Podcasts about trending globally

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.

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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). 

Sanskrit is known as the classical language of India, especially Hindu traditions. But over its 3000 year history, Sanskrit was widely used in other Indian religions, as well. And not only religions. Sanskrit was a lingua franca in Early India—a window onto cosmopolitain, literary, intellectual, and political cultures of the past. On this episode, Finnian talks with Audrey Truschke, a historian of South Asia at Rutgers University, who has made her name studying Sanskrit texts and Islamic power on the subcontinent. Her most recent book, “The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule” (Columbia UP), presents a ”history of Sanskrit views of a Muslim Other.” For those on the far-right of identity politics in modern India, the very existence of such Sanskrit works about Muslims—not to mention Audrey Truschke's scholarship—comes as an affront. Hindu nationalists are deeply invested in the idea of a never-ending conflict between Hindus and Muslims. And they're not above distorting history or attacking historians to preserve their worldview. In this conversation, Audrey Truschke speaks about her work, her ideas about history, the importance of public scholarship—and why her research makes some folks on Twitter so angry. Learn more about Audrey Truschke and her new book here: https://www.audreytruschke.com/ Highlights of this conversation are featured on the podcast Trending Globally, “Hindu Nationalism, Contested Histories, and Challenging the Fascism Blueprint.” Listen to this episode and subscribe to Trending Globally here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hindu-nationalism-contested-histories-challenging-fascism/id1173544870?i=1000530302801 Find out more about Sensing the Sacred and the Center for Contemporary South Asia here: https://watson.brown.edu/southasia/news/podcasts. We're eager for your feedback and support: please subscribe and then rate the show on your favorite platforms so that others can find us. You can email us at southasia@brown.edu.

Audrey Truschke is a scholar who has gotten in some very hot water lately. She's regularly harassed on Twitter, she's facing a lawsuit, and she's received death threats. ‘What's she an expert in?' you might ask. Public health? Election law? Critical Race Theory? Nope. Ancient Sanskrit. On this episode we're sharing part of a new podcast from Watson. It's called ‘Sensing the Sacred' and it's hosted by Finnian Gerety, a visiting assistant professor of religious studies and contemplative studies at Watson's Center for Contemporary South Asia. Finnian and Sarah talk about the motivation behind the show, which explores spirituality in South Asia from angles as diverse as the origins of yoga to the rise of Hindu nationalism. Finnian also shares some of his recent conversation with Audrey Truschke, where they talk about the role of Sanskrit in Hindu nationalist propaganda, and more broadly about how to contest the ‘fascist blueprint' we see being enacted around the world today. You can learn more about and subscribe to ‘Sensing the Sacred' here: [https://watson.brown.edu/southasia/news/podcasts] You can buy Audrey's book here: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0231197055/] You can learn more about Trending Globally by subscribing to our podcast newsletter here: [https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/f52w0GW?mode=preview&source_id=b6880bc0-edf0-49c9-8b65-17e2fccc5854&source_type=em&c=] [Transcript forthcoming]

This is the epilogue in a special series from Trending Globally exploring the housing crisis in the United States, and in Rhode Island in particular. The crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but as we showed in this series, it's a problem that has been with us for much, much longer. On this episode, we introduce you to the Brown students and alumni who made this podcast possible through their research, experience, and expertise. We explore why they became interested in housing in the first place, what they learned from making the podcast, and what issues they still wrestle with when it comes to the problem of housing in America. Contributors to this podcast include students from Brown University and the media collective Signs of Providence. You can learn more about their organization here: [evicted-in-ri.com/#/] You can listen to Parts 1-4 of Less to Lean One here: [soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/sets/less-to-lean-on-housing] To learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts, visit: [watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts] [Transcript forthcoming]

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and associate director of Brown's Annenberg Institute, share their take on the week's news. On this episode: the G7's shaky promises on taxing the rich, and shaky relationships with China and Russia; regional variations in the Covid-19 recovery in the US; making sense of the tight US labor market; the Supreme Court talks Snapchat and labor organizing; Justice Stephen Breyer's work/life balance; voting rights, critical race theory, and the 2022 midterm elections; can Jeff Bezos just stay in space? You can listen to Mark on Watson's podcast Trending Globally here: [https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/earth-day-special-whats-missing-from-the-climate-discussion] [Transcript forthcoming]

Between Covid-19 and America's racial reckoning over that past 12 months, there's never been a more important time to understand how race and racism affect both the reporting and the consumption of news in America. In the leadup to Juneteenth, Watson held an event exploring these issues with some of the leading voices covering race today: New York Times reporter John Eligon and CNN Senior Correspondent Sara Sidner. They were interviewed by former President of CNN Jon Klein '80. It was a fascinating event that we thought our listeners at Trending Globally would love, so on this episode we're broadcasting an edited version of their conversation. [Link to video of their full conversation forthcoming] [Transcript forthcoming]

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.

