Sung-Yoon Lee is an Assistant Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and Faculty Associate at the Program on U.S.–Japan Relations, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University.

The Sister: Kim Yung

Hosts: Lauren Zou and Seth Choi

Editor: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

Realism and Balance of Threat with Dr. Stephen Walt

Episode Credits:

Host: Julia An

Editor: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

2023 Guatemalan Elections: Democratic Spring or Winter?

Episode Credits:

Hosts: Nicole Rivas and Leo Kamer

Editor: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

U.S. Dollar Dominance

Episode Credits:

Hosts: Zack Stone and Ben Elhadad

Editor: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

Argentina’s IMF Crisis

Episode Credits:

Host: Nicole Rivas

Editor: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

The views Chris expresses in this episode are his own and do not represent his institution’s.

The Wagner Group Mutiny

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Leo Kamer and Ben Elhadad

Music: Zee Yuen

Israel’s Judicial Branch Reform

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Ben Elhadad and Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

India’s Strategic Shift?

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Nicole Rivas and Alexis Holewinski

Music: Zee Yuen

Taiwan Loses Its Friends

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

Extended Deterrence

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Chris H. Park and Julia An

Music: Zee Yuen

France Takes to the Streets

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

TikTok Ban

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Zack Stone and Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

A US-EU Trade War?

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Leo Kamer and Max Readinger

Music: Zee Yuen

Climate Migrants

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Nicole Rivas and Julia An

Music: Zee Yuen

Hill-ternship: Scoring and Thriving

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Chris H. Park

Music: Zee Yuen

Gender Gap in Ghana’s Economy

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Lauren Zou and Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

Vatican Diplomacy

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Leo Kamer and Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

The Legacy of Queen Elizabeth II

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Julia An

Music: Zee Yuen

Erdogan and the Earthquakes

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

Chinese Spy Balloon

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Chris H. Park and Julia An

Music: Zee Yuen

Is Ukraine a Distraction?

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Chris H. Park and Alexis Holewinski

Music: Zee Yuen

Russia’s Nuclear Threat

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Julia An and Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

POFA Roundtable: 2022 Year in Review

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Julia An, Nicole Rivas, Leo Kamer, and Lauren Zou

Music: Zee Yuen

In Liz We Couldn’t Truss

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Seth Choi, Julia An

Music: Zee Yuen

Peru’s Democratic Crisis

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Lauren Zou, Alexis Holewinski

Music: Zee Yuen

Global Chaos of Elon Musk’s Twitter

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

The 2022 Malaysian Elections

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Leo Kamer

Music Zee Yuen

Haiti in Crisis

Episode Credit:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

Book Talk: Beijing’s Global Media Offensive

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Chris H. Park

Music: Zee Yuen

Zero-Covid Protests in the Chinese Surveillance State

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Chris H. Park

Music: Zee Yuen

Can Integrated Deterrence Work?

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Chris H. Park

Music: Zee Yuen

FIGUREHEAD OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Remembered as an emblem of stability in an evolving time, Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne shortly after World War II in 1952. While lacking formal political power, she helped reconcile relations between Britain and Germany through her state visit in 1965. Her acclaimed trip to the Irish Republic in May 2011 released tension from the violent history of territorial disputes. Despite wielding soft power, Queen Elizabeth II established a sense of continuity that unified the Union and Commonwealth. 

Through her travels and media presence, she engaged citizens and eased the gradual decline of the British empire. Queen Elizabeth II visited every Commonwealth nation as the empire unwound – except Rwanda and Cameroon. She deftly navigated the complex relationship with Scotland by spending summer months at Balmoral Castle.  Other than traveling, as the first monarch in a technological age, more than 20 million watched her coronation on television. The queen kept up public access through her social media presence and regular appearances. Her death will likely sever emotional ties to the monarchy, increasing pushes toward republicanism. 

REVIVAL OF ANTI-MONARCHISTS

Queen Elizabeth II’s death could drive Scotland and Northern Ireland to renew pushes for independence. Her Scottish background and deft public presence established a sense of loyalty with both nations. In a testament to how much relations have improved, even the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein paid tribute to the queen in Belfast. Many believe Charles will struggle to recreate the same bonds.

At the moment, British anti-monarchist groups like the Republic are staying low-profile and allowing the nation to mourn to avoid offending potential followers. Younger generations in Britain, however, expressed apathy toward her passing. According to a YouGov survey, 41% of respondents aged 18 to 24 prefer an elected head of state to a monarch. In the United States and former colonies, the queen’s death is prompting conversations surrounding British colonialism.

LEGACY OF COLONIALISM

The death of Queen Elizabeth II reinvigorated the debate surrounding the history of racism and colonization of the monarchy. American academics and those with ties to Britain’s colonial past took to social media to discuss the violent legacy of the British monarchy and what it owes former colonies.

During her reign, Queen Elizabeth II ruled over more than 30 countries. Particularly in Africa, her death served as a reminder of the brutality of colonial rule, namely the suppression of the anticolonial Mau Mau uprising that led to the tens of thousands of deaths. Whether through the community radio or the internet, people are reevaluating British colonial history and demanding reparations. 

FUTURE OF THE MONARCHY

Britain now looks to 73-year-old King Charles III for the next stage of the monarchy. According to a YouGov survey, public opinion of Charles III remains high, as 63% of respondents envision him as a good king. Some have already begun looking toward Prince William and his wife Catherine as the monarchy’s future.

As for the recent future, with rumors of him wanting to move out of Buckingham Palace, King Charles III will likely make his mark by dismantling the strict traditions associated with the royal family. While he has prepared for the role since birth, the king faces constant comparison with Queen Elizabeth II, who rarely shared political views with the public. The fate of the monarchy rests on whether Charles can steer the United Kingdom in the right direction. 

Lilac Lin is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is from Scarsdale, New York, and is a member of the Editorial Team of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Prior to the JCPOA, Iran’s economy was fledgling, as they were deprived of over $100 billion from 2012 to 2014 alone. A line here about lifting sanctions would help this situation. However, Israeli leaders specifically were concerned that lifting sanctions would allow Iran to fund more terror against Israel. Iran openly calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, and has been working to support that goal. Iran is the world’s largest supporter of terrorism, and they give terror groups such as Hezbollah  weapons and $700 million a year, as well as $100 million a year to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who all pursue the same goal of destroying Israel. 

In 2018, President Trump pulled out of the JCPOA and reinstated sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran began to disobey the JCPOA by enriching uranium at over 60%, turning off IAEA surveillance cameras, and enriching uranium in hundreds of advanced centrifuges at prohibited locations, all in the pursuit of obtaining enough nuclear material to produce a bomb. According to a report from the Institute for Science and International Security in June, 2022, Iran has the ability to make four nuclear bombs within three months. 

New Deal

The most recent round of negotiations occurred in August, this year. However, there were sticking points, including the United States’ classification of Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, as well as Iran’s efforts to limit the IAEA’s supervision with underground facilities and by disabling cameras. Further, the deal would require a 30-day period of U.S. congressional review, and given the upcoming midterm elections in the United States, it is unlikely that a new deal will be signed in the near future. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said he would consider entering the deal, but only if it had a military-strike option that every signtorie would have to support if Iran did not comply.  

Israel’s Concerns

Israel is concerned that lifting sanctions on Iran again will allow them to fund more terrorism. Mossad Chief David Barnea went to America in early September to persuade the CIA and other relevant officials to not re-enter the deal. Israel estimates that Iran would gain $90 billion in one year if the sanctions were dropped. 

In June, Mossad and Turkish intelligence contributed to the arrest of 10 Iranian terror-cell members that were planning to kill the former Israeli Ambassador to Turkey, his wife, and other Israelis. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said “was a pre-designed scenario to destroy relations between the two Muslim countries,” and denied Iranian involvement. However, immediately after the attack was foiled, the head of IRGS’ intelligence unit, which is responsible for foreign operations, was replaced after holding that position for 10 years. This casts doubt on Iran’s culpability in terrorist plot. 

Additionally, Iran has recently been transporting more weapons into Syria, which then were taken to Lebanon to support Hezbollah and other groups. On August 27, Israel struck a scientific research center in Masyaf, destroying 1,000 Iranian-manufactured missiles. 

Further, even if a deal is signed, it is possible that Israel would take action against Iran. On September 12, Barnea said that “even if a deal is signed, it will not provide immunity from Mossad operations.” A week before, Lapid said “[i]f Iran continues to test us, it will discover Israel’s long arm and capabilities. We will continue to act on all fronts against terrorism and against those who seek to harm us.”

Conclusion

Israeli concerns with the JCPOA remain the same as they were in 2015, and Irsaeli leaders are trying to influence the United States to not re-enter the deal at the current terms of negotiation, seeking a stronger stance on Iran’s nuclear proliferation. However, recent actions and voices show that in 2022, Israel is more vocal about the steps they will take to maintain security and sovereignty, regardless of whether or not a deal is signed.  

Bailey Pasternak is a sophomore majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins. He is from Cleveland, OH and is a blog writer for the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Role of climate change

Scientists at World Weather Attribution analyzed the 60-day and five-day heaviest rainfall in the summer nationwide and in the two southern provinces Sindh and Balochistan respectively, year by year, if climate change were not a reality. They found that when comparing these results to the actual amount of rainfall, the 60-day total rainfall in reality increased by 50% and the five-day total increased by 75%. This is all despite the fact that Pakistan has a very small carbon footprint – less than 1% to be exact. 

It is important to note that Pakistan had experienced extreme heat waves in spring of this year. The scientists determined that the scorching temperatures made the extreme monsoons 30% more likely for Pakistan. Anders Levermann, who is a physicist at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, believes that warmer temperatures have exacerbated rainfall by constantly providing moisture in the cycle from heat waves to monsoons.

Domestic Response

The Pakistani government’s contingency plans were based on estimates of “above normal precipitation,” which turned out to be an understatement with an 800% above average precipitation in Sindh. The expectations that highways would stay intact, roads would be available for transportation of relief goods, fell quickly, as the wreckage rendered 13,000 kilometers of roads obsolete. 

One particular threat laid in Lake Manchar’s dam rupturing and causing the flooding of districts in Sindh, the government coordinated two intentional breaches to further lower the pressure and level of water so as to prevent further flooding of other towns and cities. However, water levels of Lake Manchar continued to rise, rendering such efforts useless. Beyond the $30 billion in damages from the flooding, outbreaks of malaria, lack of dry land for displaced families, and a surplus of dirty, unpurified water have complicated relief efforts. The public sentiment suggests that had the government practiced stricter management of water resources or even enforced uniform structures to be able to withstand potential flooding, the crises would not have had such a severe impact on the poor and middle class. 

Medical care has been at the forefront of these efforts. The monsoons left 10% of all Pakistan’s health facilities damaged, increased vulnerability of pregnant mothers, and extreme exposure to malaria, cholera, and dingue. The Aga Khan University Hospital located in Karachi has been working with the government to distribute these services across Sindh and Balochistan, along with providing access to clean water through chlorine tablets and oral rehydration salts. In addition, Prime minister Shahbaz Sharif has promised reparations to “those who lost homes and crops,” distributing funds to those most affected. Yet, the complicated back and forth between institutions, such as the high court and the district commissioners in Sindh, have led to an inefficient distribution of supplies, increased hoarding tendencies, and distrust within the political sphere. 

International Aid

In late August, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres unveiled a $160 million Floods Response Plan (FRP) focused on providing “urgent and life saving humanitarian assistance to 9.5 million people until 31 May 2023.” He recently revised the amount of aid by a five-fold increase to $816 million. This appeal addresses the destroyed houses, water level changes, and displaced population among the 34 most-affected districts in Pakistan. The aid is expected to help Pakistan recover from the damages and provide food, clean water, hygiene kits, shelter, and healthcare to the victims.

Marginalized Groups

The rising humanitarian crises, unfortunately, means that women, girls, and other marginalized groups are the most affected. Over 650,000 pregnant women are directly affected by the flood, 73,000 of which are near their delivery date. This is out of the 1.6 million women who are of childbearing age. The mothers have little to no supply of food for themselves to breastfeed, nourish their underweight babies, or protect themselves from the extreme temperatures. Given that around 90% of women in Pakistan are reported to have experienced some form of domestic violence within the past year, as well as the Pakistani government’s lack of attention to this issue, there is greater risk for gender-based violence. The UN Populations Fund has focused on distributing kits for newborns, delivery, and hygiene to the most affected areas – Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab. In addition, over 16 million children have been affected by the floods; this is worsened by the fact that diseases like malaria and dengue fever target malnourished children especially. 

Conclusion

The international aid organization CARE expects recovery efforts to take years, possibly a decade. Inevitably, however lacking the government’s response may be, institutions are all that the victims in Pakistan can look towards for emergency relief and assistance. With international aid and better constructive response from the Pakistani government, there is hope that the victims will be able to weather this humanitarian crisis.  

Kaitlyn Jung is a sophomore majoring in Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. She is from Johns Creek, Georgia, and is a member of the Editorial Team of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Young Iranians Go to the Streets

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Lauren Zou, Chris H. Park

Music: Zee Yuen

The Party of General Secretary Xi

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Chris H. Park

Blocking Chips to China

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Chris H. Park

Landry Signé is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program and the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, where he focuses on the political economy of Africa and developing countries, state capacity and policy implementation, and global governance and sustainable development. He also serves as the co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Regional Action Group on Africa and is the Executive Director of and Professor at Arizona’s State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management in Washington, DC.

