guys do this too. They could say, we're providing infrastructure to critical parts of the world. They could said, hey we're way ahead of you guys, but it's not because we did anything wrong. We just saw this was important before you did and built the network. There are many ways they could defend themselves. But rather than do that, they're extremely tight-lipped about what they're doing. And that can, if you're not, and we try our best, you know, we have certain experts from China that when they'll talk, we'll interview them. But that kind of tight-lip approach almost makes it seem like something even more suspicious is happening. Cause you just have to guess what the mindset must be cause they won't explain themselves. And I think Chinese representatives could do far more and it's not just about you know my documentary I understand they have bigger fish to fry but I feel like they fry the fish the same way when they're dealing with bigger entities I think it's to their detriment that they're not more open in engaging a global conversation because look China is gonna be an incredibly impactful part of world dynamics moving forward and they need to be, they need to engage on what they're doing. I think, and I do think they have a story they can tell to defend themselves, and it's unfortunate that they very much don't do it.Andrew Keen: In our DC event, you also had a woman who'd worked within the Biden administration. Has there been a big shift between Biden policy on recycling, recyclable energy and Trump 2.0? It's still the early days of the new administration.Samuel George: Right. And we're trying to get a grip on that of what the difference is going to be. I can tell you this, the Biden approach was very much the historic approach of the United States of America, which is to try to go to a country like Congo and say, look, we're not going to give you money without transparency. We're not gonna give you this big, you know, beautiful deal. We're going to the cheapest to build this or the cheapest build that. But what we can compete with you is on quality and sustainability and improved work conditions. This used to be the United States pitch. And as we've seen in places like Serbia, that's not always the greatest pitch in the world. Oftentimes these countries are more interested in the money without questions being asked. But the United states under the Biden administration tried to compete on quality. Now we will have to see if that continues with the Trump administration, if that continuous to be their pitch. What we've see in the early days is this sort of hardball tactic. I mean, what else can you refer to what's happening with Ukraine, where they say, look, if you want continued military support, we want those minerals. And other countries say, well, maybe that could work for us too. I mean that's sort of, as I understand it, the DRC, which is under, you know, there's new competition there for power that the existing government is saying, hey, United States, if you could please help us, we'll be sure to give you this heaping of minerals. We can say this, the new administration does seem to be taking the need for critical minerals seriously, which I think was an open question because we see so much of the kind of green environmentalism being rolled back. It does still seem to be a priority with the new administration and there does seem to be clarity that the United States is going to have to improve its position regarding these minerals.Andrew Keen: Yeah, I'm guessing Elon Musk sees this as well as anyone, and I'm sure he's quite influential. Finally, Sam, in contrast with a book, which gets distributed and put in bookstores, doing a movie is much more challenging. What's the goal with the movie? You've done a number of launches around the world, screenings in Berlin, Munich, London, Washington D.C. you did run in San Francisco last week. What's the business model, so to speak here? Are you trying to get distribution or do you wanna work with schools or other authorities to show the film?Samuel George: Right, I mean, I appreciate that question. The business model is simple. We just want you to watch. You know, our content is always free. Our films are always free, you can go to bfnadox.org for our catalog. This film is not online yet. You don't need a password, you don't a username, you can just watch our movies, that's what we want. And of course, we're always on the lookout for increased opportunities to spread these. And so we worked on a number of films. We've got PBS to syndicate them nationally. We got one you can check your local listings about a four-month steel workers strike in western Pennsylvania. It's called Local 1196. That just started its national syndication on PBS. So check out for that one. But look, our goal is for folks to watch these. We're looking for the most exposure as we can and we're giving it away for free.Andrew Keen: Just to repeat, if people are interested, that's bfna.docs.org to find more movies. And finally, Sam, for people who are interested perhaps in doing a showing of the film, I know you've worked with a number of universities and interest groups. What would be the best way to approach you.Samuel George: Well, like you say, we're a small team here. You can always feel free to reach out to me. And I don't know if I should pitch my email.Andrew Keen: Yeah, picture email. Give it out. The Chinese will be getting it too. You'll be getting lots of invitations from China probably to show the film.Samuel George: We'd love to come talk about it. That's all we want to do. And we try, but we'd love to talk about it. I think it's fundamental to have that conversation. So the email is just Samuel.George, just as you see it written there, at BFN as in boy, F as in Frank, N as in Nancy, A. Let's make it clearer - Samuel.George@bfna.org. We work with all sorts of organizations on screenings.Andrew Keen: And what about the aspiring filmmakers, as you're the head of documentaries there? Do you work with aspiring documentary filmmakers?Samuel George: Yes, yes, we do often on projects. So if I'm working on a project. So you mentioned that I work by myself, and that is how I learned this industry, you know, is doing it by myself. But increasingly, we're bringing in other skilled people on projects that we're working on. So we don't necessarily outsource entire projects. But we're always looking for opportunities to collaborate. We're looking to bring in talent. And we're looking to make the best products we can on issues that we think are fundamental importance to the Atlantic community. So we love being in touch with filmmakers. We have internship programs. We're open for nonprofit business, I guess you could say.Andrew Keen: Well, that's good stuff. The new movie is called Lithium Rising, The Race for Critical Minerals. I moderated a panel after the North American premiere at the end of February. It's a really interesting, beautifully made film, very compelling. It is only 60 minutes. I strongly advise anyone who has the opportunity to watch it and to contact Sam if they want to put it on their school, a university or other institution. Congratulations Sam on the movie. What's the next project?Samuel George: Next project, we've started working on a project about Southern Louisiana. And in there, we're really looking at the impact of land loss on the bayous and the local shrimpers and crabbers and Cajun community, as well as of course This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Eine Europäerin in Washington, ein Amerikaner in Berlin: In Folge 43 des Podcasts „Zukunft gestalten“ der Bertelsmann Stiftung diskutieren Malva Sucker und Jochen Arntz mit Irene Braam, Leiterin der Bertelsmann Foundation in den USA, und Brandon Bohrn, Transatlantik-Experte der Bertelsmann Stiftung, die Folgen der US-Wahlen und der bevorstehenden Rückkehr von Donald Trump ins Weiße Haus. Beide sind vorsichtig optimistisch, dass die amerikanische Demokratie auch die nächsten vier Jahre überstehen wird. Trumps Sieg sei kein Erdrutschsieg gewesen, knapp die Hälfte der Amerikaner:innen hätten Kamala Harris und nicht Trump gewählt. „Sie werden sich gegen jeden Machtmissbrauch stemmen. Aber die nächsten Jahre werden ein holpriges Stück Weg“, sagt Irene Braam. Immerhin habe sich schon gezeigt, dass das Prinzip der Checks and Balances bei der Berufung umstrittener Minister:innen funktioniere. „Das Problem sind eher diejenigen, die kein offizielles Amt haben, aber trotzdem eine machtvolle Position einnehmen“, sagt Brandon Bohrn.Donald Trump sehe die EU als Feind an, erinnert Bohrn, insbesondere Deutschland stehe in der Kritik. Aber die EU habe viel Zeit gehabt, sich auf diese Situation vorzubereiten. Jetzt müsse die EU Einigkeit und Stärke zeigen, um sich zu behaupten. Die USA seien kein verlässlicher Partner mehr. Kapitel:00:00 Begrüßung und Vorstellung der Gäste03:59 Perspektiven aus den USA und Europa05:11 Die Stimmung nach den Wahlen und persönliche Erfahrungen09:02 Trumps Kabinett und die Herausforderungen der neuen Administration14:08 Die Strategie hinter Trumps zweiter Amtszeit16:40 Die Reaktion der Demokraten und die Rolle der Gesellschaft19:34 Europas Rolle in der globalen Politik21:48 Die Herausforderungen der transatlantischen Beziehungen23:33 Europäische Unabhängigkeit und Partnerschaft mit den USA26:00 Zukunftsprognosen für die amerikanische Demokratie30:38 Ausblick Weiterführende LinksSpecial: Unsere Analysen zur Wahl in den USA: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/de/themen/aktuelle-meldungen/2024/oktober/special-unsere-analysen-zur-wahl-in-den-usaeupinions-Umfrage: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/de/themen/aktuelle-meldungen/2024/november/europaeerinnen-wollen-sich-von-den-usa-unabhaengiger-machenTrump 2.0: Herausforderungen für Europa und DeutschlandBertelsmann Foundation in Washington: https://www.bfna.org/Transatlantic Barometer: https://www.transatlanticbarometer.org/Transponder Magazine: https://www.bfna.org/politics-society/transponder-magazine/USA Election Hub: https://www.usa2024electionhub.org/YouTube-Kanal: https://www.youtube.com/@bertelsmannfoundation/videoswww.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/podcast Schreibt uns an podcast@bertelsmann-stiftung.de oder auf https://www.instagram.com/bertelsmannstiftung/