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?

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?

In February, a colleague at the Watson Institute forwarded the team at Trending Globally an email from a former student. The subject line read: “I write to you in desperation and with my life at risk.” The email was sent from Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. The man who sent it was not exaggerating. Myanmar is in the midst of violent unrest, which started when the country’s military staged a coup on February 1, 2021. Min (that's not his real name) has been part of the protests against the coup, and he’s been trying to get word out to the rest of the world about what’s happening in his country. On this episode: a conversation with Min about life during military coup, and a message from Myanmar. [Transcript forthcoming] You can learn more about Watson's other podcasts here: [https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts]

This is the fourth and final part in a special series from Trending Globally exploring the housing crisis in the United States, and in Rhode Island in particular. The crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but as we’ll show, it’s a problem that has been with us for much, much longer. In this episode, we delve into Brown University's complicated relationship with the residential communities it touches. We explore the idea of housing not as a commodity but as a basic human right, and talk with people who are working to make that idea a reality. And we recommend ways that activists, politicians, and residents everywhere we can work toward equitably and affordably housing all Americans. Contributors to this podcast include students from Brown University and the media collective Signs of Providence. You can learn more about their organization here: [evicted-in-ri.com/#/] You can listen to Parts 1, 2, and 3 here: [soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/sets/less-to-lean-on-housing] [Transcript forthcoming] To learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts, visit: [watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts]

On this episode Watson’s Director Ed Steinfeld talks with Deborah Seligsohn as part of Trending Globally’s ongoing series on contemporary China. Deborah’s an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Villanova University, where she focuses on the relationship between business interests and environmental issues in China. Ed and Deborah explore how China’s economic transformation has changed the country’s views towards environmental issues, and how the US and China might cooperate (and, at times, compete) to address global issues like climate change. You can learn more about and listen to the Watson Institute's other podcasts here: [https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts]

This is the third part in a special series from Trending Globally exploring the housing crisis in the United States, and in Rhode Island in particular. The crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but as we’ll show, it’s a problem that has been with us for much, much longer. On this episode, we follow one Rhode Island family's story in order to understand the psychological and economic costs of eviction, and we examine the state-level policies that make the experience so much more punishing than it has to be. We look at the long-term causes of housing insecurity, and explore what it would actually mean to make housing a human right. Contributors to this podcast include students from Brown University and the media collective Signs of Providence. You can learn more about their organization here: [evicted-in-ri.com/#/] You can listen to Parts 1 and 2 here: [https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/sets/less-to-lean-on-housing] To learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts, visit: [https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts]

Trending Globally will have more coverage of the US election results in the coming weeks, but today, as votes are still being counted, we have something for those who might want a little break from election news. This is the first episode of a series we produced last year about the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. The Sandinistas first came to power over 40 years ago, but in many ways their revolution remains unfinished. It’s a story about politics and war, but it’s also about a family, and how to imagine a better future when nothing is certain. In this episode: Who are the Sandinistas? How did they grow from a rag-tag army to an unstoppable revolutionary force? On this episode we get answers -- from former Sandinistas themselves. You can listen to the remaining three parts of 'Revolution Revisited' here: Part II: https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/trending-globally-presents-revolution-revisited-part-ii Part III: https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/revolution-revisited-part-iii Part IV: https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/revolution-revisited-part-iv For more information about the conference this podcast was based on, including recorded lectures and a short film featuring many of the voices in this podcast, visit [watson.brown.edu/nicaragua].