Biden’s Africa Strategy

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Nicole Rivas, Alexis Holewinski

The Rise of the k-Defense Industry

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Chris H. Park

Political Turmoil in Thailand

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Leo Kamer

Brazil’s Vote: 2022 Elections

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Hosts: Lauren Zou, Jina Lim

2022 Kenyan Elections

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Alexis Holewinski

FP Toolbox: Soft Power

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Hosts: Jina Lim, Julia An

Defending Taiwan

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Julia An, Chris H. Park

An Overheating World

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Chris H. Park

Modern Espionage

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Nicole Rivas

The Future of Censorship and Free Speech

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Hosts: Lidie Ataoguz, Julia An

Afghanistan: One Year Later

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Lauren Zou

Preventing a U.S.-Russia War

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Leo Kamer

Friendshoring and Economic Security

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Hosts: Leo Kamer, Chris Park

U.K. Elections and the Fall of Boris Johnson

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Lauren Zou, Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

Sweden’s NATO Accession

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Hosts: Julia An, Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

Mario Draghi and the Future of Italy

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Julia An

Bruce Pannier is a longtime journalist and correspondent covering Central Asia. Previously, he was a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent and has written for The Economist, Janes Intelligence, Oxford Analytica, and Freedom House.

Democracy in Kazakhstan

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Lauren Zou, Julia An

Music: Zee Yuen

Klaas works at Bruegel as a Research Analyst. He holds a Master’s in Economics from the KU Leuven and in European Economic Studies from the College of Europe. Klaas has a broad background in economics and European affairs. Before joining Bruegel he did a traineeship at the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU, where he worked on enlargement discussions, and at the European Securities and Markets Authority in Paris, where he contributed mainly to the work of the Risk Analysis and Economics department on such topics as crypto regulation and sustainable finance. His fields of interest include European climate policy and Eurozone governance, as well as external relations and trade.

Climate Policy Debates

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

Ambassador Scheffer is senior fellow at the council on foreign relations (CFR) with a focus on international law and international criminal justice. He was the first ever US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and led the US delegation to the UN talks establishing the international criminal court. We hope you enjoy today’s episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Russia in the International Criminal Court

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Hosts: Julia An, Lauren Zou

Scott Anderson is a Visiting Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is also a Senior Editor and Counsel for Lawfare and a Senior Fellow with the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School. A former U.S. diplomat and government attorney, Scott is an expert in foreign relations law, international law, and national security law and policy, particularly as they relate to the Middle East region.

Foreign Policy Toolbox: International Agreements

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Jina Lim, Chris Park

Music: Zee Yuen

Oliver Kaplan is an Associate Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, specializing in Foreign Policy Analysis and Human Rights. Throughout his career, he has been named as a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow in the U.S. Institute of Peace and a postdoctoral Research Associate at both Princeton and Stanford University. He stands as the author of “Resisting War: How Communities Protect Themselves”, an analysis on how civilian communities mobilize and protect themselves from wartime violence.

Civil Conflict in Colombia

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Michelle Sicard, Nicole Rivas

Music: Zee Yuen

Michael E. O’Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He directs the Center on Security, Strategy and Technology, as well as the Defense Industrial Base working group, and will be the inaugural holder of the Philip H. Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia, Georgetown, and George Washington universities, and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Biden’s 2023 Defense Budget

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Jina Lim

Professor Huang is a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he directs the Global Health Governance roundtable series. He is also a professor and director of global health studies at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations. He recently published the reports, The COVID-19 Pandemic and Chinese Global Health Leadership and “Advancing U.S.-China Health Security Cooperation in an Era of Strategic Competition.”

China’s Zero Covid Policy

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Hosts: Lauren Zou, Julia An

Music: Zee Yuen

Danielle Resnick is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, whose research focuses on the political economy of development, with a regional specialization in sub-Saharan Africa. She has lived, conducted fieldwork, and engaged in policy outreach in multiple countries, including Botswana, Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa.

Global Food Crisis

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Lauren Zou

Michael Shifter is the former president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a leading policy forum on Western Hemisphere affairs based in Washington, D.C.  Shifter has held senior positions at the Dialogue for nearly three decades and currently serves as Senior Fellow at the organization. Prior to joining the Dialogue, Shifter directed the Latin American and Caribbean program at the National Endowment for Democracy and, before that, the Ford Foundation’s governance and human rights program in the Andean region and Southern Cone.

Summit of the Americas 2022

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Hosts: Nicole Rivas, Alexis Holewinski

Rosa Balfour is the director of Carnegie Europe. Her fields of expertise include European politics, and institutions, as well as foreign and security policy. Her current research focuses on the relationship between domestic politics and Europe’s global role, and she has published widely on issues relating to European politics. Previously, Balfour has been a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and the director of the Europe in the World program at the European Policy Center.

Populism in Europe

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Hosts: Alexis Holewinski, Nicole Rivas

Michael Kugelman is the Deputy Director of the Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center. He’s a leading specialist on Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan and their relations with the United States. The editor or co-editor of 11 books, he has written for The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and other publications, covering topics ranging from U.S. policy in Afghanistan to terrorism to water, energy, and food security in the region.

Crisis in Sri Lanka

Editor: Leo Kamer

Music: Zee Yuen

Hosts: Leo Kamer, Nicole Rivas

Jon Bateman is a senior fellow at the Cyber Policy Initiative of the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Previously, Jon has served as director for cyber strategy implementation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He recently published the report, “US-China Technological Decoupling: A Strategy and Policy Framework.”

U.S.-China Technological Decoupling

Episode Credits:

Editor: Leo Kamer

Host: Julia An

In this episode, we’ll examine the foreign policy implications of Australia’s upcoming election, including what the recent China-Solomon Islands security agreement and the unfolding war in Ukraine could mean for Australian national security. In particular, we’ll explore the candidates’ approaches to navigating Australia’s alliances and its relationship with a more aggressive China. Joining me on the podcast is Dr. Charles Edel. 

Dr. Edel is the inaugural Australia Chair and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Prior to that, Dr. Edel served on the U.S. secretary of state’s Policy Planning Staff from 2015 to 2017, where he advised the secretary of state on political and security issues in the Indo-Pacific region.

Foreign Policy in the Australian Elections

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Host: Julia An

Mr. Vaez is the Crisis Group’s Iran Project Director and Senior Adviser to the President. He led Crisis Group’s efforts in helping to bridge the gaps between Iran and the P5+1 that led to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. Previously, he served as a Senior Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and was the Iran Project Director at the Federation of American Scientists. We are very excited for this conversation and hope you anjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

Will There Be a New Iran Nuclear Deal?

Episode Credits:

Editor: Lidie Atagouz

Host: Franz Osilia

Ambassador Indyk is distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. From February 2015 to March 2018, he served as executive vice president of the Brookings Institution. During his tenure in government, Ambassador Indyk served as the U.S. special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations from July 2013 to June 2014 and as U.S. ambassador to Israel from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2001. We are excited to have him joining us today and we hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

The Arab-Israeli Detente

Please note that we recorded this episode several days prior to the second round election on April 24.

Macron vs. LePen

Episode credits:

Music: Zee Yuen

Editor: Zach Wheeler

Hosts: Chris Park and Jina Lim

James Lindsay is senior vice president, director of studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg chair at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he oversees the work of the David Rockefeller Studies Program. In the past he has served as deputy director and senior fellow in the foreign policy studies program at the Brookings Institution, as director for global issues and multilateral affairs on the staff of the National Security Council, and as a staff expert for the United States Institute of Peace’s congressionally mandated Task Force on the United Nations. He is a leading authority on the American foreign policy making process and the domestic politics of American foreign policy. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Congress and Foreign Policy

Credits:

Hosts: Jina Lim, Chris H. Park

Editor: Lidie Ataoguz

Adam Satariano is a technology correspondent based in Europe, where his work focuses on digital policy and the intersection of technology and world affairs.

His coverage has included the spread of disinformation, the growing use of censorship and surveillance technologies, the attempts by governments to police internet speech, and Europe’s efforts to regulate global tech giants.

Mr. Satariano has written about technology since 2010. Before joining The New York Times in 2018, he was a reporter for Bloomberg News in San Francisco and London. He has also written about environmental issues.

Big Tech vs. The EU

Episode Credits:

Host: Leo Kamer and Zach Wheeler

Editor: Zach Wheeler

Music: Zee Yuen

Poster: Reese Terry

For many, the name Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not mean much until the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Yet, his face and voice have become well known to many via social media and powerful international addresses. In this episode, we take a step back and look at his political journey from TV character to the commander in chief and how his journey speaks to a transition point for Ukraine’s politics and national identity. To answer these questions, joining us on the podcast is Ms. Orysia Lutsevych. 

Orysia Lutsevych is a research fellow and manager of the Ukraine Forum in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House.

As our first Academy Robert Bosch fellow, Orysia produced the influential How to finish a revolution: civil society and democracy in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. She focuses on social change and the role of civil society in democratic transition in the post-Soviet region. Her recent research analysed Russia’s use of proxy NGOs in achieving its foreign policy objectives.

Zelensky’s Ukraine

Jude Blanchette holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Previously, he was engagement director at The Conference Board’s China Center for Economics and Business in Beijing, where he researched China’s political environment with a focus on the workings of the Communist Party of China and its impact on foreign companies and investors. Prior to working at The Conference Board, Blanchette was the assistant director of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California, San Diego. Blanchette has written for a range of publications, including Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, and his Chinese translations have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. His book, China’s New Red Guards: The Return of Radicalism and the Rebirth of Mao Zedong, was published by Oxford University Press in 2019. Blanchette is a public intellectual fellow at the National Committee on United States-China Relations and serves on the board of the American Mandarin Society. He is also a senior advisor at Martin+Crumpton Group, a geopolitical risk advisory based in Arlington, Virginia. He holds an M.A. in modern Chinese studies from the University of Oxford and a B.A. in economics from Loyola University in Maryland.

Xi Jinping’s Faltering Foreign Policy

Episode Credits:

Hosts: Jina Lim and Leo Kramer

Episode Thumbnail: Reese Terry

Podcast Editor: Zach Wheeler

Follow us on social media: @hopkinspofa

Mr. Fishman is an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is an expert on economic statecraft and we are delighted to have him join us today. With that, I hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

WIll Sanctions on Russia Work?

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Twitter: @hopkinspofa

Episode Credits:

Host: Franz Osilia

Episode Editor: Will Polen

Poster Design: Indi Aufranc

Here to answer our questions is international security and UNHCR expert, Mr. Erol Yayboke. Erol Yayboke is a senior fellow with the International Security Program and director of the Project on Fragility and Mobility at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He has long-term field experience working for organizations in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Mr. Yayboke teaches a graduate level course on global fragility and resilience at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He previously served on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the Evidence for Policy Design team at Harvard’s Center for International Development.

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and UNHCR Intervention

Social Media (Twitter/Facebook/Instagram): @hopkinspofa

Episode Credits:

Hosts: Michelle Sicard and Nicole Rivas

Audio Editing: Zach Wheeler

Cover Image: Indi Aufranc

Music Production: Zee Yuen

James Goldgeier is a Professor of International Relations and served as Dean of the School of International Service at American University from 2011-17. In spring 2022, he is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Center on International Security and Cooperation. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, and he serves as the chair of the State Department Historical Advisory Committee. He was a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations from 2017-19, and in 2018-19, he held the inaugural Library of Congress Chair in U.S.-Russia Relations at the John W. Kluge Center. Previously, he was a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. He also taught at Cornell University, and has held a number of public policy appointments, including Director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council Staff, Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress, and Edward Teller National Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

A NATO Renewal?

Michael Kofman serves as Research Program Director in the Russia Studies Program at CNA and as a Fellow at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, DC. His research focuses on the Russia and the former Soviet Union, specializing in Russian armed forces, military thought, capabilities, and strategy. Previously, he served as a Program Manager and subject matter expert at National Defense University, advising senior military and government officials on issues in Russia and Eurasia. Mr. Kofman is also a Senior Editor at War on the Rocks, where he regularly authors articles on strategy, the Russian military, Russian decision-making, and related foreign policy issues.

The State of War in Ukraine

Kevin Casas-Zamora is the Secretary-General of International Institution for Democracy and Electoral Assistance or IDEA and has a political and legal background with a Law degree from the University of Costa Rica, a Masters in Government from the University of Essex, and a PhD in Political Science from University of Oxford. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, and previously, he held roles such as Costa Rica’s Second Vice President and Minister of National Planning; Secretary for Political Affairs at the Organization of American States; Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and National Coordinator of the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Challenges for Democracy in Latin America

This is the country’s second Covid-era election following the legislative election in April 2020. South Korea is considered as one of the success stories of third wave democratization in the late 20th Century.

South Korean democracy, however, has experienced polarization, regressive populism, and other practices that negatively impacted democracies around the world. It continues to grapple with gender inequality, corruption, and youth unemployment. The country also faces mounting foreign policy challenges as it manages relationships with North Korea, China, United States, and Japan.

Erin Aeran Chung is the Charles D. Miller Associate Professor of East Asian Politics in the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. Professor Chung specializes in East Asian political economy, international migration, civil society, and comparative racial politics. 

She is the author of Immigrant Incorporation in East Asian Democracies, which received the 2021 ASA Asia and Asian America Section Transnational Asia Book Award. Professor Chung is also co-P.I. for the “Critical Responses to Anti-Asian Violence (CRAAV) Initiative: Building Anti-Racist Solidarities” at Johns Hopkins.

South Korea Goes to the Polls

Dr. Jones is director and a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy of the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where he also works with the Center for East Asia Policy Studies. His research focuses on U.S. strategy, international order, and great power relations, with his most recent book, “To Rule the Waves: How Control of the World’s Oceans Shapes the Fate of the Superpowers,” examining these in the context of naval power. This book is the starting point for our discussion today and we are very excited to have its author come talk with us about it. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

To Rule the Waves:

Hey POFA fans just a quick disclaimer before we get started. This episode was recorded on February 18th, a week before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of our questions is outdated because of this. Alright, let’s get back to programming.

In the first decade of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and Communist China were intimate partners in what they called an eternal and unbreakable alliance.Breakable it was and eternal it was not, the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s left the two great powers at odds for the next thirty years. Within the past decade however, China and Russia have rapidly strengthened their economic, military, political, and, ideological ties in defiance of the liberal democratic order. Is this close Russia-China partnership an alliance, might it break like the last, and given the two countries shared ideological vision, is this a new Cold War? To answer these questions, today on the podcast we have Dr. Sergey Radchenko.