How to fix American democracy? It's a question that, over the last couple of years, we've been addressing in my Bertelsmann Foundation supported How To Fix Democracy show, now its fifth year. And it is, of course, also a subject much addressed over the years on KEEN ON. My guest on today's show, Meredith Sumpter, has also given the subject of fixing American democracy much thought. Sumpter is the President & CEO of FairVote, a non-profit dedicated to making American democracy more democratic. And as she explains, this can be most effectively done through Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), a practical reform of the electoral system that can radically revitalize American politics.Meredith Sumpter is an executive leader and builder of innovative organizations and movements that drive value for people. As President and CEO of FairVote, Meredith is working to advance a more functional and representative democracy that delivers for every American. FairVote is a nonpartisan organization that researches and advances voting reforms including ranked choice voting and the Fair Representation Act. Ranked choice voting has become the fastest-growing voting reform in the nation because it empowers voters and rewards candidates and elected officials who can win majority support. Previously, Meredith was CEO & President of the Board of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, a global community of CEOs committing their organizations to actions that demonstrate value creation with sustainable and inclusive business practices. The Council expanded from 25 to 570+ corporate and investor CEOs during her tenure, taking 780+ measurable actions tied to the UN SDGs. She was CEO of the separate Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, which convened leaders across private, public, and civic sectors to launch market-relevant reforms. Meredith has a track record of leading multi-stakeholder initiatives at executive levels with systemic impact. This includes the Just Transition Framework for Company Action, the first private-sector guide for companies, investors and policymakers to advance environmental and social goals with transition tied to market indicators, and the Pension Fund Coalition long-term value creation template mandates for use by asset owners and asset managers in public equity and private markets investment contracts. Bringing people together to solve problems and expand opportunity is a central theme in Meredith's work. She has held an advisory position at New America and Harvard University, where Meredith convened public sector leaders with national research experts on innovative reforms to advance democratic resilience including with AI and governance, health equity, social justice, and economic opportunity. Formerly, Meredith was Head of Research & Strategy at Eurasia Group, a global geopolitical advisory firm. She oversaw the research platform and advised industry leaders and investors on global politics and 21st century drivers of trade, disruption, and growth. Her 20+ years of experience in business, strategy, policy, and analysis spans multiple sectors and regions. Meredith has worked in the US Senate and as a US diplomat and government official in Beijing, where she advised two US ambassadors and analyzed politics, economics, and security issues for policymakers. Meredith has appeared on major networks including Bloomberg, CNBC, MSNBC, BBC, Fox, PBS and CNN. An advisor to boards, she values engaging people and regularly speaks at industry and global conferences. Originally from Alaska and now residing in Virginia, Meredith enjoys a rich life parenting four children with her husband Ryan.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Nach zuletzt vielen Fragen um den Gesundheitszustand von US-Präsident Joe Biden und seiner Kandidatur für die Präsidentschaftswahl ist nun klar: Biden zieht seine Nominierung zurück und empfiehlt gleichzeitig seine Vizepräsidentin Kamala Harris als neue Kandidatin. Welche Chancen und Risiken sich aus Bidens Rückzug für die US-amerikanische Demokratie ergeben und was das für Deutschland und Europa bedeutet, ist Thema dieser Folge von “Zukunft gestalten“ mit Malva Sucker und Jochen Arntz.Zusammen mit Daniela Schwarzer, Vorständin der Bertelsmann Stiftung und Expertin für Demokratie und internationale Entwicklungen, und Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, deutsch-amerikanische Harvard-Politologin und Transatlantik-Expertin, geht es auch um Handlungsempfehlungen für die US-Demokraten und Europa. Wie können die Demokraten die Situation nach Bidens Rückzug nutzen? Sollte der US-Präsident vielleicht sogar schon jetzt sein Amt an Harris abtreten und für welche Politik steht Kamala Harris? All dies wird ebenso in dieser Folge besprochen wie eine mögliche zweite Amtszeit Trumps und wie sich Europa und Deutschland schon jetzt auf die Zeit nach der US-Wahl am 5. November 2024 vorbereiten müssten.Kapitel: 00:00 Intro01:00 Einleitung und Vorstellung der Gäste02:54 Bilanz Amtszeit von Joe Biden für Europa05:04 Zeitpunkt des Rückzugs von Joe Biden07:40 Chancen von Kamala Harris als Präsidentschaftskandidatin09:54 Wofür Kamala Harris steht11:57 Europas Sicherheitspolitik nach der US-Wahl17:05 Zeitpunkt der Amtsübergabe an die Vizepräsidentin20:46 Bedeutung des Rückzugs Bidens für die amerikanische Demokratie23:23 Auswirkungen eines Trump-Siegs auf Deutschland26:14 Schluss Weiterführende Links:Onlinemeldung: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/de/themen/aktuelle-meldungen/2024/august/cathryn-cluever-ashbrook-analysiert-die-lage-nach-dem-attentat-auf-trump Bertelsmann Foundation in WashingtonTransatlantic Barometer: https://www.transatlanticbarometer.org/Transponder Magazine: https://www.bfna.org/politics-society/transponder-magazine/USA Election Hub: https://www.usa2024electionhub.org/YouTube-Kanal: https://www.youtube.com/@bertelsmannfoundation/videos Podcasts “Zukunft gestalten”Thema „Demokratie stärken“: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UvpQvPRFBg&list=PLxyQdUGjPEsEbFZvJ4Vcw2ULWdovtOOml&index=3Thema „Superwahljahr 2024: Trump, die USA und Europa“: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJOYXMwScYU&list=PLxyQdUGjPEsEbFZvJ4Vcw2ULWdovtOOml&index=5 BlogDemokratie in Aktion: Das Superwahljahr 2024: https://blog.bti-project.de/2024/07/18/demokratie-in-aktion-das-superwahljahr-2024/ Forum gegen Fakes: https://forum-gegen-fakes.de/de/startwww.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/podcast Schreibt uns an podcast@bertelsmann-stiftung.de oder auf https://www.instagram.com/bertelsmannstiftung/

