Podcasts about trending globally

Bryce Steinberg is a development economist, which means she studies how lower-income countries grow into more prosperous ones. More specifically, she studies how to help people in low-income countries build their “human capital” — a phrase social scientists use to describe things like getting more formal education, more professional training, or improving your health.As she tells Dan Richards on this episode of Trending Globally, part of the answer is well-understood.“We have to build the schools, we have to build the clinics, we have to get the roads, get the infrastructure in place so that people can access these things,” Steinberg explains. However, decades of development policy has made clear that access alone doesn't solve the problem, and supplying communities with such resources doesn't necessarily mean people will use them. Why not? That's what Steinberg studies. On this episode, Richards talks with Steinberg about her research, which seeks to better understand what she calls the “demand-side” of development policy: What makes people actually use the services that are available to them, and how to remove the barriers that stand in their way. They also discuss how development policy has evolved over the last few decades and how, with the dismantling of USAID, it may be poised to change once again. Transcript coming soon to our website.

Watson School political scientist Peter Andreas has spent decades studying the global economy — but not the one you read about in the business section, or are taught in Econ 101. His focus is on the illicit global economy. He's written about everything from piracy in colonial America to the smuggling of technology during the Industrial Revolution, to clandestine migration and illegal drug trafficking today. His newest book, “The Illicit Global Economy: Everything You Need to Know,” is both a concise primer on this massive topic and a compelling argument for why you can't understand our global economy today without understanding how it operates on both sides of the law. On this episode of “Trending Globally,” he talks with Dan Richards about how the illicit global economy works, the surprising nuances within it, and how it intersects with some of the most pressing issues in our politics today. Learn more about and purchase “The Illicit Global Economy: Everything You Need to Know.”

What's the role of a university in a democratic society? What responsibility do universities have to foster the public good, and what responsibilities does the public have to support centers of education and research? These have become some of the most fraught and pressing questions in our current moment. But of course, they're also timeless questions — ones that are as old as the United States itself. In May, Watson political economist Mark Blyth explored these questions with literary scholar Kevin McLaughlin and historian Karin Wulf on the Rhodes Center Podcast, another podcast from the Watson School. In addition to having thought deeply on just these types of issues, Kevin and Karin are also the co-chairs of “Brown 2026,” an initiative marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. and exploring the past and future role of universities in a democratic society. Their conversation has only become more salient since it was originally recorded, which is why we're sharing it with Trending Globally listeners today. Guests on this episode:Kevin McLaughlin is a literary scholar and director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study at Brown. Karin Wulf is a historian and director and librarian of the John Carter Brown Library.Learn more about Brown 2026. Transcript coming soon to our website.

In 2022, OpenAI, Inc. launched a free version of its software ChatGPT, ushering in a new phase in the widespread use of artificial intelligence. Since then, a constant stream of breakthroughs in AI tech by a handful of companies has made clear that artificial intelligence will reshape our planet more profoundly and more quickly than many of us imagined.Some of these promised changes are thrilling. Just as many, it seems, are terrifying. So, how should we think about the impact AI will have on us all, especially when it comes to the most fundamental questions of humanity's shared future? According to Watson Institute Senior Fellow Malika Saada Saar, to make sure AI serves us all, we can't be too scared of it. In fact, it's all of our responsibility to use it and understand it. “It's important that all of us be able to have curiosity about the technology and to be able to interact with it. Because if the fourth industrial revolution becomes technology that's only utilized by the few, it's very dangerous,” Saar told Dan Richards on this episode of “Trending Globally.” Saar is a human rights lawyer who, before coming to Watson, served as the Global Head of Human Rights for YouTube. On this episode, Dan Richards spoke with her about how human rights law intersects with big tech and about the risks and opportunities AI poses for the future of human rights. Transcript coming soon to our website

Join Tom Shaughnessy from Delphi Digital and Ejazz from 26 Crypto Capital as they host Shaw, founder of Eliza Labs and AI16Z, for an in-depth discussion on the evolution of AI agents and frameworks. The conversation explores Shaw's remarkable journey, the development of the Eliza framework, and his vision for decentralized AGI. The discussion covers crucial topics from agent development and tokenomics to the future of blockchain-based AI platforms.

In the last two presidential elections in the United States, one issue has entered our political debates in a way we haven't seen in recent history: the health and future of American democracy itself. And as Rob Blair, a political scientist at the Watson Institute and co-founder of the Democratic Erosion Consortium, explains, this isn't without reason. “I am not especially bullish on the future of American democracy. I think it has deteriorated quite a bit in recent years, and I suspect we will see continued deterioration in the years to come,” Blair explained to Dan Richards on this episode of Trending Globally. However, while this erosion is concerning, it might not mean exactly what you think it does. “If what we're expecting is tanks rolling down the streets at least anytime in the immediate future, I think that's very unlikely...the end can just be a worse democracy,” said Blair.On this episode, Blair talks with Dan about the nuanced, complex reality of democratic erosion in the U.S. and around the world: what causes it, how to measure it, what it looks like in our politics, and how we might stop it. Learn more about the Democratic Erosion ConsortiumTranscript coming soon to our website

In January of 2019, journalist Elizabeth Rush joined 56 scientists and crew people aboard an ice-breaking research vessel to study the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica. The glacier, which is about the size of the state of Florida, has been nicknamed the “Doomsday Glacier” for the effect its disintegration would likely play in the rise of global sea levels. “If we lose Thwaites, there's great concern that we will lose the entirety or big portions of the West Antarctic ice sheet and that those glaciers combined contain enough ice to raise global sea levels 10 feet or more,” Rush told Dan Richards on this episode of Trending Globally. Rush recounts her voyage aboard the Palmer and how it reshaped her understanding of our changing climate and planet in her 2023 book, “The Quickening: Antarctica, Motherhood and Cultivating Hope in a Warming World.” However, as the title suggests, the book is also about another, more personal journey: Rush's decision to have a child. The resulting book is part adventure travelogue, part mediation on the meaning of motherhood, and part climate change manifesto. It also offers some much-needed wisdom on how to envision a future when it feels like the world is falling apart. Learn more about and purchase “The Quickening”Learn more about “The Conceivable Future”Transcript coming soon to our website