Sergey Radchenko is the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has written extensively on the Cold War, nuclear history, and on Russian and Chinese foreign and security policies.

The Russia-China Alignment

What was exposed?

From May 2020 to April 2021, 14 social gatherings were held in and around 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s main office and residence. Pictures and email invitations to the parties were leaked to the press. The first party was held on May 15, 2020 when Britain’s COVID-19 protocols prohibited more than two non-family members gathering outside. The last party was on April 16, 2021, when COVID-19 protocols had eased but nonetheless prohibited more than six people from gathering indoors. Johnson did not attend all of the parties, but members of his personal staff did. All parties exceeded the maximum number of attendees that was permitted by British law.  

What other controversies has Johnson faced while in office?

Johnson was accused of corruption in late 2020, when allegations were made that he used donor funds to renovate his apartment. Additionally, Johnson’s Brexit decision has been criticized for making it more difficult for British businesses to trade with Europe, increased European tariffs, and an overall reduction in trade with Europe. Through all of this criticism, Johnson has stayed in power.  

What are the legal repercussions of “Party-Gate”?

Since the outbreak of  COVID-19, over 100,000 people have paid fines for breaking COVID-19 protocols in the United Kingdom. The typical fine for small, unlawful gatherings is $270, with larger fines for gatherings with more people. A birthday party with 100 guests in June 2021 incurred a $13,400 fine. 

The police began investigating the parties at the prime minister’s office in January. in addition to an internal investigation conducted by senior civil servant Sue Gray. Gray’s report was released on January 31, which did not include events and subjects that are being investigated. However, Gray determined that some of the gatherings “represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time.” Gray did not attribute direct blame to Johnson for either attending or allowing these parties to occur at his office. The report also does not have any legal repercussions as it was not a police investigation. 

What has been the public reaction to  “Party-Gate”?

In the wake of “Party-Gate”, Johnson has significantly lost favor among Britons, as an early February poll indicated that his approval ratings plummeted to 24%. However, because of the UK Parliamentary system, voters don’t vote directly for Johnson in elections, but rather individual representatives. 

Could Johnson lose the Prime Ministership?

In order for Johnson to lose power, a vote of no confidence would have to be passed in the House of Commons. A vote of no confidence requires a simple majority, and if a vote of confidence cannot be won in 14 days to undo the vote , a general election can be called or the leader of the opposition party can simply take over. Johnson’s Tory party currently has 71 seats over the opposition, so at least 36 Tory MP’s would have to support the vote in addition to the entire opposition. While this sounds like a big ask, Tory MP’s have already pledged to support a vote of no confidence when the findings from the police investigation are released. While these pledges have mainly come from lower level MP’s, more prominent parliament members  have said anonymously that “If there’s any evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the prime minister, he can’t stay in post”.  

It is too soon to determine what the actual legal and political repercussions will be for Johnson,   

However, it appears that “Party-Gate” represents more than a transitory political scandal for Johnson, as it has provoked a formal police investigation, created significant outrage from the public, and has distanced both junior and senior Tory MP’s from Johnson.  

Bailey Pasternak is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins. He is from Cleveland, OH and is a blog writer for the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Yascha Mounk is one of the world’s leading experts on the crisis of liberal democracy and the rise of populism. He is an Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Founder of Persuasion, and the host of The Good Fight podcast.

The Fight for Global Democracy

Europeans don’t need to look further than their energy bills to feel the effects of the massive energy crisis gripping the continent. According to the Bank of America, Europeans can expect their household energy bills to rise by a striking 50% this winter. Many experts attribute these price increases to poor planning by European officials, a rocky transition to renewable energy, over reliance on imports, and the ongoing standoff between Russia and Ukraine, among other factors. Senior fellow at economic think-tank, Bruegel, Simone Tagliapietra, says it best: “Europe is seeing a perfect storm in its natural gas market.”

Energy as a “hot topic” of European Politics

Remember “les gilets jaunes?” In 2018, over 280,000 French grassroots protesters, calling themselves, “les gilets jaunes,” or “yellow vests,” stormed through French cities to protest fuel price hikes, leaving at least 400 injured. 

Energy has always been a sensitive subject in Europe. As European countries move away from hydrocarbons to greener alternatives, tensions over who will foot the bill for the transition have caused much controversy. For example, Northern Europeans agreed to fund an extensive aid package in 2020 to serve as an impetus for creating long-term energy investments. Instead, the aid money is being poured into Southern European countries to cover the costs of citizens’ unbearably high utility bills.

Much of the blame for winter 2022’s energy crisis has been apportioned to the European Commission. While Japan and China were buying up liquified natural gas (LNG) to prepare for this winter, the European Commission was finalizing its ambitious decarbonization plan to reduce carbon emissions by 55% by 2030. European politicians thus failed to fully stock gas storage for the winter; Bloomberg reports that gas storage sites are only 56% full, a staggering 15 percentage points below the ten-year average. Increased global demand driving up prices and an incomplete transition to renewable energy has left Europe in a vulnerable position–desperate to increase its gas supply and over reliant on foreign imports of LNG.  

How did Russia become embroiled in Europe’s current energy crisis?

In normal years, Russia supplies roughly one-third of Europe’s natural gas. However, this year, Russia tightened their outflow of gas to Europe, only shipping the bare minimum contractually required of them. The last notable instances of Russia restricting energy supplies to Europe were in 2006 and 2009. 

Experts fear that Russian President Vladmir Putin is using Europe’s energy crisis as a bargaining chip in Ukraine negotiations. Others argue that Putin would not be willing to lose one of its largest markets for oil. Putin denies any political motivations behind his actions, citing increasing internal demand this winter for lower energy exports. Either way, current European reliance on Russian oil, highlighted by the crisis, has inhibited Europe’s ability to respond to Russia’s aggressive geopolitical maneuvers in Ukraine. Russia is also suspected of limiting gas exports to force through their Nord Stream 2 pipeline agreement with Germany, whose progress has stalled. U.S. President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have presented a united front towards the Russia-Ukraine standoff, with Biden claiming that the Nord Stream 2 agreement will be halted in the event of an invasion and Scholz committing to unity with the U.S..

Future of the Energy Crisis

The United States has aided its NATO allies by exporting LNG, even outpacing Russian exports this year. Fortunately, the European energy crisis looks to be on the road to recovery; benign winter weather and low energy demands from Asia coupled with shipments from across the world have mitigated the effects of the crisis. The International Energy Agency estimates that LNG shipments to Europe more than doubled from January 2021. 

Although Europeans have managed to emerge from this winter’s energy crisis relatively unscathed, they cannot always rely on luck. If Europe plans to continue its admirable transition away from fossil fuels towards greener alternatives, European officials must have contingency plans to shield their citizens from extreme fuel price hikes and geopolitical tensions for the chilly winters to come. 

Liz Peron is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is originally from Westchester, NY and is a member of the Editorial Team at Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

The climate crisis has created numerous environmental emergencies in all corners of the globe. Perhaps none are more urgent than the situation unfolding in the islands of the South Pacific, where three territories have disappeared under rising tides in just one year. As temperatures climb higher and shores grow thinner, the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Pacific Islands are having their livelihoods and physical safety threatened by droughts, coral reef bleaching, flooding and storms. Those who live on archipelagos like Maldives are at  an 80% risk of losing their countries entirely within the next 50 years.

The rising sea levels threatening to sink islands are a result of two main processes of global environmental change. First, melting polar ice caps and glaciers are adding more liters of water into the ocean. Second, the ocean is expanding as water gets warmer, due to a process called thermal expansion – higher temperatures make water molecules move faster, increasing the volume of the body of water. This process has rapidly accelerated in the past few decades: tides are now growing at a rate of 3.6 millimeters per year, up from 1.4 millimeters in 1993 levels. Low-lying atolls such as Tuvalu and Kiribati are highly susceptible to these changes – and often, they do not have the resources to mitigate the consequences. 

In island nations where the danger of disappearance is not as immediate, climate change complicates life immensely. Frequent floods contaminate groundwater resources with sea water, kill vital crops like papaya and lessen the supply of drinking water. Though people are not at risk of drowning, they risk death from dehydration. Additionally, the increased occurrence of natural disasters, namely cyclones, is making certain islands completely uninhabitable; residents have no time to rebuild in between the chaotic onslaught of catastrophe.

In light of such a grim prognosis, it can be hard to imagine that there are successful solutions to protect the present and future of South Pacific Islanders. One of the strategies in which local governments have invested heavily is migration – the Kiribatian government, for instance, has created structured programs (Migration with Dignity and Pacific Access Ballot) that allow Kirabatians to find remunerative employment in nearby islands, namely Fiji. At the same time, they have also purchased potential agricultural land in Fiji to protect their food supply. However, this is not a perfect solution.  Citizens are understandably apprehensive about leaving their homes, families and jobs behind. Many people thusare calling for the implementation of strategies that would guard their coastlines and prevent further land loss.

‘Hard-engineering’ solutions could be the key to shielding the Pacific Islands from further damage. These projects would create physical strongholds to weaken the effect of the ocean and prevent flooding. Land reclamation and coastal fortification are two of the most effective options for this situation, as they offer the possibility of recuperating lost land and stopping the disappearance of more square mileage. However, these measures are expensive, simply unaffordable for these islands’ governments. Countries like India and New Zealand have pledged to support the Pacific Islands, but more cooperation will be required if these plans are to actually succeed. Unfortunately, this issue has only recently been receiving a commensurate level of international attention. Time is running out for the Pacific Islands, and the world doesn’t have long left before climate change makes them uninhabitable. 

Julia Queiroz is a freshman majoring in International Studies and Economics at Johns Hopkins University. She is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is part of the editorial team of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in 2015, is an arms control agreement between the U.N. Security Council’s Permanent Five (the U.S., China, Russia, France, and the U.K.), Germany, and Iran regarding Iran’s ability to acquire nuclear weapons. Under the agreement, Iran took steps to limit its nuclear capabilities like refraining from producing highly-enriched uranium or plutonium and allowing inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency unrestricted access to Iranian nuclear sites. In exchange, the other parties lifted nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, but retained sanctions related to human rights abuses and support for terrorist groups. The goal was to prolong Iran’s development of nuclear weapons, thus allowing the international community to prepare a future response to such developments. 

While the agreement was met with international support, the topic became incredibly polarizing in American domestic politics, culminating in the U.S. withdrawal from the deal in 2018 under President Trump. The United States reimposed sanctions on Iran previously lifted under the deal and demanded that American allies still involved in the agreement cease economic activity with Iran and adhere to U.S.-imposed sanctions. For months, the Biden administration has been negotiating with Iran in an attempt to restore a deal aimed at limiting Iran’s capability of creating nuclear weaponry. With U.S. officials stating that the “window is closing” and a deal is “in sight”, the issue deserves some scrutiny and examination. Here are some major factors that may influence negotiations and the prospect of a future deal. 

Iran’s Current Nuclear Status

Although Iran initially adhered to JCPOA’s standards, Iranian nuclear research and production was greatly expanded following the U.S. withdrawal. By April 2019, Iran’s uranium purity had reached 60%, and by September of that year, Iran began creating centrifuges for further uranium enrichment, leading it far closer to obtaining nuclear weapons than in 2015. In January 2020, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced his government had begun enriching uranium at levels exceeding pre-JCPOA levels, specifically citing the American failure to commit to the agreement as reason for Iran’s actions.

U.S. Sanctions Relief

The United States recently restored sanctions waivers on Iran that were removed by the Trump administration in an effort to facilitate what a State Department spokesperson called “technical discussions” essential in the re-creation of JCPOA. This relief allows companies to conduct business unrelated to nuclear proliferation or military matters with Iran’s nuclear sites. In the United States, these efforts have yielded mixed reactions, with some of Biden’s congressional allies praising these actions as progress towards a much-needed deal and others condemning such attempts as dangerously appeasing Iran. Iran has welcomed this development, but are also calling for greater sanctions relief and describing U.S. actions as “insufficient. ” 

The Global Oil Market

The oil market is another major factor in negotiations. A lift on sanctions could inject a significant amount of Iranian oil into the global market. The introduction of this new oil source could combat the rising oil prices we have recently seen and provide massive economic relief to Iran. The mere anticipation of an agreement has already contributed to slight decreases in global oil price levels. 

The Future of the Deal

 Even if the deal was restored, some U.S. officials predicted Iran could still obtain a nuclear weapon within a year due to the experience and knowledge they have accumulated over the past several years. This could make a new deal largely ineffective in achieving its original goal of slowing Iranian nuclear advancement and potentially sway the Permanent Five and Germany to take a harder stance or abandon negotiations altogether. As Iran’s nuclear program continues to advance throughout the negotiation period, some U.S. officials have already left the team in protest of what they perceive to be a soft stance from the American side. 

Nick Meeker is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is from San Jose, California, and is a member of the Editorial Team of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

On March 9th, South Koreans will vote for their next president. There are four major candidates that are vying to succeed the term-limited President Moon Jae-in. These four major candidates hail from the parties that occupy at least one seat in the National Assembly.  The presidential campaign, however, is likely to come down to a battle between the liberal ruling Democratic Party and the conservative main opposition People Power Party. Here is what we know about the candidates and their plans for the next five years.

Democratic Party: Lee Jae-Myung

Lee Jae-Myung won the primary election of the Democratic Party, the party of the current president, in October 2021. Lee comes from a legal background, having worked as a civil rights attorney early in his career. He previously served as mayor of Seongnam then the governor of the Gyeonggi province. However, compared to others in his party, Lee’s political career is shorter. He also was not a part of South Korea’s democracy movement, whose leaders form the backbone of South Korea’s liberals today. Lee’s main supporters are younger Koreans who praised his leadership during the coronavirus pandemic as he offered financial support to local residents ahead of the central government.