As a major player in global affairs, Germany has a critical role in steering the transatlantic relationship. Earlier this summer, Global Minnesota partnered on an event with the Germanic-American Institute and the Bertelsmann Foundation to discuss the U.S.-German relationship. The event featured remarks from Irene Braam, Executive Director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, and Rainer Breul, who serves as the Head of Political Affairs at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. On this episode, hear from by Rainer Breul, who started in his position at the Germany Embassy back in July 2023. He shared more about his background, the connections between Germany and Minnesota, and the essential importance of the U.S.-German relationship.   Links Germany Embassy in Washington, D.C. Department of State Office of Sub-National Diplomacy

Die Krisen in der Ukraine, im Gazastreifen und im Roten Meer bringen das Thema Außenpolitik aktuell auf die Agenda in vielen Ländern – und auch in den US-Präsidentschaftswahlkampf. Doch welche Rolle spielt die außenpolitische Positionierung der Vereinigten Staaten im Wahlkampf wirklich? Wie wird sie in den Kampagnen von Donald Trump und Joe Biden benutzt? Und welche Entscheidungen des Nato-Partners könnte auch uns in Deutschland hier treffen? Darüber spricht t-online-Chefredakteur Florian Harms mit der Direktorin der Bertelsmann Foundation in Washington D.C., Irene Braam, und dem US-Korrespondenten von t-online, Bastian Brauns, in der zweiten Folge des Amerika-Updates im "Tagesanbruch"-Podcast. Irene Braam analysiert, warum die Wählergruppe der arabischstämmigen Amerikaner dabei eine wichtige Rolle spielen könnte. Bastian Brauns geht in diesem Zusammenhang auf mögliche Szenarien für die Vorwahlen in South Carolina und Michigan in den kommenden Tagen ein. Produktion & Schnitt: Lisa Fritsch Das Sonderformat zur Schicksalswahl in Amerika gibt es zu wichtigen Ereignissen zirka alle zwei Wochen hier im „Tagesanbruch“-Podcast. Anmerkungen, Lob und Kritik gern an podcasts@t-online.de Den „Tagesanbruch" gibt es auch zum Nachlesen unter www.t-online.de/tagesanbruch Den „Tagesanbruch“-Podcast gibt es immer montags bis samstags gegen 6 Uhr zum Start in den Tag, am Wochenende mit einer tiefgründigeren Diskussion. Verpassen Sie keine Folge und abonnieren Sie uns bei Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3v1HFmv3V3Zvp1R4BT3jlO?si=klrETGehSj2OZQ_dmB5Q9g), Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/de/podcast/t-online-tagesanbruch/id1374882499?mt=2), Google Podcasts (https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly90YWdlc2FuYnJ1Y2gucG9kaWdlZS5pby9mZWVkL21wMw?ep=14) oder überall sonst, wo es Podcasts gibt. Wenn Ihnen der Podcast gefällt, lassen Sie gern eine Bewertung da.

The Legacy of FDR | Paul Sparrow, former Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, speaks with Andrew Keen about the immense challenges and legacies of FDR and his administration. Sparrow maintains that Roosevelt saved American democracy from an existential crisis caused by the Great Depression and the failure of previous administrations to provide for the welfare of the public. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, Sparrow delves into the deep complexities of the 32nd U.S. President who employed the powerful resources of his mind and personality.   Paul Sparrow is a writer, historical consultant, and the former Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Before moving to the FDR Library, he was the Deputy Director and Senior Vice President for Broadcasting and New Media at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. He was a founding partner in the University of Maryland's Future of Information Alliance and a pioneer in interactive digital media. Prior to his work at the Newseum, Sparrow was an Emmy-Award winning television producer, and showrunner for Discovery, TLC, Fox, and PBS. He began his television career at KPIX, the CBS affiliate in San Francisco.  

