Is Democracy under threat? With Niheer Dasandi

Zahra Hankir, a Lebanese British journalist and the editor of Our Women on the Ground, writes about the intersection of politics, culture, and society, particularly in the broader Middle East. Her work has appeared in publications including Condé Nast Traveler, The Observer Magazine, The Times Literary Supplement, BBC News, Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg Businessweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The Rumpus. She was awarded a Jack R. Howard Fellowship in International Journalism to attend the Columbia Journalism School and holds degrees in politics and Middle Eastern studies.

Rana Mitter is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at Oxford University, and will shortly become S.T. Lee Professor of U.S.-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is a celebrated British historian, a published author, and a regular presenter for BBC Radio 3. In this episode, he shares his view on how China's relationship with and effect on the rest of the world is likely to change (or not change) and opens up about his personal career journey.

We invite Luisa Leme, who has a decade's worth of experience heading multimedia projects in the Americas Society/Council of the, to share her experience with reporting on South America. Leme is interviewed by our South American Events Officer, Pippa Linden-Howes.

Suzanne Kianpour is an Emmy-nominated BBC journalist. She has reported on the frontlines of conflict all around the world, with her recent work including coverage of the protests in Iran following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini. Additionally, Kianpour is the creator and host of “Women Building Peace”, a BBC series that connects women trying to bring peace with lived experience in conflict zones with women who are globally influential. In collaboration with the Cherwell, we invite Suzanne about her experience as a frontline journalist, the Iranian protests, and the future of civil action and conflict resolution.  Image credits: Motivate Talent

Regional economic/political unions are some of the most important organisations in our world today. We invite Fandi Achmad to discuss how unions like ASEAN, African Union, Mercosur, etc. can shape individual member states economically, politically, and socially. He is interviewed by marketing director Brandon Sambrano. Fandi Achmad is a DPhil candidate in International Development at Oriel College, University of Oxford. He has over ten years of work experience covering issues of international trade and digital trade policies, competition policy, and financial inclusion. He held various positions in the past, including in the Executive Office of the President of Indonesia, where he monitored the country’s strategic issues on industrial and trade policies, and in the ASEAN Secretariat, where he ran regional programmes for the development of competition policy and law and served the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Working Group on competition negotiations between 2013-2016. Fandi is currently a consultant for the St. Gallen Endowment for Prosperity Through Trade to monitor trade and commercial policy changes in ASEAN countries for the Global Trade Alert. He also recently engaged as a consultant for UNESCAP and OECD for a research project on digital trade regulatory restrictiveness in several Asian and African countries. Drawing from these experiences, his doctoral research seeks to investigate the channels on how digital trade affects digital technology diffusion in developing countries. He receives the Jardine Foundation Scholarship Award to sponsor his doctoral study. Fandi holds a Bachelor in Economics Degree from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan, USA, and a Master of Advanced Studies in Economics from KU Leuven, Belgium. He was also awarded as a Young Leaders for Indonesia by McKinsey & Co. in 2010.

Brian is a geopolitical strategist and advisor publishing extensively on Sino-American relations, statecraft in Asia, and the intersection of nascent technologies, political philosophy, and public policy. Currently pursuing a DPhil in Political Theory at Balliol College, Oxford, Brian graduated with a Distinction in the MPhil in Politics (Theory) at Wolfson College, and First Class Honours from Pembroke with a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, having attended Oxford on a full scholarship on a Kwok Scholarship. Brian has taught modules in politics to undergraduate students at Oxford and Stanford Universities (latter on exchange). Brian has presented on Sino-American relations and Chinese foreign policy at Tsinghua, Carnegie-Tsinghua Center, Stanford, the Young China Watcher and Tufts Conferences, and advised leading MNCs on macro risks in Asia. His works and writings look predominantly at citizens' responsibilities under authoritarian regimes, non-ideal/democratic circumstances, and duties towards justice and altruism. In this podcast, Brian sits down to discuss the various facets of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander International Engagement Organisation (ATSIIEO) is a pioneering international development group founded and led by Jesse T Martin of the Wagadagam and Yuin peoples and Jack Collard, a proud Nyoongar man with cultural and ancestral ties to Whadjuk and Balladong country. Joined with them is Adam Hegedus, a Master of Public Policy student at the Blavatnik School of Government Oxford, and Managing Director of Educating The Future – an NGO providing education in Timor-Leste. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is the longest continuous culture on the planet with over 65,000 years of history. Jesse and Jack speak to how ATSIIEO are uniquely leveraging local systems of knowledge, diplomacy, social relations, trade, language and community to make a difference in how international engagement is done. Together they are not only working towards but redefining how we need to understand transformational justice, decolonisation, localisation, community empowerment and creating sustainable change. ATSIIEO’s vision for the future is one where together without a middle man, they can foster and develop Indigenous connections and partnerships internationally with a sharing of culture, values and opportunities.

In recent years there has been a rise of right-wing extremism and radicalisation which has had an effect on mainstream politics and attitudes in society. Are our governments doing enough to combat this? What does it mean for the development of our societies? In this episode we discuss the topic with Dr Daniel Koehler, the co-founder of the first peer-reviewed open-access journal on de-radicalization and the director of the German Institute on Radicalization Studies. The links to some of Dr Koehler's work are attached below.  The German Institute on Radicalization Studies http://girds.org/  Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in Europe Current Developments and Issues for the Future https://cco.ndu.edu/PRISM/PRISM-Volume-6-no-2/Article/839011/right-wing-extremism-and-terrorism-in-europe-current-developments-and-issues-fo/ Violent extremism, mental health and substance abuse among adolescents: towards a trauma psychological perspective on violent radicalization and deradicalization https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14789949.2020.1758752 Switching Sides: Exploring Violent Extremist Intergroup Migration Across Hostile Ideologies https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pops.12633 

The Refugee Crisis has been an ongoing phenomenon these past few years especially, which continuously makes the news in various formats. But what are the implications of being a refugee, and how does Britain especially deal with this? In this episode, Sara Al Soodi interviews immigration and asylum barrister Colin Yeo on this topic, including a discussion on Britain's immigration system and much more. Colin Yeo is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers in London and has most recently published his book in 2020, "Welcome to Britain: Fixing Our Broken Immigration System", charting and examining immigration policy over the last thirty years and setting out some ideas for how to start putting things right.

Marnie speaks with Andrea Filippi who works for PeaceWomen Across the Globe. Started in 2005 this organisation is committed to the active participation of women in peace processes and to a peaceful and secure world for all. In this episode we discuss their projects in Palestine and Ukraine as well as looking at their campaigns in their home country Switzerland. We debate the tensions present in feminist thought in the area of development and methods of aiding women toward achieving their goals whilst remaining vigilant of interventionism. Andrea would like to recommend al-Shabaka, a fantastic organisation, that is interesting for anyone who wants to learn more about Palestinian perspectives The Transition to Transformation publication (which is mentioned) can be found here. Podcast by Marnie Ashbridge. Find out more about the Oxford Society for International Development at oxsid.org