His political and personal career, however, is mired by scandals. Lee has been linked to a land development scandal in Gyeonggi Province while he was governor. And more recently, he has come under fire for the contents of his phone calls with his late brother, which were filled with insults and for an extramarital affair with actress Kim Bu-Seon, which is under investigation.

People Power Party: Yoon Seok-Youl

Yoon Seok-Youl from the People  Power Party is the candidate from the main opposition party. He is currently leading the polls, but by less than 10%, so there still remains a fair amount of uncertainty for the result of the election. Yoon was a former public prosecutor who then served as a prosecutor General of South Korea from 2019 to 2021. He was appointed to his position by President Moon and played a large part in the case against former President Park Geun Hye who was impeached. He is also known for cracking down on corruption among corporate leaders such as Samsung’s Vice Chairman, which has led to his rising popularity. Despite being appointed by President Moon, Yoon fell out of favour with the Moon government when he ordered an investigation into Cho Kuk, one of Moon’s closest aides and Yoon’s political opponent. The relationship hasn’t mended with Yoon threatening to launch a probe into the Moon government’s “deep-rooted corruption” if elected. Yoon has even less  political experience than Lee, which makes some voters skeptical. Overall, Yoon and the party are popular among conservatives in Korea and those that want someone that will change things up moving forward.

And even as the leading candidate, Yoon does have some scandals surrounding him. Yoon has allegedly engaged in political meddling to lodge criminal complaints against several figures before the parliamentary elections while he was serving as prosecutor-general. His wife, an art curator, also obtained her graduate degrees with plagiarized papers and has threatened journalists with prison sentences.

How do Their Policies Differ?

The two candidates disagree on foreign policy, energy policy, and climate action. They also disagree on whether South Korea should pursue a seat at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (known as the Quad), composed of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia. Lee and the Democratic party tend to be more accommodating towards North Korea and China, seeing Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program as the manifestation of the North Korean regime’s insecurity and political isolation. They are likely to support and continue the advancement of a peace declaration and inter-Korean economic and humanitarian projects. Lee specifically also has plans to reform family-run conglomerates and implement the Universal Basic Income in Korea; he implemented a trial run of UBI in Gyeonggi province as governor. 

Yoon stated that he wants to restore constitutionalism and the principle of fairness that he says have been marred by the Moon administration. Overall, the People Power Party is more open to the U.S. and are skeptical of North Korea’s and China’s intentions. Yoon wants to strengthen economic cooperation with the U.S., raise global investment, improve the climate, and have positive stances towards diversity and inclusion. This election is shaping up to be a contest between two candidates with similar levels of support as well as disappointment and criticism. For the first time, with both of the candidates having no experience in the National Assembly, it is reasonable to expect visible differences in the handling of the upcoming administration, leading to large domestic and international impacts from the change.

Jina Lim is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is originally from Portland, Oregon, and is part of the editorial team of the Hopkins Podcast of Foreign Affairs. 

Once long-standing adversaries, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have come to establish a growing partnership in recent years, brought about by the historic signing of the Abraham Accords in August 2020. Here’s everything you need to know about this diplomatic normalization and its potential reverberations across the Middle Eastern world.

Did These Nations Interact Much Before 2020?

Since its founding in 1971, the UAE had long refused to recognize the State of Israel—disputing its sovereignty as a part of the larger Arab-Israeli conflict that had persisted since Israel’s founding in 1948. Tensions between the two grew especially strained in 2010 after the UAE accused Mossad—Israel’s intelligence agency—of assassinating a leader of Hamas in Dubai, the UAE’s most populous city. However, since then, relations between the two nations markedly improved, in large part because of the mutual threat Iran’s nuclear program posed following the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’s (JCPOA) collapse in 2018, a deal both the UAE and Israel opposed.

What Made the Abraham Accords So Important?

Signed on Aug. 13, 2020, the Abraham Accords was a monumental turning point in Middle Eastern diplomacy, marking the first-ever normalization between Israel and an Arab Gulf country. In it, the UAE and Israel agreed to partnerships across economic investment, tourism, communications, and international flights while also committing to opening embassies and exchanging ambassadors. However, underlying all this cultural diplomacy was a tacit agreement for the need to take a united stand against Iran, whose growing nuclear capabilities put both nations at an increased risk of attack—whether directly or through the Houthis, an Iranian-backed rebel force. 

How Have Israeli-UAE Relations Changed Since Its Signing?

Since the agreement’s signing two years ago, collaboration between the UAE and Israel has expanded across a wide breadth of fields. In March 2021, for example, the UAE announced the creation of a $10 billion investment fund to support critical Israeli sectors, ranging from energy manufacturing to healthcare. In turn, thousands of Israeli tourists have poured into the UAE, traveling throughout the Emirates and even celebrating Hanukkah in Dubai. Most importantly, considerable focus has been spent on strengthening military arrangements in light of the two countries’ shared Iranian threat. Discussions have included the sale of advanced Israeli air-defense systems and the joint development of military drones, which have gained increased prominence following a Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi this past January.

What Does This Mean for the Rest of the Middle East?

As shown, the growing partnership between the UAE and Israel represents a budding shift in Middle Eastern geopolitical dynamics, where Iran—not Israel—is seen as the greatest threat to regional stability. With Iran’s nuclear capabilities continuing to increase in combination with the recent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Middle Eastern nations are now seeking increased security through more local connections. Indeed, other Arab states, including Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, soon announced plans to normalize relations following the UAE’s declaration, highlighting the situation’s diplomatic fluidity. In short, the UAE-Israel agreement may mark a new period in Arab-Israeli politics—one with a shared hope for stability and cooperation not seen since the dawn of the 21st century.

Lucas Holloway is a freshman majoring in International Studies and Economics at Johns Hopkins University. He is originally from Daytona Beach, FL, and is a member of the editorial team on the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

What was exposed?

From May 2020 to April 2021, 14 social gatherings were held in and around 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s main office and residence. Pictures and email invitations to the parties were leaked to the press. The first party was held on May 15, 2020 when Britain’s COVID-19 protocols prohibited more than two non-family members gathering outside. The last party was on April 16, 2021, when COVID-19 protocols had eased but nonetheless prohibited more than six people from gathering indoors. Johnson did not attend all of the parties, but members of his personal staff did. All parties exceeded the maximum number of attendees that was permitted by British law.  

What other controversies has Johnson faced while in office?

Johnson was accused of corruption in late 2020, when allegations were made that he used donor funds to renovate his apartment. Additionally, Johnson’s Brexit decision has been criticized for making it more difficult for British businesses to trade with Europe, increased European tariffs, and an overall reduction in trade with Europe. Through all of this criticism, Johnson has stayed in power.  

What are the legal repercussions of “Party-Gate”?

Since the outbreak of  COVID-19, over 100,000 people have paid fines for breaking COVID-19 protocols in the United Kingdom. The typical fine for small, unlawful gatherings is $270, with larger fines for gatherings with more people. A birthday party with 100 guests in June 2021 incurred a $13,400 fine. 

The police began investigating the14 parties at the prime minister’s office in January. in addition to an internal investigation conducted by senior civil servant Sue Gray. Gray’s report was released on January 31, which did not include events and subjects that are being investigated. However, Gray determined that some of the gatherings “represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time.” Gray did not attribute direct blame to Johnson for either attending or allowing these parties to occur at his office. The report also does not have any legal repercussions as it was not a police investigation. 

What has been the public reaction to  “Party-Gate”?

In the wake of “Party-Gate”, Johnson has significantly lost favor among Britons, as an early February poll indicated that his approval ratings plummeted to 24%. However, because of the UK Parilimentary system, voters don’t be vote directly for Johnson in elections, but rather individual represernatives. 

Could Johnson lose the Prime Ministership?

In order for Johnson to lose power, a vote of no confidence would have to be passed in the House of Commons. A vote of no confidence requires a simple majority, and if a vote of confidence cannot be won in 14 days to undo the vote , a general election can be called or the leader of the opposition party can simply take over. Johnson’s Tory party currently has 71 seats over the opposition, so at least 36 Tory MP’s would have to support the vote in addition to the entire opposition. While this sounds like a big ask, Tory MP’s have already pledged to support a vote of no confidence when the findings from the police investigation are released. While these pledges have mainly come from lower level MP’s, more prominent parliament members  have said anonymously that “If there’s any evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the prime minister, he can’t stay in post”.  

It is too soon to determine what the actual legal and political repercussions will be for Johnson,   

However, it appears that “Party-Gate” represents more than a transitory political scandal for Johnson, as it has provoked a formal police investigation, created significant outrage from the public, and has distanced both junior and senior Tory MP’s from Johnson.  

Bailey Pasternak is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins. He is from Cleveland, OH and is a blog writer for the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.  

Nikos Tsafos is the James R. Schlesinger Chair in Energy and Geopolitics with the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In this role, he oversees work on managing the geopolitics of energy and climate change, advancing industrial policies for clean energy, ensuring a just transition for workers and communities, and equipping U.S. foreign policy and the multilateral system to deal with climate change and the energy transition. Nikos has written extensively on the geopolitics of energy and natural gas; the political economy of hydrocarbon states; European climate policy; sustainable cities and mobility; the pace and trajectory of the energy transition; and the geopolitics of energy in the Arctic, Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia.

Will Russia Shut off Europe’s Gas?

Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). He is also a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He is the author or editor of several books, including his most recent book around which our discussion is based today: The Twilight Struggle: what the cold war teaches us about great-power rivalry. Hal served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Strategic Planning from 2015 to 2016, and has been a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He has also consulted with a range of government offices and agencies in the intelligence and national security communities and served as lead writer for the Commission on the National Defense Strategy for the United States.

Cold War Lessons for Great-Power Competition

Remember to follow POFA on Social Media!

Twitter/Instagram/Facebook: @hopkinsPofa

Episode Hosts: Alexis Holewinski, Chris Park, Amanda Yuen

Edited By: Zach Wheeler

Sebastian Strangio is a journalist covering Southeast Asia and the author of Cambodia: From Pol Pot to Hun Sen and Beyond and In the Dragon’s Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century. he began his career as a reporter at The Phnom Penh Post in Cambodia, and has since traveled and reported extensively across the 10 nations of ASEAN. He now serves as the Southeast Asia Editor at The Diplomat. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Hun Sen’s Cambodia

Remember to follow POFA on Social Media!

Twitter/Instagram/Facebook: @hopkinsPofa

Episode Hosts: Alexis Holewinski, Chris Park, Amanda Yuen

Edited By: Zach Wheeler

Playa de El Zonte, El Salvador: a town of 3,000 inhabitants boasting incredible surf, great food, and the pioneering adoption of bitcoin as a main form of payment. Beach vendors, aiming to increase their sales to tourists who frequented El Zonte, decided to start accepting bitcoin as a form of payment. President Nayib Bukele cited El Zonte and similar projects as the inspiration behind the legislative project that legalised Bitcoin as one of the country’s official currencies, the other being the US dollar. 

This decision is monumental. El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt cryptocurrency as legal tender and to actively stimulate its citizens to adhere to it. Alongside legalisation, the government also has offered a free $30 dollars worth of bitcoin to citizens who sign up for the digital wallet, known as “Chivo,” and residency to foreigners who invest three bitcoin or more (at least $140,000) in the country. The country has also recently installed 200 bitcoin ATMs, with long term plans involving even the use of geothermal energy from the country’s volcanoes to mine bitcoin.

The adoption of bitcoin as legal currency is clearly a move by President Bukele designed to stimulate El Salvador’s ailing economy. According to him, the use of cryptocurrency could save hundreds of millions of dollars in transaction fees on money sent into the country by citizens working abroad. Remittances, as these funds are known, account for nearly a fifth of the Salvadoran GDP, around $6 billion dollars. Furthermore, supporters of the law have also claimed that this new project will allow many Salvadorans who have never had a bank account to access banking services. 

Unfortunately, critics and experts from all around the world do not agree with Bukele’s belief that bitcoin adopting bitcoin will help the struggling Central American country. On its first day as the new currency, Bitcoin’s value crashed nearly 20%.  Many couldn’t sign up for the digital wallet as servers went offline due to the overwhelming demand. This instability has led to a well-founded fear that cryptocurrency could bring more instability and inflation, as opposed to the financial freedom purported by its supporters. Those who receive remittances are afraid that such a vital part of their income would be threatened by the fluctuations in highly volatile Bitcoin price. 

With no consideration of its risks, President Bukele could be committing El Salvador to a dangerous future; the country has already committed $200 million to the project, 2.7% of the country’s national budget for 2021. A wildly fluctuating currency can quickly result in financial disaster, especially in a country as indeted as El Salvador. Experts have also warned that the economic “boom” produced by bitcoin could end as soon as people spend their bonus credits and incentives to embrace the new currency dry up.

Opposition politician Johnny Wright Sol criticized the legislative project because it was rushed through congress; additionally the project received no input from the public. Salvadorans have not been properly educated on the use of cryptocurrency.In a country where only 30% of people have bank accounts, this is very dangerous. Additionally , studies conducted by the Central American University found that only 4.8% of Salvadorans fully understood how to use bitcoin. Nearly seven out of ten did not approve of bitcoin becoming a legal currency,a statistic backed by the protests carried out against Bukele’s government and his bitcoin project in the capital, San Salvador.

What will actually happen to El Salvador’s economy under this new venture remains still somewhat unknown. For all forecasts and predictions, the adoption of bitcoin takes El Salvador into a completely uncharted territory. While most economists have been somewhat skeptical of the Salvadoran bitcoin project, this has not deterred other countries, such as Panama and Paraguay, from looking in on it with interest. Bitcoin’s standing in Latin America, and the world as a whole, is growing, and so is the uncertainty of what is to come.