On November 5, Americans went to the polls and once again elected Donald Trump president of the United States. By this point, you probably know the broad strokes of his victory: He won every swing state and, unlike in 2016, the popular vote as well. It also seems clear that a key part of the Democratic Party's message — that another Trump term would threaten democracy and push the nation toward authoritarianism — didn't resonate with voters like they hoped it would. However, as Financial Times U.S. National Nditor and Watson Institute Senior Fellow Edward Luce explains on this episode of “Trending Globally,” that doesn't mean it's not true. “There's this sort of surpassing irony of what happened last Tuesday is that it was a free and fair election. Democracy worked to elect a person who rejects the democratic system unless he wins,” Luce told host Dan Richards. Luce is the author of several books, including “The Retreat of Western Liberalism,” which was published in 2017. He is an indispensable voice when it comes to understanding Trump and the MAGA movement as a phenomenon that is both uniquely American and part of decades-long trend in global politics. This is something Luce also explores with Watson Institute students in his study group, “The Revenge of Geopolitics.” On this episode, Luce spoke with Richards about what another Trump term could mean for American democracy, geopolitical stability, and the future of liberal democratic values around the world. Transcript coming soon to our websiteLearn more about and purchase “The Retreat of Western Liberalism” by Ed LuceLearn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

In March 2020, the Vatican's Apostolic Archives of Pope Pius XII — also known as the Vatican's “secret archives” — were opened to scholars from around the world. Historian and Watson Professor David Kertzer was one of those scholars. What he found there is helping to reframe the role that the Catholic Church — and its then-leader, Pope Pius XII — played in World War II. Pius XII's legacy is heavily debated. Some want him to be made a saint. Others call him ‘“Hitler's Pope,” blaming him for aiding the Nazi regime and, ultimately, facilitating the Holocaust. What David Kertzer found is a much more complicated story. On this episode of “Trending Globally,” originally broadcast in the summer of 2022, the story of “a pope at war” and what it can teach us about the need for moral leadership in times of crisis. Learn more about and purchase David Kertzer's 2022 book “The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini and Hitler"Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts Transcript coming soon to our website

On June 4, results came in from the largest democratic election in history. Over 640 million people voted in India's election, which took place at over one million polling places across the country over the course of six weeks. Many predicted that India's prime minister Nerandra Modi and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would dominate the election, grow their ranks in Parliament, and further impose their Hindu-nationalist ideology on the country. However, that wasn't what happened. Modi was reelected, but his party lost over 60 seats in the lower house of Parliament. The BJP will have to govern as part of a multi-party coalition, and most likely moderate their Hindu-nationalist aspirations.On this episode, you'll hear from Ashutosh Varshney, a political scientist at Brown University and director of the Watson Institute's Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia, about this historic election: what led to its surprising outcome, what it means for the Hindu-nationalist movement embodied by Prime Minister Nerandra Modi, and what it might tell us about the struggle for democracy occurring in countries around the world. *Trending Globally will be taking a brief summer hiatus, but we'll be back in July with all-new episodes*Learn more about the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia at the Watson InstituteLearn more about the Watson Institute's other podcastsTranscript coming soon to our website

At the Watson Institute, the beginning of summer means commencement festivities, moving trucks, and bittersweet goodbyes. In American politics, the beginning of summer means something very different: the approach of the Supreme Court's summer recess and, with it, the handing down of the Court's final decisions from this term. This year's cases will have profound effects on the 2024 election, gun rights, reproductive rights, and more. While it's nothing new for the Supreme Court to weigh in on contentious issues in society, as our guest on this episode sees it, something profound has shifted within the Court over the last few years. The decisions they hand down are not only increasingly transformative, they're also lining up more and more clearly with our partisan politics. And no matter your politics, that should be a problem. Kate Shaw is a constitutional law scholar and professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a 2001 graduate of Brown University. She is also the co-host of the podcast “Strict Scrutiny,” which explores the Supreme Court — the cases, the people and the culture surrounding it. On this episode, Dan Richards spoke with her about how the Supreme Court fits in our politics today, how that role has changed over time, and what Kate thinks its role in our society today should be.Subscribe to Trending Globally wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe to Strict Scrutiny wherever you listen to podcasts.Transcript coming soon to our website.

Here's a depressing fact: it takes longer to travel from Boston to Los Angeles today than it did 50 years ago. Getting to the airport, getting through the airport, the flight itself — just about every part of the process takes longer than it once did. According to New York Times senior writer David Leonhardt, this is just one example of the stagnation defining so many aspects of America's society and economy today. From life expectancy to education outcomes to rates of income inequality, by so many measures, American society simply isn't improving for as many Americans as rapidly as it once did. By some measures, it's not improving at all.In other words: the American dream is increasingly out of reach. Leonhardt's newest book, “Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream,” explores the data and the history behind this dimming of the American dream. This spring, he came to the Watson Institute to discuss the book with Jeff Colgan, director of the Watson Institute's Climate Solutions Lab. In this episode of Trending Globally, Colgan talks with Leonhardt about the cultural and political shifts that have contributed to this change, and about what needs to be done to make widespread prosperity attainable in the decades to come. Learn more about and purchase “Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream”Subscribe to “The Morning”, a newsletter from The New York TimesLearn more about the Watson Institute's other podcastsTranscript coming soon to our website