This is the second part in a special series from Trending Globally exploring the housing crisis in the United States, and in Rhode Island in particular. The crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but as we’ll show, it’s a problem that has been with us for much, much longer. In Part II, we explore the role racism has played in this ongoing crisis, through policies and practices both unofficial and government sanctioned. We also look at how history is repeating itself today, as President Trump implies that white suburbs are facing an existential threat. But if the current inequalities are the result of deliberate actions, perhaps deliberate actions can also be used rectify them. (Photo credit: Steve Ahlquist) Contributors to this podcast include students from Brown University and the media collective Signs of Providence. You can learn more about their organization here: [evicted-in-ri.com/#/] *We'll be back in two weeks with another episode of Trending Globally, and soon thereafter with Part 3 of 'Less to Lean On.'

This is the first part in a special series from Trending Globally exploring the housing crisis in the United States, and in Rhode Island in particular. This crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but as we’ll show, it’s a problem that has been with us for much, much longer. In this series Sarah talks with tenants, landlords, housing advocates, academics, and government officials to illuminate the complexity of housing in this moment -- and its dire consequences for those suffering from illness, unemployment, and the threat of eviction. It's a story about economics, race, history and public health, and about a system that's been broken for about as long as it's existed. It's also a story about how, thanks to an unprecedented crisis and the tireless work of activists, things might just be starting to change. (Photo credit: Steve Ahlquist) Contributors to this podcast include students from Brown University and the media collective Signs of Providence. You can learn more about their organization here: [http://evicted-in-ri.com/#/] *We'll be back in two weeks with another episode of Trending Globally, and soon thereafter with Part II of 'Less to Lean On'

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and associate director of Brown's Master of Public Affairs program, share their take on the news. On this episode: Trump's strategy to let states fend for themselves; Joe Biden's strategy of being neither seen nor heard; how Europe's handling the coronavirus; the US's 'one bit of luck' in this crisis; a eulogy to American exceptionalism; updates on the British Royal family; Mark's recipe of the week. *If you like Mark and Carrie, check out Watson's other politics and policy podcast, Trending Globally. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts, or on Soundcloud here: [https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/tracks]*

The spread of the coronavirus, and global effort to contain it, have quickly upended every aspect of our lives. We at Trending Globally are going to bring your more conversations and insights about this pandemic in the coming weeks from our community of experts at Watson and Brown. On this episode: how the coronavirus is affecting US politics, and how US politics are affecting the development of this public health crisis. Guest host Dan Richards talks with Wendy Schiller, Watson Faculty Fellow and Chair of the Political Science Department at Brown University. They discuss the wide-ranging affects of this crisis on American politics, from the Democratic Primaries to voting reform to how might it affect the concerns and considerations of voters going into the general election.

This is the first episode in a special series that Trending Globally will be producing this semester with Watson’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (also known as CLACS). Each episode will focus on a different aspect of society in Latin America and the Caribbean. To start: the politics of natural disasters and emergency management. Storms like Maria and Dorian have done more than cripple islands in the Caribbean; they've brought up important questions of politics, power, and social justice in the region. We're excited to welcome as a special guest host for this series Dr. Pablo Rodriguez. Dr. Rodriguez is Chair of the Women & Infants Health Care Alliance, Associate Professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown, and the former Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island. He’s also a radio host here in Rhode Island, and one of the most trusted voices covering politics and Latin-x issues in the state. He spoke with two experts on the Caribbean who are based here at Brown: Patsy Lewis, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; and Paget Henry, a sociologist and Professor at Brown. You can learn more about Watson’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies here: [https://watson.brown.edu/clacs/]

In 1979 a group of young rebels, calling themselves the Sandinista National Liberation Front, overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Nicaragua. 40 years later, Nicaraguans are again living under an oppressive authoritarian regime. The current leader? Sandinista Daniel Ortega. In the Spring of 2019, the Watson Institute held an unprecedented conference exploring the history and legacy of this unfinished revolution. Out of that conference came this four-part special series from Trending Globally, telling the story of the Sandinista Revolution from the people who lived it. Part IV: How a country that went through a revolution, a civil war, and a miraculous transition to democracy...found itself under the control of a dictator again today. But like in 1979, young people are taking to the streets, and the world is watching. For more information about the conference this podcast was based on, including recorded lectures and a short film featuring many of the voices from this podcast, visit [watson.brown.edu/nicaragua].