FDR and the Great Depression | In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, author and historian Derek Leebaert provides a revisionist account of President Franklin Roosevelt and four members of his Cabinet. According to Leebaert, the 1920s were beset by economic distress and labor unrest that culminated in the Great Depression. Supported by Frances Perkins, Harold Ickes, Henry Wallace and Harry Hopkins, the Roosevelt presidency provided new solutions to much of America's endemic vulnerability, inequality, and instability. Leebaert describes the President as a deeply complex leader—a man of steely ambitions —who worked with the four Cabinet officials to escape the Depression and prepare the United States for world leadership.   Derek Leebaert won the biennial 2020 Truman Book Award for "Grand Improvisation". His previous books include "Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of American Foreign Policy from Korea to Afghanistan" and "To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations", both Washington Post Best Books of the Year. He was a founding editor of the Harvard/MIT journal International Security and is a cofounder of the National Museum of the U.S. Army. He holds a D.Phil from Oxford and lives in Washington, D.C.

American Democracy in the Aftermath of World War I | In the first episode of Season 5, How to Fix Democracy host Andrew Keen sits down with Adam Hochschild, historian, journalist, and award-winning author of “American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis." Hochschild takes us on a journey to America in the aftermath of World War I – a country divided by labor strife, xenophobic fear of immigrants, and massive violations of civil rights. Both provincially insular and dynamically modern, Hochschild introduces us to an America nostalgic for an idyllic pre-war normalcy that can never be recaptured.   How to Fix Democracy Season 5 covers 100 years of American democracy between 1924 and 2024. The season uncovers the complexities of U.S. history and asks our distinguished guests why it remains the most iconic and yet misunderstood democratic system in the world. This season is brought to you by the Bertelsmann Foundation and Humanity in Action. Watch the episode videos at howtofixdemocracy.org and listen wherever you get your podcasts.  

How Authoritarian Leaders Wield & Maintain Power | On October 20, 2022, Moisés Naím joined host Andrew Keen for a live episode of How to Fix Democracy in the Bertelsmann Foundation office in Washington, DC to discuss how authoritarian leaders wield and maintain power in contemporary politics. Author of “The End of Power” (2013) and “The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats are Reinventing Politics in the 21st Century” (2022), Moisés Naím is an authoritative political thinker and best-selling author. In this episode, he explains how authoritarian political leaders use three “P”s to maintain their power: populism, polarization, and post-truths. Take a listen!

Is Bipartisanship Possible in the United States? | The 2020 Presidential Election clarified the need for a unified, authoritative understanding of elections and election systems in the United States. In recent weeks, Democratic legislators have been working to pass the Electoral Count Reform Act to update outdated systems and clarify the role of the Vice President in electoral proceedings. Simultaneously, the Republican-backed Moore v. Harper case will be heard before the Supreme Court to determine how much power states can have over voting access and election results. Will it ever be possible to have a bipartisan, unified approach to voting rights in the United States?    Michael Thorning is the Director of Governance at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in Washington, DC, that seeks to foster bipartisanship in American politics. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, he joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the implications for the current and upcoming voting rights legislation, as well as the need for bipartisanship in order to defend democracy in the United States.

The Transformation of the Republican Party | Throughout the last thirty years, the Republican Party in the United States has undergone a great change. How did the party come to adopt such a polarized platform in which white supremacy, conspiracy theories, and authoritarianism are no longer off limits? Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank traces this transformation from Newt Gingrich's Contract with America in 1994 to the January 6th insurrection in 2021 in his new book The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, he joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the new voices of the Republican Party, how they came to power, and whether or not the party will be forced to change. Take a listen!

In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Emily Benson and Gerard DiPippo join us to discuss the recent U.S. export technology controls targeting China's access to chips. Ms. Benson and Mr. DiPippo explain these recent export control regulations and note that they will impact large portions of China's technology industry. They also discuss the important role that U.S.-based semiconductors play in the U.S.-China relationship and explain that they have become an essential tool in U.S. economic policy targeting China. Lastly, Ms. Benson and Mr. DiPippo comment on the economic and political impact these export controls will have not only in China, but also on semiconductor firms around the world that rely on China as a key export market.  Emily Benson is a senior fellow with the Scholl Chair in International Business at CSIS, joining CSIS after working in transatlantic affairs at the Bertelsmann Foundation. Ms. Benson has several years of experience working in international law, focusing on export controls and sanctions. Gerard DiPippo is a senior fellow in the Economics Program at CSIS, joining CSIS after 11 years in the U.S. intelligence community. From 2018 to 2021, Mr. DiPippo was a deputy national intelligence officer for economic issues at the National Intelligence Council, where he led the IC's economic analysis of East Asia.

American Ideologies and Trumpism | “Trumpism'' has emerged as a powerful force in American political ideology since the 2016 election. It is characterized by a philosophy that leans heavily on populism, ultra-nationalism, and religious fundamentalism – all part of the platform that bolstered Former President Donald Trump throughout his administration and beyond. However, if Donald Trump were to disappear tomorrow, the forces that brought him to power would still very much be at play in the hearts and minds of American conservatives, explains our latest guest. Darrell M. West is the Vice President and Director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, as well as the author of Power Politics: Trump and the Assault on American Democracy. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, he joins host Andrew Keen to discuss how Trumpism came to be, and how it is influencing the structures of American democracy.

The legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court | The popularity of the U.S. Supreme Court has been in sharp decline throughout the last two years. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, many Americans, feeling unheard and unseen by the court's decision, have been asking the question, “Why does the Supreme Court have so much power?” Dahlia Lithwick, lawyer and author of Lady Justice, explains how the latest rulings by the Supreme Court threaten the fabric of American democracy. If the Supreme Court is no longer serving the people, is it still legitimate? In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, Lithwick joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the implications for the Dobbs Ruling, the decline in popularity of the Supreme Court, and whether or not the Supreme Court can maintain its legitimacy moving forward.

Religion and American Conservatism | The American far-right has, in many ways, become inseparable from religious conservatism and fervor. Religious movements and organizations provide the foundation, funding, and voting base of the extreme right in American politics, explains our latest guest. Katherine Stewart, the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, has spent her career reporting on the dwindling separation between church and state in the United States. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, she joins host Andrew Keen to discuss how religious nationalism has been cultivated by leaders on the far-right for political gain.

The Health of American Democracy | The erosion of democratic values in the United States has led many to refer to American democracy as “sick” and in need of healing. Extremism, disinformation, and civic illiteracy have fueled radical beliefs and led to grave polarization within American society. Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab (PERIL), and author of Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right, has focused her research on these issues and how our society can overcome them. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, Dr. Miller-Idriss joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the state of American democracy today, the rise of extremism and radicalization, and strategies for curing what is seemingly irreversible polarization.