We've got a lot of exciting new Trending Globally episodes coming up in the next few weeks and months, but this week we're sharing an episode of another podcast from the Watson Institute: Mark and Carrie. The show is hosted by political economist Mark Blyth and political scientist Carrie Nordlund. On each episode, they discuss, debate and, occasionally, make fun of the biggest headlines of the day. The conversations are always thought-provoking and informative, and while the topics are sometimes somber, the show is not. On this episode, they discuss some of the factors shaping the 2024 U.S. elections, the state of the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and what's next for the U.K.'s Labour Party. They also ponder: is Mark too old for VR headsets? Listen to more of Mark and Carrie and subscribe. Learn about all of the Watson Institute's other podcasts. Episode transcript coming soon to our website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trending Globally will be back with all new episodes soon, but in the meantime we're rereleasing some of our favorite episodes from 2023. We hope you enjoy – and have a great start to 2024!***The beginning of 2023 saw a disturbing milestone: the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the ‘Doomsday Clock' forward to 90 seconds to midnight – the closest it's been to ‘Doomsday' since the clock was established in 1947. But what would it take for a nuclear weapon to actually be used in the world today? And if one was used, how would the rest of the world respond? In this episode (originally released in February 2023), the second in our limited series on the theory, policies, and practice of conflict escalation, you'll hear from two experts rethinking how nuclear threats are understood and modeled. Rose McDermott is a professor of International Affairs at the Watson Institute, and Reid Pauly is an assistant professor of Nuclear Security and Policy at Watson. Their paper “Decision-making Under Pressure: The Mechanisms and Psychology of Nuclear Brinkmanship” is the lead article in the current issue of International Security. In it, they reframe one of the most fundamental theories for understanding nuclear risks: nuclear “brinkmanship.” They highlight why conventional models of brinkmanship fail to fully explain how a nuclear crisis might unfold and explore what interventions are needed to prevent one from starting. Read Rose and Reid's paper, “Decision-making Under Pressure: The Mechanisms and Psychology of Nuclear Brinkmanship.”Listen to the first episode in our limited series, “Escalation,” with Lyle Goldstein. Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts.

“Trending Globally” will be back with all new episodes soon, but in the meantime, we're rereleasing a few of our favorite episodes from 2023. We hope you enjoy — and have a great start to 2024!***In 2007, Watson Professor John Eason moved with his family from Chicago to Forest City, Arkansas. At the time Eason was getting his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, and he moved to Forest City to learn about America's mass incarceration crisis from a perspective that's often overlooked: that of the towns where America's prisons are located. What effect do prisons have in these often underserved rural communities? And what role do these communities play in what scholars and activists often call the “prison industrial complex”? What he found was a story that defied easy explanation. “After a week in Forest City…everything I had thought I'd known about why we build prisons was completely changed,” Eason described. His book about Forest City, “Big House on the Prairie: Rise of the Rural Ghetto and Prison Proliferation,” explores the town's politics, history, and culture to offer a nuanced picture of how prisons affect the communities that house them. In doing so, he unsettles many of the notions Americans have about the relationship between race, class and mass incarceration. On this episode of “Trending Globally” (originally broadcast in January 2022), Eason explains what brought him to Forest City, what he found once he got there, and how it changed his view of the prison-industrial complex. Whether you see prisons as a necessary part of society or an institution in need of abolition, John's work provides essential context for envisioning a more humane and just way forward for America's carceral system. Learn more about and purchase “Big House on the Prairie”Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts Transcript coming soon to our website

This December marks four years since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. On this episode of Trending Globally, Dan Richards speaks with two experts from the Pandemic Center at Brown University's School of Public Health about the ways our society's approach to public health has changed since 2019. They discuss how we should be thinking about COVID-19 in our daily lives, the unexpected ways international conflicts have changed conversations around pandemic preparedness, and what the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 can teach us about how societies learn from disasters.Guest on today's episode: Jennifer Nuzzo is an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University's School of Public HealthWilmot James is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of global health, international security, and a Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center. Watch Jennifer Nuzzo's TED talk about how to prepare for future pandemicsLearn more about the Watson Institute's other podcastsTranscript coming soon

How do our individual experiences shape our political views? What role do our own stories and memories play in how we think about the world around us? How can we use our memories — even our most painful ones — to help build a more peaceful politics? These are complicated questions, and not of the variety we often ask on this show. But historian Omer Bartov thinks that trying to answer them is essential to finding political solutions to our most vexing problems. And in his new book “Genocide, the Holocaust and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis,” Bartov powerfully makes the case. On this episode of Trending Globally, Dan Richards talks with Bartov about the book — which weaves together personal stories, historical analyses and a moral critique of Israel's treatment of Palestinians — and how individual stories and personal memories are inextricably linked to the politics we create. Although this podcast was scheduled before the current Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the interview took place in the wake of the events of October 7 and therefore those events are a big part of the conversation. But as this conversation hopefully makes clear, Bartov's book and analysis are even more important and relevant in our current moment.Learn more about an purchase “Genocide, the Holocuast, and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis”Reading recommendations from Omer Bartov:“Gate of the Sun” and “Children of the Ghetto” by Elias Khoury“Khirbet Khizeh” by S. Yizhar“Facing the Forests” A. B. Yehoshua“Return to Haifa” by Ghassan KanafanlLearn more about the Watson Institute's other podcastsTranscript coming soon to our website

In the last year, programs like ChatGPT, Dall-E and Bard have shown the world just how powerful artificial intelligence can be. AI programs can write hit pop songs, pass the bar exam and even appear to develop meaningful relationships with humans. This apparent revolution in AI tech has provoked widespread awe, amazement — and for some, terror. But as Brown Professor of Data Science and Computer Science Suresh Venkatasubramanian explains on this episode of Trending Globally, artificial intelligence has been with us for a while, and a serious, nuanced conversation about its role in our society is long overdue. Suresh Venkatasubramanian is the Deputy Director of Brown's Data Science Institute. This past year, he served in the Biden Administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he helped craft the administration's blueprint for an “AI Bill Rights.” In this episode of Trending Globally, Dan Richards talks with Suresh about what an AI Bill of Rights should look like and how to build a future where artificial intelligence isn't just safe and effective, but actively contributes to social justice. Read the blueprint for the AI Bill of RightsLearn more about Brown's Data Science InstituteLearn more about the Watson Institute's other podcastsTranscript coming soon to our website