In 1979 a group of young rebels, calling themselves the Sandinista National Liberation Front, overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Nicaragua. 40 years later, Nicaraguans are again living under an oppressive authoritarian regime. The current leader? Sandinista Daniel Ortega. In the Spring of 2019, the Watson Institute held an unprecedented conference exploring the history and legacy of this unfinished revolution. Out of that conference came this four-part special series from Trending Globally, telling the story of the Sandinista Revolution from the people who lived it. Part III: The Contra War. How a CIA-led insurrection against the Sandinista government turned into a genuine, massive civil war by the mid 1980s. We hear from people on different sides of the struggle, as well as from those involved in it's surprising resolution.  For more information about the conference this podcast was based on, including recorded lectures and a short film featuring many of the voices from this podcast, visit [watson.brown.edu/nicaragua].

In 1979 a group of young rebels, calling themselves the Sandinista National Liberation Front, overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Nicaragua. 40 years later, Nicaraguans are again living under an oppressive authoritarian regime. The current leader? Sandinista Daniel Ortega. In the Spring of 2019, the Watson Institute held an unprecedented conference exploring the history and legacy of this unfinished revolution. Out of that conference came this four-part special series from Trending Globally, telling the story of the Sandinista Revolution from the people who lived it. Part II: Trouble in Paradise. In July 1979, with widespread support at home and abroad, the Sandinista-led Junta of National Reconstruction took over Nicaragua's government. Within a few short years the Junta would crumble, a Civil War would begin, and Nicaragua would find itself the newest front in the Cold War. On this episode we hear from people who led Nicaragua during this transition, as well as from a US diplomat who tried to convince President Reagan to hold off on funding the Contras(spoiler: he didn't succeed). For more information about the conference this podcast was based on, including recorded lectures and a short film featuring many of the voices from this podcast, visit [watson.brown.edu/nicaragua].

In 1979 a group of young rebels, calling themselves the Sandinista National Liberation Front, overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Nicaragua. 40 years later, Nicaraguans are again living under an oppressive authoritarian regime. The current leader? Sandinista Daniel Ortega. In the Spring of 2019, the Watson Institute held an unprecedented conference exploring the history and legacy of this unfinished revolution. Out of that conference came this four-part special series from Trending Globally, telling the story of the Sandinista Revolution from the people who lived it. Part 1: Who are the Sandinistas? How did they grow from a rag-tag army to an unstoppable revolutionary force? What was their appeal? On this episode we get answers -- from former Sandinista’s themselves. For more information about the conference this podcast was based on, including recorded lectures and a short film featuring many of the voices in this podcast, visit [watson.brown.edu/nicaragua].

Cristian Farias is a journalist who's written about law and the Supreme Court for New York Magazine, HuffPost, and The New York Times (among many others). For much of the last two years he’s closely followed the Trump administration’s efforts to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census. On this episode of Trending Globally, he and Sarah talk about the politics and policy of the 2020 US census, and why it's fundamentally important to our democracy to get the census right. You can watch Cristian talk from his visit to the Watson Institute here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-wAy2jfb-4&feature=youtu.be] Download transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah talks with Watson sociologist Jayanti Owens about her research on racial discrimination in one of America’s most important institutions: our schools. They look at how racial discrimination affects students as young as 5 years old, how these effects ripple out into the rest of society, and how thoughtful public policy can help make an education system that works for every child. Download transcript

Even by our current standards for presidential news, President Trump’s inquiries into purchasing Greenland this summer were surprising. And while few people took it seriously, Watson political scientist Jeff Colgan still wants to make clear: the US’s relationship with Greenland is no joke. On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah and Jeff talk about Greenland's role in the Cold War, the politics of nuclear waste clean-up, and the challenges of building a train line...inside of a glacier. They also look at how, with climate change, the US’s relationship to Greenland will matter more and more in the coming decades. This might have been the first time you heard about Greenland on the nightly news, but it probably won’t be the last. Download transcript

July 19, 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. Leading up to the anniversary, the Watson Institute hosted a conference looking at the history of the Revolution and its legacy. We at Trending Globally asked many of the conference guests -- including former Sandinista fighters, diplomats, foreign correspondents, scholars, and activists -- to help us tell the story of this Revolution. Coming this Fall on Trending Globally, the story of the Sandinista Revolution from the people who lived it, and an exploration of how it brought Nicaragua to crisis today. Subscribe to Trending Globally to get the first episode when it comes out. You can find more information about Watson's conference, including links to all the lectures and panel discussions, here: https://watson.brown.edu/events/2019/conference-nicaragua-1979-2019-sandinista-revolution-after-40-years