What do the recent upheavals in European politics mean for the future of transatlantic cooperation? Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook and Max Bergmann join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss the path ahead for Europe. Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook serves as executive vice president at the Bertelsmann Foundation. Her prior positions include director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations as well as executive director of the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School. Max Bergmann is the director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Prior to joining CSIS, he was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he focused on Europe, Russia, and U.S. security cooperation.

Racial Injustice & Voting Rights in the United States | Andrea Young, the executive director of the ACLU in Georgia, is a lifelong advocate of voting and civil rights in the United States. Having participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches with her parents at nine years old, she has dedicated her life to ensuring the protection of civil liberties for marginalized groups in the United States. Georgia was of great importance in the 2020 Presidential Election, where President Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by only 12,000 votes. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, Andrea Young discusses the history of structural racial injustice in the United States, the need for a multicultural democracy, and the role that Georgia is playing in paving the way to a stronger democratic system in which everyone's voice can be heard and affirmed.

Bridging the Partisan Divide | What does it mean to engage with someone on the other side of the political aisle? Mónica Guzmán has made it her mission to answer this question and facilitate thoughtful, constructive dialogue between the political left and right in the United States. In her latest book, I Never Thought of It That Way, she explores the ways in which American citizens can move beyond political barriers and work together to create a less divided political system. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, she joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the dire state of the political landscape in the United States today, as well as steps that we can take to fix it. She explores the ways in which she is able to engage with people who believe differently than her, and the events in her life which have led her to this place.

The crisis of the American Right | Authors Peter Wehner and Jon Rauch recently published a New York Times Opinion piece entitled “What's Happening on the Left is No Excuse for What's Happening on the Right.” As conservative researchers, they have a unique position to observe and analyze the recent shifts in the American political right. In the latest episode of How to Fix Democracy, Peter Wehner and Jon Rauch join host Andrew Keen to discuss the history and implications of the stark transformation undergone by the Republican Party during and after Donald Trump's presidency. What does this change mean for the future of the party, and for political stability in the United States? Why have some conservatives chosen to leave the party, while some have chosen to stay? Find out here!

Die Demokratie verliert seit Jahren an Boden – das zeigt der Bertelsmann Transformationsindex (BTI), mit dem die Bertelsmann Stiftung seit 2003 die Entwicklung von Demokratien, Marktwirtschaft und Regierungsführung weltweit misst. Das erste Mal seit Bestehen des Index zählen wir 2022 mehr Autokratien als Demokratien. Ein weiterer Trend ist die Verhärtung bestehender Autokratien – die schlimmen Folgen sind derzeit im Angriffskrieg Russlands gegen die Ukraine zu beobachten.In dieser Folge berichten unsere BTI-Expert:innen Sabine Donner und Hauke Hartmann über die Entwicklung von Demokratien und Autokratien weltweit und besonders über die Situation in Russland, wo sie 2010 den BTI sogar noch vorstellen konnten. Ihr erfahrt auch, warum die Bertelsmann Stiftung den BTI ins Leben gerufen hat, wie die Zusammenarbeit mit den über 260 Expert:innen in rund 120 Ländern gelingt, und warum zahlreiche Regierungen, die Weltbank und Anti-Korruptionsbehörden auf den BTI zurückgreifen. +++Democracy has been losing ground for years – that's evident in the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, with which the Bertelsmann Foundation has been measuring the development of democracies, market economies, and governance since 2003. For the first time since the Index's creation, in 2022 we counted more autocracies than democracies—the dire consequences of which are currently seen in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. In this episode BTI experts Sabine Donner and Hauke Hartmann report on the development of democracies and autocracies worldwide and especially on the situation in Russia, where they were able to present the BTI in 2010. You will also hear, why the Bertelsmann Foundation created the BTI in the first place, how the cooperation with the 260 experts in around 120 countries works, and why numerous governments, the World Bank, and anti-corruption agencies rely on the BTI.Habt ihr habt Fragen, Kritik oder Anregungen zu dieser Sendung? Dann schreibt uns doch eine Mail an die Adresse podcast@bertelsmann-stiftung.de +++Weiterführende Links:Projekt: https://bti-project.org/de/?&cb=00000 Pressemeldung: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/de/themen/aktuelle-meldungen/2022/februar/demokratie-weltweit-unter-druck YouTube: Unser Podcast auch mit englischen Untertiteln: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZssos95aAKurz-gefragt-Video mit Sabine Donner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr14EnzW948Sabine Donner im Deep Dive Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yotrZQCcCbQ Studie: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/de/publikationen/publikation/did/transformation-index-bti-2022-allwww.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/podcast +++

Last year, 1,500 steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania went out on strike for four long months. If you don't remember hearing about the strike, don't worry, we hadn't, either. It was against a company named ATI, Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, and even though the strike involved 1,500 steelworkers at nine different locations, it never really made the radar on the national labor scene in a year that saw a huge increase in both strikes and union organizing. So we're very fortunate that Samuel George decided to embed himself and his camera in the strike by Local 1196. Sam is an exciting young documentary filmmaker who works for the Bertelsmann Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC. Samuel's documentaries – which include "The Fields of Immokalee” -- bring viewers up close and personal to people and communities facing the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, offering candid perspectives that allow viewers to draw their own conclusions. His films focus on the intersection of politics, economics, social issues, and daily life. Filming on the ground from the Turkish – Syrian border, to the factories of Juarez, Mexico, to elections in West Virginia, and now a factory in Western Pennsylvania, Sam's films seek to offer a voice to those affected by policy and macro trends, but who often are denied a seat at the table where decisions are made. Local 1196: A Steelworkers Strike screens free this Saturday, March 19, at 4pm, at the MLK DC Public Library, 901 G St. NW in Washington, DC; CLICK HERE to RSVP. Produced by Chris Garlock, edited and co-produced by Evan Papp, Empathy Media Lab. @dclabor @LaborHeritage1 @DCLaborFilmFest @SamuelGeorge76 @BertelsmannFdn @empathymedialab @steelworkers Local 1196 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/labor-goes-to-the-movies/message

Guests explain how in the case of platform regulation, the United States and the European Union have converged despite different perspectives.Jana Gooth (policy advisor to European Parliament Member Alexandra Geese)Jeff Jarvis (professor of journalism at the City University of New York)Julian Jaursch (project director at the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung) Hosted and produced by Nathan Crist. Edited and produced by Stefano Montali. Find out more about Are We Europe  and sign up for our newsletter. To support our mission of reporting on border-breaking stories across the continent, consider becoming a Member. 