This Spring, visiting professor at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs' China Initiative Lyle Goldstein made his first trip to China in five years. He met with military strategists, government officials and scholars to try to better understand China-Russia relations in the wake of the war in Ukraine. He left more concerned about another part of the world just 100 miles off the coast of China—Taiwan. As he described the current tension between China, Taiwan, and the U.S. to Dan Richards on this episode of Trending Globally, “This case, in my view, is extremely dangerous. I would argue that [it's] the most dangerous flashpoint in the world, by a good margin.”On this episode – our third in our “Escalation” series – you'll hear from Goldstein about why Taiwan has become a global flashpoint. It's not the first time a potential crisis in Taiwan has caused alarm, but as he explains, this time is different – it's much more dangerous. Listen to the other two episodes on our “Escalation” series here and here.Learn more about Watson's China Initiative Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts Transcript coming soon to our website

You've seen it in the headlines, and maybe you've felt it in your own life: over the last few years, cyber attacks have become more frequent and more damaging. They can also vary widely in nature, ranging from minor nuisances to national security crises.Is there anything we can do to secure ourselves – as individuals, and as a society – from these attacks? Is there any way to get ahead of the problem, given the dizzying speed of change in our digital technology? According to our two guests on this episode of Trending Globally, to answer these questions, you need to ask some much deeper questions about the role of technology in society and the relationship between governments, businesses, and individuals. Congressman Jim Langevin represented Rhode Island in the House of Representatives from 2001 until 2023. Chris Inglis served as cyber director for the Biden Administration from 2021 until this past February and as deputy director of the NSA from 2006 until 2014. In this episode, you'll hear from Chris and Jim about the future of cybersecurity, and why it's so much more than just a technological problem. This spring, Jim Langevin is leading a study group at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs on the issue of cybersecurity. He recently brought Chris Inglis to campus to discuss their work together, including helping to create the Biden Administration's National Cyber Strategy, which was released in March of this year. Read a summary of the Biden Administration's National Cyber StrategyLearn more about the Cyber Solarium Commission Learn more about other podcasts from the Watson InstituteTranscript coming soon to our website

In Southern Africa our most popular fermented products are amasi, sour milk and amahewa, a non-alcoholic fermented maize drink. In this edition we talk more about fermented foods and beverages, its health benefits and how it's trending globally. Mika Zorgman, co-founder and product developer at TabuFood chats to Food For Mzansi's commercial journalist, Octavia Spandiel. They manufacture high quality whole food, plant based and imported Japanese macrobiotic products.

Last year, the biggest piece of climate legislation in American history was signed into law. However, it wasn't always touted as such; even its name - “The Inflation Reduction Act” – avoided the topic of climate.This puts it in a long line of federal climate legislation, according to climate policy experts Leah Stokes and Jeff Colgan. As Jeff told Dan Richards in this episode of “Trending Globally,” “Lots of the progress that we make on climate change is best done when the word climate is never mentioned at all.” Jeff is a political scientist and director of the Climate Solutions Lab at Watson. Leah is an associate professor of environmental politics at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and she helped craft the climate-related provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. To understand the relationship between the science and politics of climate change in the U.S., you couldn't ask for two better guests. As they explain, the bill's name is just one example of how this legislation was shaped as much by the politics of a closely divided Senate as it was by the science of climate change and decarbonization. In this episode, Jeff and Leah talk with Dan Richards about the contents of the bill, what it took to get it passed and how it will contribute to the global effort to fight climate change. They also discuss the law's political ramifications because, along with reshaping our electrical grid, the Inflation Reduction Act might very well also rearrange America's political landscape.Listen to Leah Stokes' podcast “A Matter of Degrees”.Explore the Climate Solutions Lab “Climate Opportunity Map”.Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts.Transcript coming soon to our website.

Rachel Lindsay, media personality and star of The Bachelorette Season 13, talks about her new novel “Real Love!” which explores what happens when you take the road less traveled in love. This week's Dating Dish is: A new survey shows how the rise of dating apps has fundamentally changed the way people find and keep relationships. The Dear Damona question this week is: How do I manage all of these dating app conversations? Follow Rachel on Instagram @TheRachLindsay and be sure to pick up a copy of her new novel, “Real Love!” and her essay book, “Miss Me With That: Hot Takes, Helpful Tidbits, and a Few Hard Truths”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

February is Black History Month, and in this episode of “Trending Globally,” you'll hear from two scholars at Brown who are bringing to light overlooked aspects of the Black experience in America. In the first half of the episode, Mack Scott, a visiting professor at Brown's Center for Slavery and Justice, talks with Dan Richards about the complex relationship between Rhode Island's Narragansett Nation and the state's Black communities in the 18th and 19th centuries. It's a vivid example of how America's history of anti-Black racism is deeply intertwined with the history of America's indigenous communities. In the second half, Watson Senior Fellow Geri Augusto talks about a project she's working on to uncover, preserve, and transmit the history of one of the Civil Rights movement's most important and unique organizations – the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Geri is working with scholars and activists to bring this history to life and to find new, more inclusive ways to help people share their stories on their own terms. Explore the SNCC Legacy Project, and the SNCC Digital Gateway. Learn more about the theory and practice of Critical Oral History. Read Mack Scott's recent article in the Providence Journal. Photo by Danny Lyon. Learn more about the image. Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts. Transcript coming soon to our website.