On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Emily Oster, an economist at The Watson Institute and author of 'Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool' [https://www.amazon.com/Cribsheet-Data-Driven-Relaxed-Parenting-Preschool/dp/0525559256]. In the book, Oster uses the tools of an economist to challenge the conventional wisdom of early childhood parenting. Sarah and Emily discuss some of the most surprising findings from her research, and explore why the book has become such a hit among young parents today. Download transcript

This episode of Trending Globally is the third in our 2019 Commencement-Student Spotlight series. As spring semester came to a close, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with a few of Watson’s graduating seniors about their research and work as undergrads. Be prepared to be inspired! Luna Floyd is a public policy concentrator at Watson. Sarah spoke with Luna about her work and research, which has focused on LGBTQ rights, homelessness, and fixing our country’s broken foster care system. It’s heavy stuff, but Luna approaches it with a clarity, intelligence, and passion that might actually give you hope. Download episode transcript

This episode of Trending Globally is the fourth and final part of our 2019 Commencement Student Spotlight series. As spring semester came to a close, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with a few of Watson’s graduating seniors about their research and work as undergrads. Sebastián Otero Oliveras concentrated in ethnomusicology and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. A musician and music lover, his passion and studies have taken him from Providence to Cuba to his home of Puerto Rico. Sarah and Sebastián talked about how he combined his musical and academic interests at Brown, and how he plans to continue this fusion of interests after graduating. To find Sebastián's music: On streaming services: search 'Sebastián .Oteros' Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sebadelmundo Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCycEQzz9nZrLXmedjuI8KpA Download episode transcript

Is war with Iran in the works? With tensions escalating, and U.S. allies skeptical about what the Trump administration calls an ‘imminent threat,’ the potential for armed conflict feels all too real. On this special episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Professor Jo-Anne Hart [https://watson.brown.edu/people/visiting/hart], an expert on security, Iran, and the Middle East, about the fact, fiction, and nuances of the US's relationship with Iran. Download transcript

This episode of Trending Globally is the second in our 2019 Commencement-Student Spotlight series. As spring semester came to a close, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with a few of Watson’s graduating seniors about their research and work as undergrads. Be prepared to be inspired! Ethan Shire is a Political Science and Latin American & Caribbean Studies concentrator, and an active member of Brown’s political scene. But his Junior year he took Engineering 1010, a class on entrepreneurship taught by Professor Danny Warshay, and it started him on a path he did not expect. Sarah talked with Ethan about how he first got the entrepreneurial bug, and how his interests in policy, history, and business overlapped at Brown. Download transcript

This episode of Trending Globally is the first in our 2019 Commencement-Student Spotlight series. As spring semester came to a close, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with a few of Watson’s graduating seniors about their research and work as undergrads. Be prepared to be inspired! Part 1: Drashti Brambhatt is originally from Queens, New York, and is concentrating in international relations. In her time at Watson she has studied and worked on human rights issues around the world. Back in Providence, she wrote a thesis exploring how museums retell and reframe national traumas. She talked with Sarah about how these experiences at Brown complimented each other, and how she hopes to continue connecting these interests in the future. Download episode transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Darrell M . West, Vice President of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of ‘The Future of Work: Robots, AI, and Automation’ [https://www.brookings.edu/book/the-automated-society/]. They dive deep into the changing nature of work, and into the impact A.I. and robots will have on our economy, society, and politics. West argues that these changes don’t have to be as damaging as our worst sci-fi nightmares; in fact, they could help create an economy that works better for everyone. But to make the best of these change we need to start planning for it. Now. Download episode transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally, Watson Economics Professor Glenn Loury talks with writer Thomas Chatterton Williams. Williams’s 2010 memoir ‘Losing My Cool: Love, Literature, and a Black Man’s Escape from the Crowd,’ [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/304246/losing-my-cool-by-thomas-chatterton-williams/9780143119623/] combined cultural criticism with his own personal story, of falling in (and out) of love with hip hop culture growing up. His forthcoming book ‘Self Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race,’ continues his exploration of issues at the intersection of race, culture, family, and his own story. Thomas visited Watson this Spring, and Glenn sat down with him for a wide-ranging conversation about race, literature, family, and life in Paris. Download episode transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with James Green, a professor of Latin American History and Director of the Brazil Initiative at The Watson Institute [https://watson.brown.edu/brazil/]. His newest book, 'Exile within Exiles' [https://www.dukeupress.edu/exile-within-exiles], tells the story of Herbert Daniel, a gay Brazilian revolutionary and activist, who fought for wide-ranging social and political rights in Brazil from the 1960s until his death in 1992. **You can subscribe to James Green’s new Watson podcast ‘Brazil Unfiltered’ on any of your favorite podcast apps. You can find more information about the show https://soundcloud.com/brazilunfiltered ** Download episode transcript