Gesine Weber, Program Coordinator at the German Marshall Fund's Paris Office, joined us for this bonus episode to discuss the recent Transatlantic Trends 2021 report, published by the GMF in partnership with the Bertelsmann Foundation. The Europe Desk is a podcast from the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. It brings together leading experts working on the most pertinent issues facing Europe and transatlantic relations today. Music by Sam Kyzivat and Breakmaster Cylinder Production by Nick Lokker and Mitch Fariss Communications by Iris Thatcher Design by Sarah Diebboll https://cges.georgetown.edu/podcast Twitter and Instagram: @theeuropedesk If you would like a transcript of this episode, more information about the Center's events, or have any feedback, please email: theeuropedesk@georgetown.edu.

The Net Assessment team debates Patrick Porter and Michael Mazarr's recent study on "Countering China's Adventurism Over Taiwan: A Third Way" written for the Lowy Institute. Chris, Melanie, and Zack agree that the study is thought provoking and well argued, but disagree about whether it is ultimately convincing. Nonetheless, Porter and Mazarr have made a real contribution by helping to clarify the assumptions that underlie different approaches to the Taiwan. Chris gives a shout out to the Bridging the Gap effort, Melanie complains about John Cena and Bing, and Zack commends his former colleague Ari Tabatabai.   Links Patrick Porter and Michael Mazarr, "Countering China's Adventurism Over Taiwan: A Third Way," Lowy Institute, May 20, 2021 Irene Braam and Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, "Transatlantic Trends 2021," German Marshall Fund of the United States and Bertelsmann Foundation, June 2021 Oriana Skylar Mastro, "The Taiwan Temptation," Foreign Affairs, July/August 2021 Charles L. Glaser, "Washington Is Avoiding the Tough Questions on Taiwan and China," Foreign Affairs, April 28, 2021 Ariane M. Tabatabai, No Conquest, No Defeat: Iran's National Security Strategy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020),  Dustin Walker, "Congress Should Rewrite the Pentagon's Pacific Deterrence Budget Request," Defense News, June 2, 2021 Joe Biden, “My Trip to Europe Is about America Rallying the World's Democracies,” The Washington Post, June 5, 2021 Martin Pengelly, “Biden Trumpets Democracy in Post Op-ed – As Threats Spread at Home,” The Guardian, June 6, 2021 Bridging the Gap “Future Foreign Policy: Global Perceptions of the United States, Featuring Caroline Gray,” June 16, 2021, Noon EDT Tom Karako, “Sing, Missile Muse, of Gods and Heroes: America's Most Fearsome Weapons Need Better Names,” War on the Rocks, June 7, 2021 Jill Disis, “‘F9' Star John Cena Says He Loves China After Taiwan Remark Stokes Anger,” CNN, May 25, 2021 Elizabeth Braw, “Spying on Allies is Normal. Also Smart,” Politico EU, June 4, 2021. Syaru Shirley Lin, “It's Not Just China: Population, Power Generation, Political Polarization, and Parochialism are Also Long-Term Threats to Taiwan's Success and Survival,” PRC Leader, June 1, 2021 “China's Growing Military Confidence Puts Taiwan at Risk,” Economist, May 1, 2021 Blake Herzinger, “US Ditching Taiwan Commitments is a Dead-End Idea,” Foreign Policy, May 3, 2021 Paul Mozur, “Microsoft's Bing Briefly Blocked ‘Tank Man' on Anniversary of Tiananmen Anniversary,” New York Times, June 5, 2021

A quelques jours de l'ouverture du sommet de l'OTAN le 14 juin 2021, une question centrale se pose : quel est l'avenir de la relation transatlantique ? Sécurité et défense, autonomie stratégique européenne, enjeux technologiques et commerciaux, climat, Covid, Chine… Autant de sujets sur lesquels les Etats-Unis et les pays européens naviguent entre divergences et volontés de coopération. L'arrivée de Joe Biden au pouvoir, au ton plus modéré que son prédécesseur, viendra-t-elle réaligner la politique de Bruxelles sur Washington et remettre en cause les avancées européennes vers l'autonomie stratégique ? Directrice du bureau de Paris du German Marshall Fund et spécialiste des questions de sécurité internationale, Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer revient sur la nécessité de renforcer le dialogue transatlantique, de restaurer une confiance mutuelle, tout en faisant résonner davantage les idées de la France, qui semble en perte d'influence, sur les questions stratégiques et diplomatiques. Pour aller plus loin :

I am very appreciative to welcome two guests today! Luisa Hanke and Robert Frischbier. For you as a long-time listener, you may remember episode 28 when I was first talking with Robert. I invited him back today as Luisa and he are collaborating, and I wanted to learn more about it. Luisa founded the Vereinbarkeits Lab (translated to meaning work-life integration lab) in 2018. It is a network for business leaders, founders, HR professionals, and people interested in work-life balance. Luisa also works as a systematic coach supporting professionals focused on creating a family-friendly career. Robert worked in the automotive industry for about 12 years after receiving his diploma in business administration. While being responsible for the quality management and inside sales Robert learned how difficult it was for a young parent to balance work and life in a very traditional industry. That´s why he left the industry and focused on supporting all kinds of companies to become employee-friendly. Together with his wife Robert founded 2PAARSchultern which means two pairs of shoulders and describes their own lifestyle best. Besides his work as a consultant and trainer, Robert works as an auditor for the renowned Bertelsmann Foundation certifying companies as family-friendly employers. Together Luisa and Robert have created the Vereinbarkeits Academy where they offer a work-life balance facilitator training for professionals to teach them how to make their respective organizations more family-friendly. The first part of my conversation will be with Luisa. Then Robert joins us for the second part. If you have not heard his previous episode on the show, here it is https://emilyspath.ca/job-sharing-and-beyond-robert-frischbier/   How to reach Luisa Hanke:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisa-sophie-hanke-b302b9142/ LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vereinbarkeits-lab/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vereinbarkeits_lab/ Website: https://www.vereinbarkeitslab.de/ Vereinbarkeits Facilitator Course: https://www.vereinbarkeitslab.de/academy   How to reach Robert Frischbier:  Robert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-frischbier-4b939272/ 2PAARSchultern: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2paarschultern-gbr/ Website – includes links to the podcast 2PAARSchultern: https://www.2paarschultern.de/   What I talked with Luise about: 4:53 Why did Luisa start Vereinsbarkeits Lab ? 9:13 3 Tips for returning professionals 14:03 Job sharing 27:47 Best practice work-life integration companies  33:24 Transferable skills from unpaid care work   What I talked with Luise and Robert about: 42:47 What is the Vereinbarkeits facilitator course about? 45:30 Why do professionals seek out the academy? 49:35 How do they take back their information to the company? 54:40 Where do you see the work-life integration situation in 5/ 10 years?    How to contact Karin? How to connect with Karin Tischler, producer and podcast host of "Job Sharing and Beyond", and founder of Emily's Path Consulting (EPC): Website: https://emilyspath.ca/  Subscribe to the monthly EPC newsletter here! Q&A guest interview, interesting research findings, updates on previous "Job Sharing and Beyond" podcast guests, and exclusive previews about future guests!  LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-tischler/ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jobsharingandbeyond/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JobsharingByond Twitter: https://twitter.com/karin_tischler Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karintischlerbc/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emilyspathca/?viewAsMember=true Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilysPathConsulting

To begin Season 4, The Weekly's new co-hosts Jaimie Yue '22 and Owen Anderson '23 talk with The Oberlin Review's senior staff writer, Casey Troost '22, about her On The Record article interviewing Samuel George OC '07, a documentary filmmaker for the non-profit Bertelsmann Foundation in Washington, DC on his film “Go-Go City: Displacement & Protest in Washington, DC.” After the discussion is the extended cut of Casey's OTR Interview with Samuel. This episode was originally aired on WOBC Oberlin, 91.5 FM, Oberlin College and Community radio at 1:00 pm EST on February 15th, 2021. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-weekly/support

I am delighted to introduce my guest Robert Frischbier today. After receiving his diploma in business administration Robert worked in the automotive industry for about 12 years. While being responsible for the quality management and inside sales he learned how difficult it was for a young parent to balance work and life in a very traditional industry.  He will share more about this experience in our conversation and how this led him to co-found together with his wife 2PAARSchultern which means two pairs of shoulders in German and describes their own lifestyle best. Beside his work as a consultant and coach Robert works as an auditor for the renowned Bertelsmann Foundation certifying companies as family friendly employers. How to connect with Robert: LinkedIn Robert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-frischbier-4b939272/ 2PAARSchultern: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2paarschultern-gbr/ Website - includes links to the podcast 2PAARSchultern https://www.2paarschultern.de/   What we talked about:  4:32 Why did you create 2PAARSchultern? 8:31 What is the mission of your 2PAARSchultern podcast? 12:00 Your work as assessor for the Bertelsmann's Family Friendly Employer Stamp of Approval 13:47 How is flexible work included when assessing potential family friendly employers? 18:52  Consequence of including flexible work options as part of job descriptions 20:52 Support for professional returners in Germany 23:17 Transferable skills from unpaid care work 27:27 Fathers & care role models 30:10 Importance of top management in becoming a family friendly employer 31:14 Best practice employers during covid19   Link to the article about caring versus providing dad by associate professor Lee T. Gettler: https://www.childandfamilyblog.com/child-development/nurturing-fatherhood-rooted-male-biology/   How to connect with Karin Tischler, producer and podcast host of "Job Sharing and Beyond", and founder of Emily's Path Consulting (EPC): Website: https://emilyspath.ca/  Subscribe to the monthly EPC newsletter here! Q&A guest interview, interesting research findings, updates on previous "Job Sharing and Beyond" podcast guests and exclusive previews about future guests!  LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-tischler/ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jobsharingandbeyond/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JobsharingByond Twitter: https://twitter.com/karin_tischler Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karintischlerbc/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emilyspathca/?viewAsMember=true Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilysPathConsulting

Samuel George is a documentary filmmaker that has gone into each of his projects with the simple goal of listening. Sam describes himself as a filmmaker and analyst for the Bertelsmann Foundation focusing on the intersection of economics, politics, the digital revolution, and daily life. Filming on the ground from the Turkish – Syrian border to the factories of Juarez, Mexico, the films dive inside critical crossroads around the globe. Traveling abroad to places like Turkey, Latvia, India, Mexico, and other cities in the US, Sam captures the lives of the people on the ground, humanizing the individual experience of the public policy in a unique way that only a documentary film can capture. Sam interviews both policymakers and ordinary people to enter the lives of people that are often neglected. We start the interview with Sam’s journey towards documentary filmmaking and why he thinks it’s a powerful medium for policy discussions. Guided by a philosophy of “show, don’t tell,” Sam argues that documentary films allow viewers to enter the lives of people in a way that isn’t possible through text or a policy report. Kenneth, Annie, and Sam explore the production process of documentary filmmaking and what happens behind the camera. In his latest work, "Go-Go City: Displacement in Washington, DC," Sam reveals that he captured 55 terabytes worth of video and only used 8 gigabytes for the final documentary. How do filmmakers decide what goes in the film and what gets cut? When filmmakers go to a site for filming, do they have a plan of what they’re going to capture? Do documentary filmmakers have an agenda in their productions? Do they have to have an agenda? His most recent work "Go-Go City" explores the intersection of Washington DC’s iconic Go-Go music and the Black Lives Matter protests that took over the streets following the death of George Floyd. Sam, a resident of the capital, explores gentrification in his documentary in three ways: housing, small business, and culture. Though they are all distinct, Sam argues that they are all interconnected in their battle against gentrifying forces pushing them out of the city. Focusing their time on the individual lives of the local population, Sam’s documentaries have a clear mission to offer viewers a fair representation of the culture and community shown to audiences. Sam dives into the relationship between the filmmaker and the portrayed community. He addresses the interpersonal dynamics of filmmaking and the relationships developed behind the camera.