In 2007, Watson Professor John Eason moved with his family from Chicago to Forest City, Arkansas. At the time Eason was getting his PhD at the University of Chicago, and he moved to Forest City to learn about America's mass incarceration crisis from a perspective that's often overlooked: that of the towns where America's prisons are located. What effect do prisons have in these often underserved rural communities? And what role do these communities play in what scholars and activists often call the “prison industrial complex”? What he found was a story that defied easy explanation. “After a week in Forest City…everything I had thought I'd known about why we build prisons was completely changed,” Eason described. His book about Forest City, Big House on the Prairie: Rise of the Rural Ghetto and Prison Proliferation, explores the town's politics, history, and culture to offer a nuanced picture of how prisons affect the communities that house them. In doing so, he unsettles many of the notions Americans have about the relationship between race, class, and mass incarceration. On this episode of Trending Globally, Eason explains what brought him to Forest City, what he found once he got there, and how it changed his view of the prison-industrial complex. Whether you see prisons as a necessary part of society or an institution in need of abolition, John's work provides essential context for envisioning a more humane and just way forward for America's carceral system. Learn more about and purchase Big House on the PrairieLearn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts Transcript coming soon to our website

2022 is coming to a close, but one of the most consequential events of the last year continues unabated: the War in Ukraine. As we approach the one-year mark of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, experts and casual observers (not to mention countless Ukrainians and Russians) are all left wondering: how might this war end? Should the US and NATO support Ukraine at all costs? Or should they push Ukraine and Russia towards a negotiated settlement? What would such a settlement even look like? Meanwhile, new conflicts around the world continue to emerge, each with their own seemingly impossible questions. This is why we're launching ‘Escalation,' a new limited series from Trending Globally. Over the next few months, you'll hear from experts about the history, philosophy, and even psychology of conflict escalation, and what can be done to reduce global conflicts going forward. Our first episode in the series features Lyle Goldstein, a visiting Professor at the Watson Institute and Director of Asia Engagement at the think-tank Defense Priorities. He's an expert on the effects of great power conflict, and the theories that explain them. Professor Goldstein has been following the war in Ukraine closely through both Western and Russian media. He recently published a paper with Watson's Costs of War Project looking at how, while there are no obvious paths out of this war, there are at least paths we should know to avoid. Host Dan Richards and Professor Goldstein explore the poor assumptions and misunderstandings that drive many ideas in this conflict, as well as what a better path forward might look like. Learn more about Professor Goldstein's recent paper with the Costs of War Project. Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts. Transcript coming soon to our website.

We've got a lot of exciting new Trending Globally episodes coming up in the next few weeks and months, but this week we're sharing an episode of another podcast from the Watson Institute: Mark and Carrie. The show is hosted by political economist and Rhodes Center Director Mark Blyth, and political scientist Carrie Nordlund. On each episode they discuss, debate, add context to, and, occasionally, make fun of the biggest headlines of the day. The conversations are always thought-provoking and informative, and while the topics are often somber, the show is not. On this episode they discuss the geopolitics of the World Cup, the future of the Republican Party, and how FTX's complicated crypto-scandal fits into the long lineage of financial fraud. They also briefly play with Mark's dog. Listen to more of Mark and Carrie and subscribe. Learn about all of the Watson Institute's other podcasts. Episode transcript coming soon to our website.

This year's US midterm elections were as consequential as any in recent history. But it's not just the headline-grabbing national races for Congress that will reshape the country in the coming years. There were also thousands of state-level elections on Tuesday, the results of which will have huge implications for Americans on issues including gun control, reproductive rights, the pandemic response, and climate change. On this episode of Trending Globally we're stepping aside from midterm election analysis (there's plenty of that to go around) — instead, you'll hear from an expert on state-level government about the surprising, underappreciated power of US states to change people's lives. And a warning: whatever your political beliefs, this conversation might actually make you feel optimistic about American government. Ambassador Suzi LeVine '93 is a Senior Fellow of International and Public Affairs at the Watson Institute, and this Fall she's leading a study group called ‘The Power of the States'. In it, she's helping students to see the tremendous potential of US state governments to change lives, and the unrecognized potential everyday citizens have to make their voice heard at the state level. Learn more about Ambassador LeVine's work and her Watson Institute Study Group. Learn more about this episode and all our other episodes on our website. Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts. Episode transcript coming soon. A final note: This fall marks Trending Globally's fifth year at the Watson Institute, and this is the show's 200th episode. To learn more about our favorite past episodes and stay up to date on ways we'll celebrate in the coming weeks, follow the Watson Institute on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And thank you all for listening!

To mark the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, Trending Globally teamed up with the Watson Institute's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies to explore the breadth of ‘Hispanic Heritage' in 2022.   In the first part of the show, Dan Richards talks with Dr. Pablo Rodriguez about how the growing Hispanic and Latinx population in the U.S. is changing the country's electoral politics. Dr. Rodriguez is a medical doctor, public health advocate, and political commentator based in Rhode Island, and he's observed and analyzed this transformation first-hand. They discuss the wide-ranging effects of this demographic change, and why its political implications are so hard to predict.  In the second half Dan talks with Susan Eckstein, a professor of sociology at Boston University and author of Cuban Privilege: The Making of Immigrant Inequality in America. Her book tells the story of Cuban-American immigration policy since World War II, and the geographic, economic, and geopolitical quirks of history that created it. In telling this singular story, Eckstein casts a new light on all U.S. immigration policy. Questions? Comments? Ideas for topics or guests? Email us at: trendingglobally@brown.edu. https://watson.brown.edu/clacs/ (Learn more about Watson's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.)  Learn more about and purchase https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cuban-privilege/9C816C6897367585C97EFEC03E1E8419 (Cuban Privilege: The Making of immigrant Inequality in America.) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts. ) https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/ (Find transcripts and more information about all our episodes on our website.) Transcript for this episode coming soon.

From the Watson Institute at Brown University, this is Trending Globally. I'm Dan Richards.  On September 13, 2022, a young Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini was detained by the country's ‘morality police' for improperly wearing her hijab.  Three days later, she was dead. Authorities claimed it was the result of a heart attack, but images of her in the hospital – bruised and bloodied – suggested otherwise.  Those images, along with the government's cover-up surrounding the details of her death, have sparked a protest movement in Iran unlike any the country has seen.  On this bonus episode of Trending Globally, Dan Richards spoke  with anthropologist and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies  Nadje Al-Ali about these protests, and about the unique role gender has come to play in them.  These protests are, and always have been, about much more than hijabs, as Nadje explains. They're part of a much longer story of political resistance in the Middle East. Many of us, especially in the West, would do well to understand that story. Questions? Comments? Ideas for topics or guests? Email us at: trendingglobally@brown.edu. https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8xXiqyfBg0 (Listen to Shervin Hajipour's song 'Baraye)'. https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/ (Transcript coming soon on our website). 