On this week's episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Nick Ziegler, an expert in European politics at the Watson Institute [https://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/ziegler]. They discuss how Brexit might affect Britain, Europe, and the world, what exactly is making it so difficult to follow through on, and why the idea of the UK leaving Europe gained such momentum in the first place. Download episode transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Watson Fellow Nick Barnes about the formal and informal ways Rio de Janeiro’s favelas are governed. Much of his work focuses on Complexo Maré, a district in Rio de Janeiro made up of 16 interconnected favelas. In Complexo Maré, gangs have often done the work of governments, from social welfare programs to public safety. But when Rio was chosen to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, that dynamic began to change. You can find more information about 'Maré de Dentro: Race, Gender, and Life amid the Militarization of Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas,' an art exhibit on view at The Watson Institute through May 3, here: https://watson.brown.edu/events/2019/art-watson-presents-mar-de-dentro-race-gender-and-life-amid-militarization-rio-de Download episode transcript

We came across a great podcast produced by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. It's called Trending Globally [watson.brown.edu/news/trending-globally]. The weekly podcast features insight on today's critical global challenges. So today on Policy 360: a special episode from Trending Globally. The episode features Sam Wilkin, an economist, political risk consultant, and fellow at the Watson Institute [watson.brown.edu/people/visiting/wilkin]. In 2015 Sam started to work on a book about the history of populist movements around the world. At the time people weren’t too interested in what he was saying. Then Donald Trump was elected President, and people became very interested. His book History Repeating: Why Populists Rise and Government’s Fall [profilebooks.com/history-repeating.html], came out in March of 2018.

This week, something a little different. We at Trending Globally came across a great podcast produced by the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University [https://sanford.duke.edu/], and we wanted to share it with you. It’s called Policy 360 [https://sites.duke.edu/policy360/]. On it, Sanford School Dean Judith Kelley interviews scholars, policymakers, and politicians about some of the most pressing public policy issues today. So this week on Trending Globally: a special episode from Policy 360, featuring former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discussing the history of fascism and her book Fascism: A Warning.(Music by Vittoro by Blue Dot Sessions [freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/], Creative Commons License: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/) Download episode transcript

*Update: Arenberg's book 'Congressional Procedure' has been named a Foreword INDIES 2018 Book of the Year Finalist [https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/books/congressional-procedure/] .* Richard Arenberg knows the inner workings of Congress better than almost anyone. He spent over 30 years on Capitol Hill as senior staff for Senators George Mitchell, Carl Levin, and Paul Tsongas. Today he’s a Visiting Professor in Political Science at Brown University, and a Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute [https://watson.brown.edu/people/fellows/arenberg]. His new book, 'Congressional Procedure' [http://www.thecapitol.net/Publications/congressionalprocedure.html], explores one part of Congress that we often overlook: its rules. Part history, part rule-book, and part manifesto, Arenberg’s book makes clear how these rules are more than just formalities. On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah talks with Arenberg about why Congress’s rules matter, why so many people call Congress ‘broken,’ and how it might save itself going forward. Download episode transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally,: a deep dive into the opioid crisis. Guest host Susan Moffitt, Director of the Taubman Center for American Policy and Politics [https://watson.brown.edu/taubman/], talks with Brandon Marshall, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health [https://vivo.brown.edu/display/bm8]. Marshal is an expert in the epidemiology of substance abuse, and presented on his work this February at a conference hosted by the Watson Institute and the Taubman Center [https://youtu.be/-DWoWS3RtBE]. Moffitt and Marshall look at the origins of this public health crisis, and help make sense of the staggering numbers behind it. Download episode transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally [https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/sets/trending-globally], Sarah Baldwin speaks with Sam Wilkin, an economist, political risk consultant, and fellow at the Watson Institute [https://watson.brown.edu/people/visiting/wilkin]. In 2015 Sam started to work on a book about the history of populist movements around the world. At the time people weren’t too interested in what he was saying. Then Donald Trump was elected President, and people became very interested. His book History Repeating: Why Populists Rise and Government’s Fall [https://profilebooks.com/history-repeating.html], came out in March of 2018. Download episode transcript