From a live session of How to Fix Democracy, presented by the Bertelsmann Foundation and Humanity in Action, Andrew Keen talks with Timothy Snyder, best selling author of On Tyranny, and Freedom House’s Michael Abramowitz about Snyder's new book Our Malady, and together they explain what they’ve learned in 2020 about the relationship between healthcare, liberty, and democracy. Timothy Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He speaks five and reads ten European languages. His eight chief books are Nationalism, Marxism, and Modern Central Europe: A Biography of Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (1998); The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 (2003); Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist’s Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine (2005); The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke (2008); Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), Thinking the Twentieth Century (with Tony Judt, 2012); Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015); On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017); and The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America (2018). He has also co-edited three further books: The Wall Around the West: State Borders and Immigration Controls in Europe and North America (2001); Stalin and Europe: Terror, War, Domination (2013); and The Balkans as Europe (2018). His essays are collected in Ukrainian History, Russian Politics, European Futures (2014), and The Politics of Life and Death (2015). Snyder’s work has appeared in forty languages and has received a number of prizes, including the Emerson Prize in the Humanities, the Literature Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Václav Havel Foundation prize, the Foundation for Polish Science prize in the social sciences, the Leipzig Award for European Understanding, the Dutch Auschwitz Committee award, and the Hannah Arendt Prize in Political Thought. Snyder was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford, has received the Carnegie and Guggenheim fellowships, and holds state orders from Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland. He has appeared in documentaries, on network television, and in major films. His books have inspired poster campaigns and exhibitions, films, sculpture, a punk rock song, a rap song, a play, and an opera. His words are quoted in political demonstrations around the world, most recently in Hong Kong. He is researching a family history of nationalism and finishing a philosophical book about freedom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this special episode of Keen On, presented by the Bertelsmann Foundation and Humanity in Action, Anne Applebaum and Michael Ignatieff discuss the decline of liberal democracy and the rise of authoritarianism around the world. Anne Applebaum's 2018 Atlantic article "A Warning from Europe" inspired this book and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award. After seventeen years as a columnist at The Washington Post, Applebaum became a staff writer at The Atlantic in 2020. She is the author of three critically acclaimed and award-winning histories of the Soviet Union: Red Famine, Iron Curtain, and Gulag, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Michael Ignatieff is President and Rector of the Central European University. Ignatieff comes to CEU after serving as Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice of the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. An international commentator on contemporary issues of democracy, human rights, and governance and a Canadian citizen, Ignatieff is also an award-winning writer, teacher, former politician, and historian with a deep knowledge of Central and Eastern Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Socialism for the Technocrats: Corporate America to corporate welfare Topics covered Corporate welfare (Socialism for the elite) Freezing rent payments And restructuring failed companies with better operators   Watch on YouTube   Guest MEET MATT STOLLER https://mattstoller.com/about/ Get his new book: Goliath The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Goliath/Matt-Stoller/9781501183089 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) is the author of the Simon and Schuster book Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. Stoller is the Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project and writes an email newsletter Big, which you can sign up for here. Stoller is a former policy advisor to the Senate Budget Committee. He also worked for a member of the Financial Services Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives during the financial crisis. He has lectured on competition policy and media at Harvard Law, Duke Law, Bertelsmann Foundation, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, West Point and the National Communications Commission of Taiwan. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fast Company, Foreign Policy, the Guardian, Vice, The American Conservative, and the Baffler. He has also produced for MSNBC and starred in a short-lived television show on FX called Brand X with Russell Brand.

Historian and journalist Anne Applebaum sat down with Andrew Keen during the opening dinner of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Washington Symposium in April 2019 for a live episode of How to Fix Democracy. A thought leader on disinformation, Applebaum commented on current political polarization by arguing that unless you can have debates based on a commonly agreed upon set of facts, you cannot have democracy at all. For a deeper dive into these themes and others beyond her interview, read the essays that she and other leading experts on democracy prepared for the Symposium here.

Today's episode is a cross over promotion with the new podcast: How to Fix Democracy. How to Fix Democracy is an interview series in which prominent thinkers, writers, politicians, technologists, and business leaders discuss some fundamental questions about the fate and trajectory of democracy today.  This episode features an interview with Michael Ignatieff by the host of the show, Andrew Keen. Michael Ignatieff is a former Canadian politician and author of several books about world affairs. He is now serving as the president and rector of the Central European University. This is a Hungary-based graduate school founded by George Soros that the illiberal government of Hungary, lead by Victor Orban, has sought to shut down.     In this episode, Ignatieff discusses the challenge to democracy posed by illiberal "democrats" like Viktor Orban. After listening to this episode, be sure to subscribe to the entire series, which features some really interesting guests and discussion.    The series is presented by the Bertelsmann Foundation, in partnership with Humanity in Action. I am a Humanity in Action senior fellow and am glad to present this crossover episode to you.     

After a few quick news hits we missed over Christmas, we launch straight into: Right Wing Watch: the so called "migrant crisis", and how we do almost nothing to help refugees compared to basically everyone else. An interview with Carla Hustedt of the Bertelsmann Foundation about how algorithm design affects us all and her work to inject some ethics into their creation. Finally, some reasons to be cheerful in 2019! We're leaving depressing stuff in 2018! Read about Carla's work here: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/en/our-projects/ethics-of-algorithms/ Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast

Mariam Memarsadeghi (Tavaana) gives a talk for the Middle East Centre seminar series. Mariam Memarsadeghi is co-founder and co-director of Tavaana: E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society. Launched in 2010, the virtual institute offers secure democracy and human rights educational opportunities, from graduate level seminars to animated PSAs, short tutorials, case studies of democratic transitions, panel discussions, translated ebooks, comedy skits and more. Now a household brand, Tavaana regularly reaches over 15 million Iranians via live e-classrooms, correspondence learning, satellite TV, robust social media networks and a mobile app. TavaanaTech provides the Iranian people with digital literacy training, digital safety alerts and tech solutions for access to a free, safe internet. Mariam is an outspoken advocate for the principles of liberalism, women's rights, democracy (and democratic) education and internet freedom, particularly in Islamic contexts. Her writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. She is a frequent speaker at think tanks and has appeared on the PBS NewsHour, NPR and other English, Persian and Arabic language news programs. Mariam is a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar and has been recognized by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the German Marshall Fund as a TransAtlantic Young Leader for her work promoting democracy and human rights globally.

Leading economist and Financial Times columnist John Kay discusses his concept of a Good Company and why markets need to be socially embedded with Social Europe Editor-in-Chief Henning Meyer. This podcast was produced in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation. A full transcript of the conversation is available here: http://www.socialeurope.eu/2015/08/what-is-the-good-company/

Herman Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the European Council, discusses the need for a New Pact for Europe and addresses the key issues the EU is currently facing. This keynote address was recorded in Brussels on 17th June 2015. We woudl liek to thank the King Baudouin Foundation, the Bertelsmann Foundation and the European Policy Centre for allowing us to broadcast this speech.