Julia Queiroz is a freshman majoring in International Studies and Economics at Johns Hopkins University. She is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is part of the editorial team of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

A wave of migrants coming from a region of Central America, known as the Northern Triangle, has showcased how the culmination of poverty, violence, and instability in the area is forcing residents away. The Northern Triangle, comprising three countries- El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, have suffered from these chronic issues and despite attempts by their respective governments to mitigate them, these problems still persist. 

Why are people fleeing the region? 

Migrants have continued to leave the Northern Triangle in large numbers, although the number has significantly decreased  since the start of the coronavirus pandemic amid restrictions and border closures. The people leaving the region make the dangerous and treacherous journey out of desperation, seeking asylum and a more prosperous life. While there are many compounding factors that are driving people to leave their own countries, the major drivers are a lack of economic opportunity, chronic violence, and climate change. 

The region is considered one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. Three years ago, all three countries ranked at the bottom for gross domestic product per capita among Latin American states. In 2020, according to the World Bank, nearly 21 percent of the countries’ economic output was attributed to remittances, money sent home by family members or friends living abroad. The lack of economic opportunity has forced residents to pursue livelihoods elsewhere, contributing to the mass of migrants leaving the countries.  

Many of these problems come from the decades of violence, war, and instability rooted in the region’s history. The region is plagued by complex, structured criminal organizations, including gangs like Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Eighteenth Street Gang (M-18). The prevalence of violence has caused the murder rates to be among the world’s highest in recent decades. Despite the fact that the COVID-19 restrictions eased crime rates across the Northern Triangle, experts have argued that this is surely temporary and that violent groups will seize this opportunity in order to expand their power. 

On top of this, the ongoing challenges that arise from climate change have heavily impacted the economic opportunities that exist for Northern Triangle residents. Devastating hurricanes and an outbreak of coffee rust have heavily impacted the countries’ economies, further adding to the issues of poverty and food insecurity. 

How have the region’s governments attempted to solve these issues? 

The region has implemented various interventions to tackle the region’s enduring problems, but they all have made limited progress. The most significant coordinated effort to reduce economic instability has been the Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity (A4P). The plan was designed to address the drivers of excessive migration and made commitments to strengthen institutions, expand opportunities, and increase production. The extent of A4P’s impact has been disputed and has proven difficult to measure.

Despite the fact that GDPs were improving across the region prior to the pandemic, the months-long COVID-19 restrictions crushed the industries that were fueling regional economies. In order to roll out support programs, Northern Triangle countries borrowed large sums but a lack of institutional structure crippled their delivery of aid and public services. It was estimated by the International Monetary Fund that in 2020, they suffered economic contractions between 1.5 percent and 8.6 percent. 

In order to curb the extreme violence plaguing the region, Northern Triangle governments deployed a series of anti-crime policies that significantly expanded police powers and enacted harsher punishments for gang members in the early 2000s. Despite support from the public, these policies mostly failed to reduce crime. The resultant mass incarcerations increased the burden on already at-capacity prisons, which exacerbated the issue since many jails are controlled by gangs as well. 

Regional governments have also attempted to physically stop migrants on the move. In January 2021, Guatemalan authorities employed force and broke up a group of migrants that were headed for the American border. 

Anusha Rao is a sophomore majoring in Cognitive Science and minoring in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University. She is originally from Washington D.C. and is part of the editorial team for the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

Ivo H. Daalder is president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He served as the US ambassador to NATO from 2009-2013.

Prior to his appointment as ambassador to NATO by President Obama, Daalder was a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, specializing in American foreign policy, European security and transatlantic relations, and national security affairs. Before joining Brookings in 1998, he was an associate professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and director of research at its Center for International and Security Studies. He also served as director for European affairs on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council staff from 1995-1997.

How to Deter Russia

Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili is the Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on issues of self-governance, security, political economy, and public sector reform in the developing world. Murtazashvili has advised the United States Agency for International Development, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, the World Bank, the US Department of Defense, the United Nations Development Program, and UNICEF. Murtazashvili served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. She is the President-elect of the Central Eurasian Studies Society and a member of PONARS Eurasia, a research organization focused on security issues in Eurasia. 

An Uprising in Kazakhstan

Ryan Berg is a senior fellow in the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he is also the head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative. Previously, Dr. Berg was a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he helped lead its Latin America Studies Program. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foriegn Affairs.

Maduro’s Venezuela

A Generational Shift in Chile

POFA Roundtable: 2021 Year in Review

Angela Stent is Senior Adviser to the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and Professor Emerita of Government at Georgetown University. An expert on US-Russia relations, she is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She served as National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council from 2004-2006, and served in the Office of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State from 1999-2001.

Preventing Conflict in Ukraine

 The development and popularization of the Internet and cyberspace fundamentally changed the world. With information readily available at the click of a button, it was championed by many that the Internet would lead to the end of authoritarianism and the beginning of a global liberal order. Evidently, the reality is much different. Cyberspace has become an important tool of foreign policy for every state, from espionage to defense to hacking. Different states have regulated the Internet within their borders differently, producing an increasingly fragmented global Internet as opposed to the globally open one that was envisioned several years ago. So, in a world where cyberspace is weaponized and cybersecurity is of utmost importance to national security, how do states maintain national sovereignty? Is a global, open, and resilient Internet still a possibility or is it a pipe dream? Joining us today to discuss these questions and more is Dr. Adam Segal. 

Adam Segal is the Ira A. Lipman chair in emerging technologies and national security and director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). An expert on security issues, technology development, and Chinese domestic and foreign policy, Segal was the project director for the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force reports Innovation and National Security: Keeping Our Edge and Defending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient Internet. His book The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in the Digital Age (PublicAffairs, 2016) describes the increasingly contentious geopolitics of cyberspace. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs, among others. He currently writes for the blog, “Net Politics.”

Cyberspace in International Relations

Africa has long been plagued by malaria — each year, the disease kills nearly 300,000 African children under 5 years old. But on October 6, the W.H.O. approved the first ever malaria vaccine. 30 years in the making, the RTS,S vaccine has already shown success in field trials. But before it can make an impact, the focus is on vaccine rollout — getting expensive vaccines from production to rural areas in developing nations.

Dr. Peter Agre is currently the Director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, overseeing scientific training and research efforts in Baltimore and field studies in Zambia and Zimbabwe. His focus is in the molecular aspects of human diseases, including blood group antigens, and malaria. Dr. Agre received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovery of the aquaporin water channels and was named a Bloomberg distinguished Professor in 2014.

The Promise of the Malaria Vaccine

Up To Speed: Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Islamic Unraveling

This episode of UTS was written by Cameron Brown and Hardy Williams, Voiced by Cameron Brown and Leo Kramer, and Edited by Zach Wheeler and Samuel Koh.

Throughout NATO defense ministers’ meetings on Oct. 21-22, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg highlighted the need for “future-proofing” NATO in a more complex and competitive world. This included the key steps NATO is taking in several areas of focus:

Security and Technology

NATO’s current trajectory emphasizes keeping a technological edge ahead of authoritarian regimes. The newly announced NATO Innovation Fund aims to support the development of “dual-use emerging and disruptive technologies” and the integration of artificial intelligence in data analysis, imagery, and cyber defense.

Stoltenberg also stressed the importance of NATO’s adaptation to its shift in recent years away from operations outside NATO territory. In scaling down its investment in resources and efforts for these operations, NATO plans to continue increasing the readiness of forces within its borders, deploying combat troops on its eastern borders, and improving the efficiency of its command structure. These measures will work in conjunction with a modernization of NATO forces “not only in the land, air, and sea domain, but also when it comes to responding to new and disruptive technologies”. To this end, Stoltenberg stated that NATO will work to ensure its members are able to operate the different technologies “seamlessly, between their forces, and with each other.” 

In regards to crisis management, Stoltenberg emphasized that the NATO allies will continue to be “increasingly aware of the importance of resilience, vulnerabilities related to supply lines, and also the importance of strengthening resilience”, with an increased focus on the potential security concerns raised by China. This includes “critical infrastructure, supply lines, and making sure that NATO can ensure it has the equipment, materials, and supplies it needs to uphold defense in times of crisis”. 

Relations with Russia

Considering Russia’s closure of the two NATO offices in Moscow and its withdrawal of eight personnel from NATO’s Brussels headquarters following suspicions of spying, NATO-Russia relations are at an all-time low since the Cold War. Despite this, NATO’s policy of being open to dialogue with Russia through mediums such as the NATO Russia Council will remain consistent, Stoltenberg assures: “the relationship between NATO and Russia has just become more difficult, but NATO will continue to strive for a constructive or a meaningful dialogue with Russia”.  

NATO continues to pursue a “dual-track” approach to Russia of deterrence and dialogue. Prompted by Russia’s invasion of its neighbors, annexation of Crimea, and heavy investment in nuclear capabilities in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty over recent decades, NATO feels a clear need to promote arms control “without mirroring Russia’s actions”. 

That being said, NATO does not believe in unilateral disarmament, as a world where authoritarian regimes like Russia have nuclear weapons while NATO does not, “is simply not a safer world”. Instead, the Nuclear Planning Group aims to formulate measures NATO can take to keep its nuclear deterrent “safe, secure, and effective” in order to address the nuclear threat posed by Russia. NATO defense ministers have pledged to implement “a balanced package of political and military measures” to respond to the Russian threat, including “significant improvements to air and missile defenses, strengthening conventional capabilities with fifth generation jets, adapting exercises and intelligence, and improving the readiness of NATO’s nuclear deterrent”. 

Counterterrorism

Stoltenberg maintains that NATO’s primary goal in Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal and subsequent Taliban takeover is to prevent the country from becoming a “safe haven for terrorists,”as well as holding the Taliban accountable for its commitments to preventing terrorism, upholding human rights, and safe passage. NATO plans to use its political and diplomatic leverage on the Taliban regime, as well as contribution to The Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh and cooperation between member states to combat further terrorism. NATO also promises to “monitor any attempts by international terrorist groups to regroup in Afghanistan”, with its allies having “the capabilities to strike from over the horizon against terrorist threats”, Stoltenberg adds. 

Collaboration

The future of NATO lies in strengthening the bond and cooperation of its allies, particularly between North America and Europe. Stoltenberg states that working together more closely on a wide range of issues, such as technology, deterrence, and mutual defense, will be the foremost goal of NATO “in an age of global competition.” Moreover, NATO aims to collaborate more closely with its partners in the Asia Pacific region, including New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.

Stoltenberg believes that, with the preservation of its core values as the organization’s principal interest, NATO’s outlined approach to the current issues it faces will provide an effective framework to propel NATO forward.   

Oliver Gao is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is from Vancouver, Canada. 

Rodrigo Durterte has brought the world’s attention to the Philippines with his brash, populist rhetoric and tough-on-crime policies. In this episode we look at the president’s rise to power, his major foreign, and domestic policies, and to what extent he will step back from Filipino politics. Joining us to answer these questions is Joshua Kurlantzick. 

Joshua Kurlantzick is senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author, of a forthcoming book on China’s information and influence activities. Kurlantzick was previously a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he studied Southeast Asian politics and economics. He is currently focused on China’s relations with Southeast Asia, and China’s approach to soft and hard power. He is also working on issues related to the rise of global populism, populism in Asia, and the impact of COVID-19 on illiberal populism and political freedom.

A Post-Duterte Philippines

In late July, China conducted a test of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that entered low earth orbit, circled the globe,  and struck a predetermined target in China. The test allegedly stunned U.S. military and intelligence officials for its complexity, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley calling the test a near “sputnik moment.” The test comes amidst an unprecedented evolution of China’s nuclear arsenal, from a potential dramatic expansion of its nuclear warheads, to rapid innovation in its nuclear delivery technologies. Why is China pursuing this nuclear evolution, how important was its hypersonic missile test, and what does this mean for the stability of the global nuclear balance and prospects of nuclear war? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Dr. James Acton.

James Acton is the Jessica T. Mathews Chair and is co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A physicist by training, Acton’s current research focuses on the escalation risks of advanced conventional weapons and the future of arms control. An expert on hypersonic conventional weapons, Acton has testified on this subject to the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee and the congressionally chartered U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

China’s Evolving Nuclear Arsenal

Since August, of last year there have been more coups in sub-Saharan Africa than at any time for the past two decades – Mali in August 2020, Chad in April 2020, Mali again in May 2021, Guinea in September, and Sudan just last month. In this episode we discuss the recent trends of turmoil and democratic instability in Africa as seen in these successful and attempted coups. We seek to understand how these power grabs threaten a reversal of the democratization progress Africa has undergone. What are the root causes of these disruptions? Is the current moment a turning point? And what is in store for the future of the African continent?

John Mukum Mbaku is an Attorney and Counselor at Law (licensed in the State of Utah) and Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics & John S. Hinckley Research Fellow at Weber State University (Ogden, Utah, USA). He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. He received the J.D. degree and Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, where he was Managing Editor of the Utah Environmental Law Review, and the Ph.D. (economics) from the University of Georgia. His most recent books are Protecting Minority Rights in African Countries: A Constitutional Political Economy Approach (Edward Elgar, 2018) and (with Mwangi S. Kimenyi), Governing the Nile River Basin: The Search for a New Legal Regime (The Brookings Institution Press, 2015). 

A Fraught Moment for African Democracy

Erosion of Polish Democracy

For many in Poland, Thursday’s landmark decision does not come as a surprise. PM Morawiecki is a prominent member of the far right, populist Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS) that receives support from roughly 38% of Poles. The PiS’s conservative agenda involves the re-Christianization of Europe, restriction of LGBTQ+ rights and abortion, limiting free press, and “reforming” the judiciary to strongly align it with party leadership. 

Judicial reform

Of Poland’s many right-wing reforms, the reforms to the judiciary are some of the most concerning and have led to the clash with the EU. Poland’s reforms first raised eyebrows when the retirement age for female and male judges was lowered in 2017, making the new retirement age for women five years earlier than the retirement age for men and forcing around 100 judges to retire early from their positions only to be replaced by PiS loyalists. Further, the law gives the Polish Minister of Justice the ability to allow select justices to continue working past the age of retirement–another way for the PiS to assert control over Poland’s judiciary. Facing criticism from the EU in 2018, Warsaw made amendments to the law that lowered the retirement age of men and women equally, but ultimately the law was still deemed unconstitutional. 