In the fall of 2021, tens of thousands of Afghan citizens were evacuated out of Afghanistan as the Taliban re-took the country. Many of these people resettled in the United States, and many more will resettle here in the coming years.  Yet despite their growing numbers in America, and their unique relationship to the United States, there's much we don't know about their specific needs as refugees.  On this episode of Trending Globally, you'll hear from one man who fled Kabul with his family about their journey from Afghanistan and resettlement in Rhode Island. You'll also hear from researchers at Watson's Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies and Rhode Island's Refugee Dream Center, who are working together to learn how these refugees can be better supported after such a traumatic evacuation and rapid resettlement in a new country.  In the process of this research, these experts are also learning firsthand what needs to be done to make humanitarian evacuations safer and more humane. Because sadly, whether we're talking about Myanmar, Ukraine, or countless other places in crisis, there will be many more emergencies requiring humanitarian evacuations in the future, resulting in refugees who must make new lives for themselves in communities around the world.  https://watson.brown.edu/chrhs/ (Learn more about the Watson Institute's Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies).  https://www.refugeedreamcenter.org/elementor-2556/ (Learn more about the Refugee Dream Center).  https://watson.brown.edu/events/2022/refugee-dream-center-chrhs-event-afghan-refugee-perceptions-us-military (Meet Omar, Adam, and Alexandria and learn more about their work on Wednesday 9/21 at the Watson Institute.)  Transcript coming soon. One final note: This is Sarah Baldwin's last episode as host of Trending Globally. We're sad to see her go, but the show won't be going anywhere. Dan Richards (who you've heard before, including on our last episode with Andrew Schrank) will be filling in as our host, and we'll also be having guest hosts in the coming months. We're excited for what's come, and so grateful for everything Sarah brought to the show. Thank you, Sarah! 

High-profile unionization drives at companies like Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks have focused attention on organized labor in the US in a way unseen in half a century. The attention isn't without merit: there were more successful union elections in 2022 than in any year since 2005, and public approval for organized labor is the highest it's been in over 50 years.  Yet despite these signs of a growing labor movement, the percentage of Americans belonging to unions is still substantially smaller than it was during the peak of organized labor participation in the 20th century.  So how should one think about the state of organized labor today? On the eve of Labor Day weekend, maybe it's also worth revisiting why we should care about the state of organized labor in the first place.  On this episode of Trending Globally, you'll hear from Andrew Schrank, professor of sociology and international and public affairs at Watson and an expert on organized labor, about the past, present, and future of the labor movement in America. Because, as he explains, it's more than just workers' wages on the line: our country's prosperity and stability might depend on giving workers a greater voice in the future of our economy.   Read Andrew Schrank's 2019 article ‘https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716219868672 (Rebuilding Labor Power in the Postindustrial United States)' https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts).  Transcript coming soon. 

In 1973, the Supreme Court made abortion a constitutional right in its Roe v. Wade decision. This June, in a 6-to-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court undid that right.  The decision set off shockwaves across the country, and brought up questions not only about reproductive rights, but about the relationship between the Supreme Court and US politics at large.  Dobbs vs. Jackson was only one of several wide-ranging, polarizing decisions of this Supreme Court term. On this episode of Trending Globally, Wendy Schiller, professor of political science and the director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy at Watson, helps explain this term's monumental decisions, and ground them in American politics and history.  At a moment when the reach of the court seems to extend further than ever and its opinions fall on an increasingly divided nation, there's never been a more important time to assess how our judicial system works – and how it doesn't.  https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts) Transcript coming soon

This past year, Trending Globally has been teaming up with the Costs of War Project to explore the effects of 20 years of America's post-9/11 wars. Past episodes have explored America's growing military presence around the world, the refugee crisis these wars have created, and the effects they've had on our planet and environment.  This episode takes a closer look at how these wars have changed life in the United States – in cities, towns, and communities across the country. The first part of the episode focuses on a transformation that's become all too visible in the past few years: the militarization of America's police. The second part of the episode focuses on a less-visible phenomenon, but one that's killed more servicepeople and veterans than all 20 years of combat combined.  Guests on this episode: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/people/contributors/jessica-katzenstein (Dr. Jessica Katzenstein)  https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/people/contributors/thomas-h-ben-suitt-iii (Dr. Ben Suitt)  https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/ (Learn more about the Costs of War Project) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts) Transcript coming soon

For many politicians, policymakers, and voters, the 2016 election of Donald Trump was a shocking lesson in the massive role tech companies, like Facebook and Twitter, play in our politics.  Since then, their role has only gotten bigger. And as our guest on this episode of Trending Globally explains: that's a huge problem for democracies around the world.  Frances Haugen worked as a product manager in Facebook's Civic Integrity Department from 2019-2021. While there she saw firsthand how Facebook's algorithms are designed to maximize user engagement at all costs, with disastrous effects. In 2021 Frances anonymously leaked tens of thousands of internal documents to The Wall Street Journal, and became known as the ‘Facebook Whistleblower.' Since then she's testified before Congress, and helped start a global movement to better understand and regulate ‘Big Tech.' On this episode of Trending Globally, political economist and Rhodes Center Director Mark Blyth talks with Frances about the problems tech giants like Facebook pose to our politics, and what we can do to fix them.  This episode was originally broadcast on the Rhodes Center Podcast, another show from the Watson Institute. If you enjoy this interview, be sure to subscribe to the Rhodes Center Podcast for more just like it.  https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/ (Find transcripts and more information about all our episodes on our website. ) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institutes other podcasts).  https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039 (Read the Wall Street Journal's expose on Facebook.)