Whether it’s the economics of small-scale farming, or the environmental impact of a fast food hamburger, what we eat is about way more than just nutrition. On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Ross Cheit [https://watson.brown.edu/public-policy/people/faculty/ross-cheit], a political science Professor at the Watson Institute who helps Brown students make these connections in a class he designed called ‘Politics of Food.’ But the more time he’s spent on this topic, the more he’s realized that one type of food is treated a little differently from all the rest: fish. In their forthcoming book Big Fish: Politics, Policy, and American Seafood, Cheit and his co-authors look at the unique challenges and opportunities fish represent when it comes to feeding the world.

Whether we’re thinking about parenting, pregnancy, or public health, Brown economist Emily Oster [https://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/oster] likes to challenge conventional wisdom. One of Oster’s most recent papers, posted at the National Bureau of Economic Research, is about a subject that’s full of conventional wisdom: the American diet [https://www.brown.edu/research/projects/oster/sites/brown.edu.research.projects.oster/files/uploads/OsterBehavioralSelection_December2018.pdf]. In it, Oster challenges how doctors and scientists create those studies we read about in the newspapers -- the ones that tell us that kale is good, sugar is bad, and red wine is somehow...both. On this episode of Trending Globally, host Sarah Baldwin spoke with Oster about where she finds inspiration for her research, what it’s like growing up in a family of economists, and how she first decided to focus her attention on science and nutrition. Download episode transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally, host Sarah Baldwin speaks with Adaner Usmani [https://watson.brown.edu/people/postdocs/usmani] and Terry-Ann Craigie [https://www.brown.edu/academics/population-studies/people/person/terry-ann-craigie-0] about the web of issues surrounding criminal justice in America. Terry-Ann Craigie is an Associate Professor of Economics at Connecticut College, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, and a visiting faculty at Brown's Population Studies and Training Center. Adaner Usmani is a sociologist and postdoctoral fellow at The Watson Institute. They discuss the cause of our mass incarceration crisis, the value of taking a public health approach to criminal justice, and how to translate economic and social research into actionable public policy. Download episode transcript

On this episode of Trending Globally, Margaret Weir, a political scientist at the Watson Institute, spoke with Assistant Professor of Government at Cornell University Jamila Michener [https://www.jamilamichener.net/] about her book 'Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism and Unequal Politics' [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fragmented-democracy/9A69DF1567190EF38883D4766EBC0AAC]. Michener explains how Medicaid’s effects go far beyond hospitals and health clinics. A complex federal program that varies tremendously across the country, Medicaid affects not only participants' healthcare, but their perception of our democracy. Download episode transcript

Sometimes, in the world of social justice organizing, it can seem like there are actually two worlds. One is made up of theoreticians and scholars. The other is made up of organizers on the ground. Legal scholar and Dejusticia Executive Director César Rodríguez-Garavito [https://www.dejusticia.org/en/responsible/cesar-rodriguez-garavito-2] and Watson Senior Fellow Peter Evans [https://watson.brown.edu/people/fellows/evans] want us to challenge this distinction. On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin spoke with them about their most recent work -- an anthology titled 'Transnational Advocacy Networks: Reflecting on 20 years of Evolving Theory and Practice' [https://www.dejusticia.org/en/publication/transnational-advocacy-networks/] -- and about how interdisciplinary, global networks are essential for confronting human rights challenges today. Download episode transcript