The same year, Poland rolled out more sweeping reforms that changed the way judges are appointed and increased their control over the appointment process by establishing a disciplinary regime for judges who challenge Polish judicial reforms. This includes lowering their salaries, suspending their positions within the court, pursuing legal action against them, or detaining them. In response, the European Commission asked the European court of justices (ECJ) to suspend all rulings put forth by the Polish disciplinary chamber while the European Commission pursues legal action against Poland.

The EU’s Response

There has been growing concern over Poland’s shift away from democracy, reflected by its infringements upon judicial independence, under PiS leadership. The European Commission has  used legal and financial avenues to discipline Poland. In 2017, the EU invoked Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty as in response to Poland’s dramatic judiciary reforms. The EU can vote to invoke Article 7 when a member country breaches the EU’s fundamental values; this results in the nation receiving a formal warning. If the EU votes unanimously to take further action against the state, Article 7 can go so far as to restrict voting rights within the EU and induce economic sanctions against the state, earning it the label of the “nuclear option.” The European Commission has also withheld $66 billion designated for Poland from the coronavirus relief fund. 

What are the implications for the entirety of the EU?

The possibility of a Polexit — describing Polish withdrawal from the E.U. — does not seem likely. After nationwide protests erupted, Prime Minister Morawiecki assured that he will not seek a Polexit, calling it  “a harmful myth, which the opposition uses for its own lack of ideas about Poland’s responsible place in Europe.” Although the government’s reforms directly conflict with EU values, a staggering 90% of Poles support Poland’s membership to the EU. The union also provides much funding to the Polish government. However, the EU maintains a hardline stance against erosions of Polish democracy. The President of the European Parliament notably criticized the Polish Constitutional tribunal decision and argued that “the primacy of E.U. law must be undisputed.” Many other countries have also experienced friction with the EU. Hungary and Germany are engaged in separate legal battles with the European entity for different reasons. The Poland-EU dispute is nowhere near resolved, but its outcome will certainly have lasting implications on the future of the EU. 

Liz Peron is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is originally from Westchester, NY and is a member of the Editorial Team at Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

What are the Pandora Papers?

Pandora Papers consists of over 12 million documents and 2.64 terabytes of information collected from 14 different service providers that uncover the shell companies and over 3,000 offshore bank accounts of influential and wealthy clients. The ICIJ, along with other partners including the Washington Post, BBC, and the Guardian, has uncovered confidential economic dealings of 35 world leaders, 330+ politicians and public officials in 91 states, and global terrorists and criminals. These people include the King of Jordan, the presidents of Ukraine and Ecuador, Shakira, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

What are “Offshore” Accounts?

The wealthy have many ways of evading taxes and otherwise increasing their wealth, and offshore accounts and shell companies are tactics to do so. Offshore countries are places in which it’s easy to set up shell companies to hide the owner’s identities and have low or no corporation tax. Shell companies are established in name only to facilitate these offshore accounts. This, while not illegal, is a privileged method to accumulate wealth as to set up all these accounts the client needs to be already wealthy. And as of now, even with widespread knowledge of these accounts, most cases remain unregulated or self-regulated.

Shift of Traditional Tax Havens

The Pandora Papers identify problems within the United States for the first time, unlike the previous Panama and Paradise Papers. For example, they identified new countries, such as the United States, as a tax haven. In recent years, states such as South Dakota, Florida, Delaware, Texas, and Nevada have been a burgeoning hub for offshore (or onshore now for some cases) accounts, while the policies have remained focused on traditional offshore havens such as the Bahamas. The United States, specifically, has been pressured to increase transparency due to the secretive nature of American bank accounts, companies, and trusts. And the U.S. refused to join the 2014 agreement supported by more than 100 jurisdictions that would require American financial institutions to share information they have about foreigners’ assets. This created a blindspot inside this already largely shadowed issue.

What impact does this have?

Other than the possible legal and governmental ramifications of the investigation, the Pandora Papers will play a crucial role in understanding how accumulation of wealth operates in the hands of the super rich. This showed that financial loopholes are present in every corner of the world, not just in far off countries but also in the world’s largest democracies. Afterall, the key players in the investigation included multinational banks, law firms, and accounting practices all headquartered in the U.S. and Europe.

The Pandora Papers have spurred countries to launch investigations into these revelations. While some countries defend their leaders and influencers, eight countries – Pakistan, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Australia, Cezch Republic, and Panama – so far have launched their own investigations. And in Chile, President Sebastián Piñera was impeached on November 9th by the lower house of congress. The Pandora Papers are just the newest in the constant line up of papers that expose the convoluted wealth and power system of the privileged around the world, promoting transparency in the faults of tax systems around the world.

Jina Lim is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is originally from Portland, Oregon and is part of the editorial team of the Hopkins Podcast of Foreign Affairs.

This decision is monumental. El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt cryptocurrency as legal tender and to actively stimulate its citizens to adhere to it. Alongside legalisation, the government also has offered a free $30 dollars worth of bitcoin to citizens who sign up for the digital wallet, known as “Chivo,” and residency to foreigners who invest three bitcoin or more (at least $140,000) in the country. The country has also recently installed 200 bitcoin ATMs, with long term plans involving even the use of geothermal energy from the country’s volcanoes to mine bitcoin.

The adoption of bitcoin as legal currency is clearly a move by President Bukele designed to stimulate El Salvador’s ailing economy. According to him, the use of cryptocurrency could save hundreds of millions of dollars in transaction fees on money sent into the country by citizens working abroad. Remittances, as these funds are known, account for nearly a fifth of the Salvadoran GDP, around $6 billion dollars. Furthermore, supporters of the law have also claimed that this new project will allow many Salvadorans who have never had a bank account to access banking services. 

Unfortunately, critics and experts from all around the world do not agree with Bukele’s belief that bitcoin adopting bitcoin will help the struggling Central American country. On its first day as the new currency, Bitcoin’s value crashed nearly 20%.  Many couldn’t sign up for the digital wallet as servers went offline due to the overwhelming demand. This instability has led to a well-founded fear that cryptocurrency could bring more instability and inflation, as opposed to the financial freedom purported by its supporters. Those who receive remittances are afraid that such a vital part of their income would be threatened by the fluctuations in highly volatile Bitcoin price. 

With no consideration of its risks, President Bukele could be committing El Salvador to a dangerous future; the country has already committed $200 million to the project, 2.7% of the country’s national budget for 2021. A wildly fluctuating currency can quickly result in financial disaster, especially in a country as indeted as El Salvador. Experts have also warned that the economic “boom” produced by bitcoin could end as soon as people spend their bonus credits and incentives to embrace the new currency dry up.

Opposition politician Johnny Wright Sol criticized the legislative project because it was rushed through congress; additionally the project received no input from the public. Salvadorans have not been properly educated on the use of cryptocurrency.In a country where only 30% of people have bank accounts, this is very dangerous. Additionally , studies conducted by the Central American University found that only 4.8% of Salvadorans fully understood how to use bitcoin. Nearly seven out of ten did not approve of bitcoin becoming a legal currency,a statistic backed by the protests carried out against Bukele’s government and his bitcoin project in the capital, San Salvador.

What will actually happen to El Salvador’s economy under this new venture remains still somewhat unknown. For all forecasts and predictions, the adoption of bitcoin takes El Salvador into a completely uncharted territory. While most economists have been somewhat skeptical of the Salvadoran bitcoin project, this has not deterred other countries, such as Panama and Paraguay, from looking in on it with interest. Bitcoin’s standing in Latin America, and the world as a whole, is growing, and so is the uncertainty of what is to come.

Julia Queiroz is a freshman majoring in International Studies and Economics at Johns Hopkins University. She is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is part of the editorial team of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

What Brought About Mr. Kurz’s First Resignation?

Mr. Kurz’s first departure came after the so-called “Ibiza affair” in May 2019, in which his former Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, from the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), was caught on film soliciting outside influence from a Russian oligarch in return for government contracts. This event led to the swift collapse of ÖVP and FPÖ’s ruling coalition, culminating with a vote of no-confidence on May 27, 2019, ousting the chancellor and his cabinet from office after Strache resigned.

How Was Kurz Able to Come Back So Quickly?

Along with the successful no-confidence vote, the Austrian parliament quickly held snap-elections in response to the FPÖ’s Ibiza controversy. On Sept. 29, 2019, Mr. Kurz’s still-popular ÖVP party was elected back into power with 37.5% of the vote, a clear plurality and an improvement of over 6% from their last election in 2017. After negotiating with other major parties, Kurz formed a ruling coalition with the center-left Green Party under Werner Kogler rather than with the controversial FPÖ. This returned Kurz to the chancellorship in January 2020, only seven months after he first resigned from office in May.

What Caused Mr. Kurz to Step Down a Second Time? 

On Oct. 6, 2021, it was leaked that prosecutors had been probing Mr. Kurz’s finances for allegedly using taxpayer funds to bribe media organizations into providing positive coverage of the chancellor during his rise to power in 2017. Though Kurz denied wrongdoing and initially tried to weather this sudden storm of allegations, he announced his resignation on Oct. 9, stating he wanted to “prevent chaos and ensure stability” for his country. The outcry against these allegations was swift and unanimous amongst Mr. Kurz’s rivals in the Austrian parliament. Green Vice-Chancellor Mr. Kogler declared Kurz “unfit for office” and announced that they were beginning negotiations with liberals and the far-right to oust his party from power unless Kurz was replaced. Subsequently, the ÖVP quickly nominated and approved foreign minister (and Kurz loyalist) Alexander Schallenberg to become Austria’s next chancellor, swearing him into office on Oct. 11.

Now What for the Ex-Chancellor?

One should not expect that Mr. Kurz will quietly walk away from politics after his second sudden fall. Soon after stepping down, Kurz announced that he would become the leader of ÖVP’s parliamentary faction, giving him a permanent seat in Schallenberg’s cabinet. While it is too soon to say whether Kurz will become a “shadow chancellor” behind the new leader’s actions, his influential position provides him ample opportunity to run for office once again in 2024. However, all this depends on what prosecutors uncover about Kurz’s involvement in this most recent scandal. Whether he will regain the chancellorship more popular than ever or find himself arrested on criminal charges is something only time will tell.

Lucas Holloway is a freshman majoring in International Studies and Economics at Johns Hopkins University. He is originally from Daytona Beach, FL, and is a member of the editorial team on the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

What was Australia’s COVID-19 strategy?

During the pandemic, Australian leaders pursued a “covid zero” strategy. Australians and foreigners were not able to enter Australia, state borders were closed during outbreaks, and city and state-wide lockdowns occurred when singular cases of COVID-19 were reported.

Australia’s policies were successful in reducing the spread of COVID-19 . Since the pandemic began, 0.6% of Australia’s population have been infected and 0.006% of the population have died from the virus. Comparatively,, 13.7% of the United States’ population have been infected, and 0.22% of the population have died.

Criticisms of Australia’s COVID-19 Strategy

However, there have been criticisms  that the policies have been too restrictive. In December 2020, 39,000 Australians were not allowed to return home. Only 4,000 Australians per week were able to return to Australia, and they could only do so after paying $3,000 AUD for a mandatory hotel quarantine period of two weeks.

Additionally, cities such as Melbourne, have experienced 200 collective days of stay-at-home lockdown over the past two years. In August 2021, 300 unarmed soldiers were tasked to patrol the city of Sydney and ensure that the residents were abiding by stay-at-home protocols Over 3,500 people marched in Sydney in July to protest Australia’s COVID-19 policies after the city was locked down for over four weeks.

What policies are changing?

One of the first major changes to Australia’s COVID-19 policies will be reducing restrictions on the amount of Australian citizens and permanent residents abroad that can enter Australia. Prime Minister Morrison said that these restrictions will be lifted when Australia’s population of people 16 or older at 80% vaccinated, a threshold the country is expected to reach in November.  

Vaccinated citizens and permanent residents will also be able to quarantine in their homes for seven days instead of 14, allowing them to not not incur the cost of quarantining at designated hotels. However, unvaccinated citizens and permanent residents will have to quarantine for 14 days at a government facility. Qantas Airways announced that they will be resuming international flights to Australia, starting on Nov. 14.

In Morrison’s address, he also said that future priorities are establishing quarantine-free travel between certain countries, such as New Zealand, and opening up general travel to foreigners in March 2022.  

Why is Australia beginning to open up?

Australia is considered to have implemented some of the most restrictive COVID-19 policies. After over one and a half years of lockdowns, social distancing, and restrictions on travel, the country is beginning to open up. Morrison said that this is possible due to the increased level of vaccinated citizens and permanent residents, but the policy changes also reflect a shift in understanding of the pandemic. The Australian government acknowledges that “covid zero” is not a realistic, long-term policy, as it presents too much of an impediment for everyday life. It is clear that Australia is not completely opening up. However, Australia is coming to the realization that COVID-19 is a fact of life and can no longer justify heavily restricted international and domestic travel. And after over a year of lockdowns and other restrictions, any opening is welcome. 

Bailey Pasternak is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins. He is from Cleveland, OH and is a blog writer for the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.    

Will a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan continue to receive foreign aid?

In the aftermath of the Taliban takeover, humanitarian crises have escalated throughout Afghanistan. The United States, the European Union, and the United Nations have all pledged continued humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, despite not recognizing the Taliban government. However, the methods through which humanitarian aid is distributed has changed.  The U.S. Agency for International Development has stated all American aid will be sent through NGOs and U.N. agencies, which will then go “directly to Afghans facing the compounding effects of insecurity, conflict, recurring natural disasters, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” not government officials. The U.N. has taken similar measures to prevent money from accumulating in the hands of the Taliban government, establishing a trust fund that sends cash directly to Afghan civilians to stabilize a struggling Afghan economy. 