Today, there are over 25 million people living as refugees around the world. Humanitarian crises in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, and countless other countries have led to this staggering figure. No matter the circumstance, it's a human tragedy – one which we don't seem to have a plan for how to fix. Failing to provide new homes for refugees isn't only bad for refugees, according to Watson economist Dany Bahar. It's also a lost opportunity for the countries that could be accepting them.  That's because, as Dany explains on this episode of Trending Globally, immigration of all kinds provides profound economic benefits to host countries in a variety of ways. By looking at data from immigration patterns and refugee crises around the world, Dany and his colleagues are making the case that immigration is a consistent boon for countries, as long as host countries provide the right policies to help immigrants thrive.   In the case of the United States, Dany believes that expanding immigration is more than just an economic opportunity  —  our ability to lead the world as an economic superpower may very well depend on it.  https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-05-03/refugee-opportunity (Read Dany's recent article on the topic at Foreign Affairs.) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts.)  

On this episode, Trending Globally was thrilled to welcome a special guest host: Glenn Loury, professor of economics at the Watson Institute. In addition to being a celebrated economist, Loury is also one of America's most insightful and incisive thinkers on race and public policy.  His guest on this episode, Briahna Joy Gray, is a progressive writer and commentator, and former National Press Secretary for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. Glenn and Briahna discussed some of the Left's most prized policy ambitions, including student debt relief, Medicare-for-all, and increasing taxes on America's wealthiest citizens.  Neither Glenn nor Briahna's political views fall neatly into America's two main political parties, so while they don't see eye to eye on most of the issues, the resulting conversation strays from typical partisan talking points. Instead, you'll hear two independent thinkers respectfully debating America's biggest policy problems, sometimes taking positions that cut across the partisan grain. Hopefully it will help you see some of America's most long-standing political dilemmas in a new light.  Briahna is the host of the podcast ‘https://badfaith.libsyn.com/ (Bad Faith),' and Glenn is the host of his own podcast, ‘https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-glenn-show/id505824976 (The Glenn Show).' Their conversation was edited down for this episode of Trending Globally, but you'll be able to hear the full, unedited version on each of those podcasts soon. You can find them wherever you listen to podcasts.  https://glennloury.substack.com/ (Find more conversations like this on Glenn Loury's Substack.) 

Over the past few years, America's schools have become a battleground in our national politics. Debates about how we teach history and explore issues of race in school have become flashpoints at every level, from school boards to the Oval Office.  And there's one phrase that's become particularly attached to this tension: “critical race theory.”  Those three words have catapulted from the depths of legal academia into the center of partisan politics. But as Danielle Holley-Walker, dean of Howard University Law School and American Council on Education Fellow at Brown University, explains on this episode of Trending Globally, what people today are describing as critical race theory has little to do with its original meaning. And misappropriation of the phrase isn't just a careless mistake; its use (and misuse) is part of a calculated backlash against social movements that have gained momentum in recent years.  On this episode, Sarah talks with Danielle about how the phrase has transformed from a complex legal concept into a conservative talking point, and what that transformation can tell us about race, education, and politics in America today.  https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory (Read the New Yorker's 2021 profile of Christopher Rufo).  https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts). 

Over the past few months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has built up a massive  military presence on Russia's border with Ukraine.  As a result, pundits, politicians, and casual observers of the news have all been asking the same questions: would President Putin actually invade Ukraine? And if so, what would that mean for the rest of the world?  These are fair questions, of course. But Michael Kennedy, our guest on this week's episode of Trending Globally, thinks this framing might actually obscure more than it illuminates. Michael is a professor of sociology at the Watson Institute and an expert on social transformation in Eastern Europe in the post-Cold War era. He's written and taught extensively on Ukraine, and on this episode he helps make sense of this crisis that defies easy explanation.  Despite the complexity of the situation, there's one thing Michael wants us all to see clearly right now: the stakes of this crisis – for the Ukraine, the US, and democracies around the world – couldn't be higher.   https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts. )

The B-2 Spirit, known as the ‘Stealth Bomber,' is one of the most advanced aircrafts in the US military. It has a fuel efficiency of about 4.2 gallons per mile. (That's not a typo; it's less than one mile per gallon.) Burning a full tank of gas in a B-2 releases roughly 250 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That's more than 50 times what the average car releases in an entire year.  And that's just for one trip, for one plane in the US military – the world's largest institutional consumer of fossil fuel.  “The size of that consumption is kind of hard to get your head around,” says Neta Crawford on this episode of Trending Globally.  Neta Crawford is a professor of political science at Boston University and co-founder of the Costs of War project, which is housed at the Watson Institute. The project works to uncover the financial, human, political, and environmental costs of America's post-9/11 wars. This year Trending Globally has teamed up with the Costs of War project to explore what they've found. On this episode you'll hear from Neta Crawford on her groundbreaking work calculating the size and scope of the US military's carbon footprint. In the process of uncovering the extent of the military's fuel consumption and carbon emissions, she also traces the long and complex relationship between national security, fossil fuels, and climate change.  https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/social/environment (Learn more about Neta Crawford's work. ) https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/ (Learn more about the Costs of War Project.) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts.)

In 1996, Keith Harper began to work on a lawsuit against the US government. It was a class action suit filed by Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Confederacy in Montana. She claimed something that many people had long known to be true, but that had never been directly addressed in the US legal system: the US government owed many, many Native Americans a lot of money. Keith Harper - who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation - became a lead prosecutor for the plaintiff class, which grew to include hundreds of thousands of Native Americans. The case, known as Cobell v. Salazar, became one of the largest class action suits in US history. It awarded a total of $3.4 billion dollars to Native Americans across the country.  But as Keith explained to Sarah on this week's episode of Trending Globally:  “It was an important milestone. But we should recognize, it was a mere measure of justice, and not full justice.” Keith would go on to serve as the US Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council under President Obama starting in 2014. He was the first Native American ever to be appointed to an ambassadorship.  This year he's serving as a senior fellow at the Watson Institute, and on this episode we explore both the groundbreaking case Cobell v. Salazar and what Keith sees as the relationship between Native American rights, international law, and human rights more broadly.  https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts. )