From The United Nations’ 'Decade of the Girl-Child' to the White House’s ‘Let Girls Learn,’ investing in education for girls has become a global priority. On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah Baldwin talks with Shenila Khoja-Moolji [https://www.bowdoin.edu/profiles/faculty/skhoja/], Professor of Gender studies at Bowdoin College, about questions regarding girls' education that are often overlooked: which girls do we choose to teach? What sort of subjects should they learn? What do governments and NGOs hope for when investing in girls education? Perhaps most important: what do the girls hope for when they sit at their desks? Shenila Khoja-Moolji asks these questions and more in her book in ‘Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects In Muslim South Asia’ [https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298408/forging-the-ideal-educated-girl]. *CORRECTION: Khoja-Moolji's book is titled 'Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia' [https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298408/forging-the-ideal-educated-gir]. The book is referred to 'Forging the Educated Girl' in the interview* Download episode transcript

Episode 393with Elias Muhannahosted by Sarah BaldwinDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn this episode, Sarah Baldwin talks with Elias Muhanna about an essay he wrote for the New Yorker in May 2018 in which he describes recent advances in translating pre-Islamic Arabic texts. The conversation focuses on the groundbreaking translations of Muhanna's friend and colleague Ahmad Al-Jallad and how his work has changed our understanding of life on the Arabian peninsula before Islam.This episode comes directly from our friends at Trending Globally, a podcast of Brown University's Watson Institute.« Click for More »

For the 50th episode of Trending Globally, we asked 10 scholars at the Watson Institute what they find most worrisome in the world today, and what keeps them going. For more information on this episode's experts and their work, read on: Peter Andreas [http://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/andreas], professor of international studies and political science, is an expert on transnational crime, smuggling, and immigration. He is the author of several books, including Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America [https://www.amazon.com/Smuggler-Nation-Illicit-Trade-America/dp/0199746885]. Narges Bajoghli [http://watson.brown.edu/people/postdocs/Bajoghli], postdoctoral fellow in international and public affairs, is a sociocultural anthropologist and filmmaker who writes [http://watson.brown.edu/news/2018/iran-will-never-trust-america-again-written-narges-bajoghli] often about Iran. Rob Blair [http://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/blair], professor of political science and international and public affairs, researches peacekeeping, statebuilding, and security sector reform, and designed a course on the erosion of democracy [https://news.brown.edu/articles/2018/05/democraticerosion] that has been adopted by more than 20 institutions in the U.S. and beyond. Mark Blyth [http://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/blyth], professor of political science and international and public affairs, is a an expert on international political economy [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-02-28/brown-university-s-blyth-on-brexit-populism-north-korea-video]. Chas Freeman [http://watson.brown.edu/people/fellows/freeman], senior fellow in international and public affairs and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense and former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, writes and speaks widely on statecraft and diplomacy. Jo-Anne Hart [http://watson.brown.edu/people/visiting/hart], adjunct professor of international and public affairs, is an expert on Iranian foreign policy and US-Iranian security, conflict resolution in the Middle East, and political literacy. Stephen Kinzer [http://watson.brown.edu/people/visiting/kinzer], senior fellow in international and public affairs, is an award-winning foreign correspondent who has covered more than 50 countries on five continents. He is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe [http://watson.brown.edu/news/2018/nicaragua-brink-calamity-written-stephen-kinzer], and his most recent book is The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War. Catherine Lutz [http://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/lutz], professor of international studies and of anthropology, is co-director of the Watson-based Costs of War project [http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/]. Nina Tannenwald [http://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty-fellows/tannenwald], senior lecturer in political science, is an expert on international security, arms control and nonproliferation, and human rights. She speaks and writes often on nuclear weapons and is co-editor, most recently, of Do the Geneva Conventions Matter? Ashutosh Varshney [http://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/varshney], professor of political science and international and public affairs and director of Watson's Center for Contemporary South Asia, writes often about Indian politics, ethnic conflict, and nationalism. Download episode transcript

Between state-building and inciting regional instability, the United States has developed intensely complicated political relationships across the Middle East. But what doesn't make the headlines is how some extremist groups come to power there before they even appear on America’s radar. This week on Trending Globally, Aisha Ahmad, assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto and author of the book Jihad and Co: Black Markets and Islamist Power, explains the intricate economic networks that sustain jihadist militant groups. Jeff Colgan, associate professor of political science at the Watson Institute, joins her to expand on the role energy politics plays. Download episode transcript

Listen to Professors McDermott and Moffitt discuss gender and the election on Trending Globally.