What happened at the Moscow Talks?

The Taliban participated in talks with Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Iran, and several Central Asian nations in Moscow on Oct. 20, where a range of topics, from foreign aid to regional security, were discussed. While there were no formal recognitions of the Taliban government, the participants agreed to cooperate with the Taliban to “promote security in Afghanistan to contribute to regional stability.” This emphasis on security comes amidst continued terrorist attacks across Afghanistan, as Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), a contingent of ISIS, has become more aggressive in its attacks following the Taliban occupation. The terrorist organization Al-Qaeda maintains its notorious alliance with the Taliban, potentially allowing it to grow in the future. The dialogue also encouraged greater foreign aid towards Afghanistan and touched on the Taliban’s abysmal human rights record. While the Taliban have promised to follow international guidelines for human rights, the enactment of such policies is yet to be seen. The talks also hint at potential partners of the Taliban and the future: the countries present at this discussion, like Pakistan and Russia, show a willingness to work with the Taliban. 

The Taliban’s Complicated Relationship with Pakistan

The Taliban and Pakistan were historically strong partners. After the U.S. occupation, this relationship became somewhat strained, although Pakistan continued to provide some aid to Taliban insurgents and harbored prominent Taliban leaders. With the Taliban once again in power, Pakistan may seek to revive this relationship. By preventing migrant flow into Pakistan, the Taliban can provide greater regional stability. Additionally, the government can act as a counterbalance against the growing power of Pakistan’s rival India. 

However, this prospect is complicated by some tensions. First, the Taliban are closely linked to Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), a Pashtun insurgency group that vows to fight until Pashtun-majority lands in Pakistan are independent. Pakistan has agreed to a temporary ceasefire with the TTP, but tensions remain. Second, the Taliban have refused to recognize the Durand Line, which divides the Pashtun community between Afghanistan and Pakistan and has been a source of Pashtun nationalism. While some future Pakistan-Taliban cooperation remains a likely possibility, these tensions could cause the two to drift apart. 

Russia’s emerging cooperation with the Taliban

Russia has shown an interest in cooperating with the Taliban, seeing an opportunity to increase its influence in Central Asia. The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent humanitarian and political crises  raised the possibility of Afghan refugees moving north into Central Asia and possibly Russia. This could destabilize both Russia and her Central Asian allies, something a strong Taliban government could potentially prevent. Russia has also expressed concern over the threats posed by Al-Qaeda and ISIS-K They see cooperation with Taliban authorities as a way to diminish terrorism in the region and prevent further instability and danger. 

The Future of China-Taliban relations

There has also been speculation that China, in its attempt to increase its influence abroad, may seek the Taliban as an ally. While China has shown some interest in cooperating with the Taliban, recently promising to help “rebuild” Afghanistan in cooperation with the Taliban government, Chinese officials have remained cautious and slow in building fostering this relationship. China has also not recognized the Taliban, but has hinted that recognition is possible should China reach a consensus with Pakistan, Iran, and Russia on Afghanistan’s issues. 

The Taliban occupation of Afghanistan has dramatically shaken the politics of South and Central Asia. As countries continue determining their relationships towards the new regime, the international community’s attitude and interactions with Afghanistan remain uncertain.  

Nick Meeker is a freshman majoring in international studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is originally from San Jose, CA, and is a member of the Editorial Team of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on U.S. foreign policy. He has written five books, including his most recent, The End of Greatness: Why America Can’t Have (and Doesn’t Want) Another Great President (Palgrave, 2014) and The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace (Bantam, 2008). He received his PhD in Middle East and U.S. diplomatic history from the University of Michigan in 1977.

Does the World Need Great Leaders?

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @hopkinspofa

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Sheila A. Smith is John E. Merow senior fellow for Asia Pacific studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). An expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy, she is the author of Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power, Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China (released in Japanese as 日中 親愛なる宿敵: 変容する日本政治と対中政策), and Japan’s New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance. She is also the author of the CFR interactive guide Constitutional Change in Japan. Smith is a regular contributor to the CFR blog Asia Unbound and a frequent contributor to major media outlets in the United States and Asia.

Fumio Kishida and Japan’s Changing Politics

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @hopkinspofa

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Dr. Stelzenmüller is a Senior Fellow at the Bro

Johannes Urpelainen is the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources and Environment (ERE) at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is also the Founding Director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP). He is the Director of the Master of Arts in Sustainable Energy (MASE), a 21-month hybrid (online and residential) degree to train a new generation of experts for clean energy and climate policy.

COP26 and Global Climate Framework

Dr. Stelzenmüller is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and an expert on German, European, and trans-Atlantic foreign and security policy. She is also a former guest of the podcast and we are delighted to have her on again. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Succeeding Angela Merkel

For the past four decades, the United States has had robust unofficial relations with Taiwan, an island nation of about 23 million people. A strong multi-party democracy and an economic powerhouse, Taiwan has been a critically important entity in Northeast Asia. The status of the island and its future also have been key points of contention in Sino-American relations. In this special episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs, we discuss U.S.-Taiwan relations with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth. We discuss Beijing’s military aggression and economic coercion against Taiwan, why the United States should work to counter such coercive actions, and what the Senator believes Congress can do to strengthen relations with Taiwan.

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth serves as the junior Senator from Illinois. A member of the Democratic Party, she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 after representing Illinois’s Eighth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms. She is an Iraq War Veteran, Purple Heart recipient and former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Duckworth served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years before retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2014. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Charting U.S. Strategy in Taiwan with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth

This episode is also available in video form on our youtube channel: youtube.com/channel/UCEmNdk0YqujDa_4lpLovZww/featured

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @hopkinspofa

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Professor Chimène Keitner is a leading authority on international law and civil litigation, and served as the 27th Counselor on International Law in the U.S. Department of State. She has authored two books and dozens of articles, essays, and book chapters on questions surrounding the relationship among law, communities, and borders, including issues of jurisdiction, extraterritoriality, foreign sovereign and foreign official immunity, and the historical understandings underpinning current practice in these areas.

Hostage Diplomacy with Professor Chimène Keitner

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @hopkinspofa

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

What exactly is it?

The Iron Dome is Israel’s missile defense system, which intercepts and destroys short-range rockets and artillery that are within 70 kilometers from each missile defense battery. These batteries are highly mobile, and their locations change frequently to avoid detection from adversaries. Each missile defense battery has three parts: the radar, control center, and missile launcher. The radar detects information about the speed and trajectory of incoming rockets. The control center determines whether an incoming rocket will hit a populated area. Finally, the missile launcher fires missiles towards threatening rockets. Israel has ten such batteries, each with twenty interceptor missiles. The Iron Dome is highly effective against short-range rockets, with a success rate of over 90%, and functions in any weather conditions. However, the Iron Dome is not entirely foolproof: it can only defend against so many rockets, a weakness that Hamas has tried to exploit.

What do Israelis say about the Iron Dome? 

The Iron Dome is credited with saving thousands of Israeli citizens’ lives, as its missiles destroy rockets that are projected to land in populated areas. In 2021 alone, the Iron Dome intercepted more than 3,946 rockets that otherwise would have likely hit populated regions in Israel. The Iron Dome is used to protect Israel from rockets fired by Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist terror organization, and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia Islamist militant group. Israeli citizens rank security as their top concern, and thus, are generally pleased with the Iron Dome’s capabilities to diminish the number of fatalities due to rockets.  

How is it relevant to the US?

Operational since 2011, the Iron Dome has been largely funded by the U.S. Most recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would provide $1 billion towards Israel’s Iron Dome, in the spirit of the 2016 U.S.-Israeli military aid deal. The U.S.-Israeli deal ensures that the U.S. will give Israel $38 billion over the decade, as long as Israel does not seek more funding and instead, spends more money on U.S. defense companies. While the $1 billion has since been stripped from the bill, due to conflicts within the Democratic Party, the resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives will continue until December 3. The U.S. also possesses two Iron Dome batteries: one of these batteries will arrive at the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam by mid-October to be tested in order to develop U.S. defense systems.

What makes the Iron Dome so controversial? 

A point of contention is whether the Iron Dome saves or costs Palestinian lives in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and apartheid, an enduring struggle for land and sovereignty: the former argument is based on the idea that the Iron Dome means fewer Israeli ground offensive approaches and thus fewer lives lost, and the latter that the Iron Dome reinforces Israel’s capacity to prolong the conflict. There is also an obvious disparity in casualties that results from the Iron Dome that raises concerns about the Iron Dome’s effects on civilian lives: 260 Palestinians killed in the 2021 conflict, compared to 13 Israeilis killed. Because of the Iron Dome’s ability to secure Israel from most air-borne attack, Israel has stalled with finding a deeper solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This controversy is reflected in U.S. public opinion, as 50% of Americans  believe that the U.S. should reduce military aid to Israel and prohibit the use of the funds in military operations against Palestinians; this disagreement also extends to Congressional representatives, who are contending with this concern.  

Erin Kim is a freshman majoring in Political Science and International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is from Irvine, CA and is an editorial member of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Why did they meet?

The purpose of the meeting was not discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations, but instead was meant to decide how Israel could help improve the West Bank’s crippled economy in the wake of COVID-19. COVID-19 took a serious toll on the West Bank’s economy, with an 11.5% decrease overall. Additionally, foreign aid to the P.A. was $30.2 million in 2021, a precipitous decline from the $300 million it received from Arab nations alone in 2019. The reduction of aid from Arab nations further endangered the West Bank’s economy after the Trump administration stopped funding the P.A.in early 2019.

What did Israel agree to do for the West Bank?

Israel committed to help stimulate the West Bank’s economy through financial aid and supporting public works, a territory East of Israel’s Capital, Jerusalem, and contains both Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian populations. The West Bank is governed by both the P.A. and the Israeli government. As the result of Gantz and Abbas’ meeting, the building of 1,000 Palestinian houses in Area C of the West Bank was approved. Area C is under Israel’s influence, while Area A is controlled by the P.A., and Area B is administered by Israel and the P.A. Israel granted 15,000 Palestinians with Israeli work permits, which provides a minimum wage of three times more than in Palestinian communities. Additionally, Israel plans to help the West Bank improve their communications technology by assisting in their switch from 3G to 4G. Finally, Israel loaned the P.A. $155 million. 

In an effort to decrease tension in the West Bank, Israel gave more freedom for P.A. security forces to operate in Israeli controlled areas of the West Bank and agreed to conduct less raids in Palestinian controlled areas, Israel also granted residency to thousands of Palestinians who were previously excluded from legal status in the West Bank.   

What do Palestinians and Israelis think about these new initiatives?

Israel’s efforts to improve the West Bank’s economy and overall quality of life in the area are largely supported by Palestinians. A Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll found that 56% of Palestinians supported Israel’s aide. 

There is both support and contempt for the new negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet expressed general distaste for initiating new negotiations with the P.A. Bennet is the leader of an insatiable coalition in government, and depends on the right-wing ministers to maintain stability. However, Bennet does recognize that a stable West Bank is beneficial for Israel’s security, and therefore allowed the meeting to occur, and pledged to not annex more territory of the West Bank. Additionally, Abbas received internal criticism for not pressing Israel hard enough for more autonomy in the West Bank. 

What does Israel’s new aid mean for Israeli-Palestinian relations?

The Aug. 29 meeting was the first time that high-level Israeli and P.A. leaders met in person in nearly a decade, and therefore represents a significant improvement in communications between the two governments. Additionally, the economic aid Israel agreed to provide as well as new commitments to increasing Palestinian quality of life in the West Bank demonstrates that Israel supports the PA as a governing body in the West Bank. Though Bennet and his 

ministers do not want to increase the power of the P.A. and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, the conclusion of the Gantz-Abbas meeting seems to have that effect. 

However, one should not look too much in to the Gantz-Abbas meeting to predict future Israeli-Palestinian relations. The meeting did not address the fundamental dispute between Israel and the P.A. over rights to the West Bank. Gantz and Abbas met to discuss immediate problems, and fast-acting solutions were offered — nothing more, nothing less.

Bailey Pasternak is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins. He is from Cleveland, OH and is a blog writer for the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.  

• President Rodrigo Duterte, May 15, 2021.

In a surprising move, Filipino President, Rodrigo Duterte announced on October 2, 2021 that he would not be running in the country’s upcoming election next May and instead plans to retire from politics.

Having held office since 2016, Mr. Duterte has constitutionally met his term limit as the Southeast Asian archipelago’s head of state. Still, pundits around the world have been hesitant to count “Duterte Harry” out, mulling possibilities of a constitutional challenge, if not a vice-presidential run at the least.

Why does this matter? Who is Rodrigo Duterte, and why do Filipinos call him “The Punisher?”

PATH TO THE PRESIDENCY

If Rodrigo Duterte is anything, he is a product of his times. The president was born into a harsh postwar world in the 1945 Pacific. Raised in the crime-ridden Davao region, Duterte survived sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest in his childhood. He was expelled twice from elementary school. In 1968, his father, Vincente Duterte, a lawyer and politician, died of a heart attack in court while his son was in college. 

After working from 1977 to 1986 as a city prosecutor, the liquidation of the Marcos regime brought Duterte the opportunity of becoming mayor of his hometown, Davao City. He would go on to win a series of elections, spending the better part of the 1988 to 2015 period as Davao City’s mayor. Famously, as he came into office, Davao City had the highest murder rate in the Philippines. After a brutal, 25-year war on drugs waged by death squads, Duterte had skyrocketed to notoriety as “The Punisher” and purportedly left Davao City as the fifth safest urban municipality in the world. 

Going into the May 2016 general elections, Filipinos were looking for a leader to herald a tough-on-crime, Philippines-first approach. Duterte’s resume was a natural choice. Despite announcing his intention to retire from politics in September 2015, he retained a loyal online following calling him to run. After months, Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, agreed to take over his position as Mavor of Davao City so that he could run for president. The former mayor became an instant favorite and won the general election in May 2016 with 39.01% of votes cast. 