While there's a lot to be thankful for this fall and winter (such as an effective Covid-19 vaccine) many Americans are still living in the middle of a crisis when it comes to housing. It's one that's been brewing for far longer than the pandemic -- and looks like it will outlast it, too.  Too many Americans live in unstable housing, or go for stretches of time without any home at all. It's one of our most embarrassing shortcomings as a country, and addressing it has proven to be one of our most vexing policy problems.  This week we're rereleasing one of our favorite episodes on the topic: part three of Less to Lean On, a series on housing in America that Trending Globally produced in collaboration with the media collective Signs of Providence. This particular episode follows one woman as she tries to navigate the world of affordable housing in Rhode Island. Her story reveals the complex web of forces that keep so many Americans from finding stable housing, and why it's disastrous not just for individuals, but for our society as a whole.  If you like this episode, we recommend you go back and listen to the rest of the series, which covers housing, eviction, and homelessness from a variety of angles.  https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/episode/less-to-lean-on-housing-insecurity-in-rhode-island-part-1 (Listen to Part 1) https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/episode/less-to-lean-on-part-2 (Listen to Part 2) https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/episode/less-to-lean-on-part-4 (Listen to Part 4) https://studentsofinitiative.wixsite.com/signsofprovidence?fbclid=IwAR2Yd5kJsy5S71oswgNVtNQRAmWU7RU0FkNpr_-KQW8wr950WKwHN4Xdyxo (Learn more about Signs of Providence) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts. )

Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute and the founder of Kakenya's Dream, a female empowerment and education non-profit based in the rural Masai Mara of Kenya.  Kakenya grew up in the Masai Mara, in a community where it was expected that women wouldn't go to school beyond childhood. They'd be subject to early, arranged marriages, and worse.  Yet, incredibly, Kakenya forged a different path.  On this episode of Trending Globally, you'll hear Kakenya's story in her own words, and learn how it led her to develop a new model for girls' education in rural Kenya. It's a model based on a premise that her life story also affirms: that the education of girls and the health of a community are deeply intertwined.  https://www.kakenyasdream.org/ (Learn more about Kakenya's Dream) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts)

In the world of international affairs, there's perhaps no concept more fundamental than human rights. Yet despite that, these rights seem to be under greater threat in more places than we've seen in a long time.  In order to understand how we might better promote human rights around the world, we at Trending Globally wanted to take a step back and explore the very concept of ‘human rights.' Sarah Baldwin ‘87 and Dan Richards spoke with two experts -- one a political scientist, and one a neuroscientist -- about where exactly this concept comes from, and where it might be going.  Guests on this episode: Nina Tannenwald, Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Brown University Tara White, Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.14670 (Read Tara White's paper) on ‘Dignity Neuroscience.' Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (on our website. )

The past 18 months have been a strange time for art lovers. Museums and galleries have sat empty. Artistic communities have, like all of us, learned to live in isolation. At the same time, though, there's been a revolution in how we think of public space in our cities and towns. Streets, parks, and even alleyways have turned into our storefronts, our classrooms, and our museums.  What do these changes mean for the art world, and for arts' relationship to the rest of the world? On this episode, Trending Globally partnered with ‘Providence Curates' to explore this question. Providence Curates is a nonprofit made up of artists, writers, and curators, dedicated to expanding and diversifying artistic communities in the region and to reimagining how art can enter the public realm.  This conversation was put together for PVDFest Ideas 2021, an Arts and Ideas festival in Providence, Rhode Island.  Guests on this week's show:  Jonny Skye is a gallerist based in Providence, RI, and a board member of Providence Curates.  Spencer Evans is an artist, a professor of drawing at RISD, and a board member of Providence Curates.  Melaine Ferdinand King is a 4th-year doctoral candidate in Africana Studies at Brown University Judith Tolnick Champa is an artist, curator, and founder of Providence Curates and the Providence Biennale.  ‘Providence Curates: Cultivating a Transformative Experiment,' is an offshoot of the Providence Biennale. You can learn more http://www.providencebiennial.com/ (on their website), and contact them directly at providencebiennial@gmail.com.  Special thanks to Stephanie Fortunato, Director, and Dr. Micah Salkind, Special Projects Manager of the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism (ACT) PVDFest Ideas 2021, for making this collaboration possible. You can find a list of all of this year's PVDFest Ideas events (both live and virtual) https://pvdfest.com/events/ (on their website).

This fall marks the 20th year of American military engagement abroad following the events of 9/11. This year Trending Globally is teaming up with scholars at the Costs of War project to explore the effects of two decades of war. The Costs of War project is an interdisciplinary group of scholars who have stepped in where the government has often failed, working to measure the true financial, human, political, and environmental costs of America's post-9/11 wars.  On this episode Sarah Baldwin '87 talks with Stephanie Savell, one of the project's directors, about how the organization started and why its work is more necessary than ever. Dan Richards talks with David Vine about one of the most heartbreaking costs of these wars: the more than 38 million people who have been displaced from their homes in countries including Afghanistan and Iraq. https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/ (Learn more about the Costs of War Project.)  https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520385689/the-united-states-of-war (Learn more about and purchase David Vine's book ​​The United States of War) https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520385689/the-united-states-of-war (A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State.) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts.  )

It's been a summer of crisis in some of the world's most fragile states.  At Trending Globally, we've found ourselves asking the same questions over and over lately -- are the world's rich countries simply not doing enough to help fragile states around the world? Or are they helping, but in the wrong way?  On this episode guest host Dan Richards talks with Brian Atwood, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute, about the unique challenges of providing aid to fragile states. Brian led the U.S. Agency for International Development - known as USAID - under President Clinton. He was also dean of the Humphrey School for Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota from 2002 until 2010. Brian explains what the international community is getting wrong when it comes to helping the world's fragile states, and what we might change to make it right.  You can get more information about this and every other Trending Globally episode, including transcripts, by visiting our website https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/ (here).  You can learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (here). 

Today, we're taking on a BIG question. It's inspired by our friends over at the Trending Globally podcast. They asked policy experts to name one climate change issue that's not getting enough attention.

Here at Possibly, we usually talk about the little things you can do to chip away at climate change. But of course, we need to do big things too. To talk about that, we're turning to our friends at the Trending Globally podcast- Sarah Baldwin and Dan Richards. They wanted to know- what's a burning climate change issue that nobody's talking about?