“THE PUNISHER” ON THE NATIONAL STAGE

Rodrigo Duterte’s leadership has been a mixed bag for the Philippines. Domestically, the president has been described as a socialist for his leadership in tax reform, infrastructure, and public education. As he nears the home stretch of his six-year term, Duterte will be best remembered for his war against drugs and crime that many international organizations estimate to have cost tens of thousands of lives. The draconian crackdowns are widely popular among Filipinos, although it has been speculated that Duterte’s July 2020 Anti-Terrorism law silenced any opposition. In September 2021, “The Punisher” became the only sitting president in the world to be investigated for high crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Internationally, Duterte was known for his Anti-Western, populist stances. The president’s leadership has strengthened Filipino ties with China and Russia, noteworthy given the island nation’s key geopolitical position on the ever-contentious South China Sea. Conversely, the once cordial Filipino-American partnership has been characteristically icy since 2016. 

Riding a similar populist wave that brought Donald Trump to power in the 2016 U.S. elections, Duterte’s support among constituents has floated safely between sixty and eighty percent, even as the president weathered a series of scandals during his tenure. President Duterte has separately called both former U.S. President Barack Obama and Catholic Pope Francis sons of whores and compared himself to Hitler. If shocking from a Western perspective, these examples of Duterte’s brass political ethos were actually tools that made him more popular domestically—even if internationally his reputation suffered.

THE FUTURE OF THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines has not heard the last of the Duterte name. Sara Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of the current president and his mayoral successor has been called  “next in line” for her father’s position. This is not to imply an empty race in the May elections. Other competitors for the position include former eight-division world champion boxing sensation, Manny Pacquiao, the son of right-wing dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, and the current vice president, Leni Robredo.

Nevertheless, skeptics urge the international community to question Duterte’s signaled departure, citing his 2016 path to the presidency, which similarly began with a “retirement.” And while the Philippines maintain term limits in most elected positions, Duterte has previously bypassed them by serving as Vice Mayor of Davao City from 2013 to 2016, during which he unofficially retained many of his mayoral privileges. It is suspected that President Duterte may use the same loophole in 2022 with his daughter, additionally making his October announcement to retire from politics noteworthy. 

Whoever succeeds Rodrigo Duterte will define his legacy. The next president will undoubtedly shape the Philippines’ cooperation in the ICC human rights investigation over Duterte’s anti-crime crackdown and additionally determine whether the country intends to realign with the West or establish its reputation as an anti-systemic power in Southeast Asia. Populist leaders around the world will likely keep a close eye on how the president fares in his transition.

Hardy Williams is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University studying Public Health and International Studies. He is originally from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and is an editor with the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Who are the main actors in the CPTPP? 

The CPTPP is a free-trade-agreement (FTA) comprised of Australia, Chile, Mexico, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Peru, and several Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Vietnam. Following the United States’ 2017 withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) the CPTPP was created by the remaining member states in an effort to salvage and reform the agreement without American participation. In March 2018, the CPTPP was signed in Chile by the TPP-11, or the original member states of the TPP. In December 2018, it went into force. 

What does the CPTPP entail?

The CPTPP is an FTA with the ultimate goal, like the TPP before it, to “promote economic growth; support the creation and retention of jobs; enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness; raise living standards; reduce poverty in our countries; and promote transparency, good governance, and enhanced labor and environmental protections” (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). One of the key aspects of this FTA is “comprehensive market access” or the elimination of 95 percent of tariffs between member nations. Furthermore, the CPTPP prioritizes improvements in regulatory coherence, competitiveness and business facilitation, commitments towards small and medium-sized enterprises, market development, and government procurement of opportunities for businesses within member states. These priorities encourage the development of liberalized, modern economies and trade within and between nations inside the CPTPP. 

Who Is Excluded from the CPTPP?

As of now, large economies absent from the CPTPP include the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom, China, and Taiwan have formally applied to enter the CPTPP and other nations including South Korea, Colombia, and Thailand have signaled possible interest in joining as well. The US has not publicly expressed any intention of applying.  To join the CPTPP, states must undergo an accession process followed by bilateral negotiation between member states and the applicant nation on market access. 

Given the historical and political tension between Taiwan and China, their near-simultaneous bids in September 2021 have raised questions for the member states of the agreement on who should be allowed to join and under what name. As of October 2021, China has not compromised on disapproving any interactions or treaties including Taiwan as an independent state and not as part of China. As for the United Kingdom, after applying to the CPTPP in February 2021, the chair of the CPTPP Joint Commission, Japan, accepted the British application which has placed the nation in the accession process stage. 

Global Implications

The CPTPP is one of several far-reaching trade agreements instituted in the past five years that are ushering in a new era of Asian economic cooperation and integration that has yet to be seen before. The CPTPP, like many free-trade-agreements, requires open regionalism, or the prohibition of protectionist trade policy towards third party states. This creates an unprecedented level of openness between over 13 percent of global GDP and third party economies that want to pursue trade with member states. On one hand, this trade agreement provides the developing economies of Southeast Asia with more efficient access to massive global markets like that of South America and Northeast Asia. On the other hand, it represents a turning point in global geopolitics, strengthening economic ties between Southeast Asian countries and regional partners. 

Ashleigh Edwards is a sophomore majoring in International Studies and Economics at Johns Hopkins University. She is originally from Charleston, West Virginia.

Over the past twenty years, Southeast Asia a diverse region of 10 nations, has become increasingly important to global economic development, U.S. interests, and great power geopolitics. In this special episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs, we discuss with Congressman Ami Bera the growing importance of Southeast Asia in the world and in U.S. foreign policy. We ask how the Biden Administration has sought to engage the Southeast Asia thus far, how the U.S.-China competition is affecting U.S. policy toward Southeast Asian nations, and what Representative Bera believes congress should do to engage the region moving forward.

Congressman Ami Bera has represented California’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013.

Representative Bera is currently a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation. He is also a senior member on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Strengthening U.S. Policy in Southeast Asia with Congressman Ami Bera

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

France: Can flailing Macron keep his hold on power?

At the core of the 2022 Presidential Election in France is the  rematch of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, who battled it out for the nation’s highest office in the 2017 election. This year, however, Eric Zemmour’s candidacy adds an interesting twist; could the hardline, conspiracy theorist journalist pull off an upset, defeating the liberal Macron and the far-right Le Pen? As Macron’s approval ratings plummet, it appears that some in France are seeking alternatives to centrism and looking towards either the right — Zemmour and Le Pen — or left  — Mélechon — sides of the political spectrum.

Issues at hand: immigration, France’s status as a member of the European Union, LGBTQ+ rights, religious freedom, economic policy

Philippines: Duterte’s retirement gives space to new players

After President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent retirement announcement, the presidential race has taken a new turn in the Philippines. Currently, Representative Pantaleon Alvarez and former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, are leading in opinion polls. Voters will have to decide whether they wish to continue Duterte’s policies on LGBT+ rights, anti-drug policy, China-Philippine relations, amongst others. During his term, Duterte has commandeered out a war on drugs that has killed thousands of people, criticised as a war on the poor by some of his critics, fluctuated between the American and the Chinese sphere of influence, allowing the Chinese government to explore areas in the South China Sea that are legally recognised as part of the Philippines, before seemingly drawing closer to the American sphere of influence in the past year. 

Issues at hand: Human rights, anti-drug policy, China-Philippines territorial disputes, economic recession, LGBTQ+ rights, hunger

Brazil: Bolsonaro moves towards authoritarianism, as Lula bids on a return to the presidency

A storm is brewing as ultra-conservative Bolsonaro and former President Lula da Silva of the Workers Party are preparing to square off in a highly divisive election. Under Bolsonaro, Brazil  saw disastrous handling of the pandemic, economic recession, rising inflation, and increasing deforestation. These issues have many Brazilians claiming for a return of the Workers Party to the presidency or for a third-party alternative, which has yet to materialize. As Lula climbs in the polls, Bolsonaro’s chances of a second term are threatened, leading to concerning movements towards authoritarianism from Brazil’s president.

Issues at hand: future of the Amazon, democracy in Brazil, climate change, poverty, corruption, crime

South Korea: Resolve for unification weakens amid the People Power Party’s fight to reclaim the presidency

The People Power Party (PPP) is vying to retake the presidency from the Democratic Power , as popular opinion shifts away from the long-held consensus that unification with North Korea was crucial to the future of the Korean Peninsula. The Democratic Party has lost the mayorships of Seoul and Busan to the conservative PPP in 2021, showing a marked swing towards conservatism especially among  younger generations. The primary elections are ongoing for both parties with  Yoon-Seok Youl and Lee Jae-Myung  in the lead for the PPP and the Democratic Party, respectively.

Issues at hand: Korean Unification, North Korean relations, Nuclear Proliferation, East Asian Balance of Power, Social Policy

Hong Kong: The first “Patriots Only” election kicks off in Hong Kong

This year marks the introduction of a new political system in Hong Kong, where close to 5,000 citizens, mostly pro-Beijing businessmen and other interest groups, will elect a new election committee, which will in turn elect a new Legislative Assembly and Chief Executive. The consensus among experts is that this system will allow for the election of a pro-establishment candidate, who will continue to strengthen Beijing’s influence over Hong Kong and continue the crackdown on pro-democracy protests. There are no clear successors to current Chief Executive Carrie Lam, but Norman Chan, Regina Ip, and Paul Chan have been floated as potential contenders.

Issues at hand: Democracy, China-Hong Kong relations, Hong Kong independence, human right to protest, freedom, self-determination

Julia Queiroz is a freshman majoring in International Studies and Economics at Johns Hopkins University. She is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is part of the editorial team of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs. 

1. Compare & Contrast: Approaches to the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 was unsurprisingly at the center of many speeches this year. India’s President Modi touted India’s mRNA vaccine and nasal vaccines for COVID-19 that are in their latest stages of development. In contrast, Brazil’s President Bolsonaro refused to comply with New York City’s vaccine mandate. He expressed objections towards any vaccine passport and vaccine mandates, and he blamed Brazilian governors who enacted such measures for any economic hardship in the country. Another recurring theme throughout the speeches was the inequity in the allocation of vaccines; only 2% of the six billion doses administered worldwide have gone to low-income countries.  

2. 1.5 Celsius

A global temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius has been the U.N.’s target in the war against climate change since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015. Climate was one of the UNGA’s primary focuses this year with the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on Sept. 10, 2021. The United States unveiled its plan to supply developing countries with 100 billion dollars in aid towards climate action. Peru declared climate change a “national emergency.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the prospect of Turkey joining the Paris Climate Agreement. The upcoming U.N. climate conference in November in Glasgow, Scotland will shed more light on how countries plan to reduce their emissions and slow global warming.

3. Where Were the Women?

Men were noticeably better represented than women in the 76th UNGA. The UNGA President acknowledged the stunning lack of female representation at the conference, highlighting that only 18 of 194 speakers were women and emphasizing that more must be done to ensure equal opportunity in political participation for women and men.

4. Hot topic: Nuclear Weapons

In his speech, Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi announced its strict adherence to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that monitors Iran’s nuclear arsenal. South Korea announced its hope to collaborate with North Korea for “reconciliation and cooperation,” while North Korea’s ambassador defended its right to develop their nuclear arsenal for purposes of self-defense and national security. Finally, the controversy surrounding the AUKUS deal between the U.S., U.K., and Australia that the French Foreign Minister characterized as “a stab in the back” cast a shadow over the conference. 

5. Will the Upcoming Decade be a Global Turning Point?

Many politicians suggested that the world is entering a new era, in which citizens and their governments’ decisions will shape the future of our increasingly globalized world. U.N. Secretary-General, António Guterres, declared, “We are on the edge of an abyss – and moving in the wrong direction. Our world has never been more threatened, or more divided.” The Iranian president echoed the sentiment saying, “A new era has begun.” President Biden described the upcoming decade as a “decisive decade for our world,” claiming the state of the planet to be an “inflection point in history.” South Korean boy band BTS performed over video at the 76th UNGA and offered wisdom on par with those of the world leaders present: “Rather than calling this Corona generation a ‘lost generation,’ the term ‘welcome generation’ is more suitable. We will be a generation that welcomes change.”

Liz Peron is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is originally from Westchester, NY and is a member of the Editorial Team at Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

Featured photo: John Angelillo/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

So, What Exactly Happened?

On Friday, Sept. 24, Meng Wanzhou reached a deferred prosecution deal with the U.S. Justice Department. After she accepted responsibility for fraud allegations, federal prosecutors agreed to drop all charges against Ms. Meng by 2022 and granted her the immediate freedom to travel back to China from her mansion in Vancouver, where she had been under house arrest since late 2018. Simultaneously, the Chinese government released two Canadiens, former diplomat Micheal Kovrig and entrepreneur Micheal Spravor (referred to as the “two Micheals”), who had also been in custody since late 2018 for allegedly endangering Chinese security.

Why Was Ms. Meng Arrested in the First Place?

Ms. Meng had originally been arrested by Canadian police at the request of U.S. authorities for fraudulently seeking to circumvent U.S. sanctions against Iran. According to prosecutors, Meng had planned to sell U.S. equipment to Iran through Skycom, a company with close ties to Chinese tech giant Huawei, despite strict American bans prohibiting such sales.

Had Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor Been Arrested in Retaliation?

While China vehemently denies this point, many experts suspect that Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor were arrested only nine days after Ms. Meng as a reaction to her detainment. Dubbed by some as “hostage diplomacy,” China was thought to have apprehended the two men to put pressure on Canadian and American authorities and ensure the safe return of Ms. Meng to China. Given the timely release of them both in the aftermath of Meng’s plea deal, it is not far-fetched to assume that there is indeed validity to these experts’ claims.

What Was Each Side’s Reaction to the Swap?

Canadian President Justin Trudeau celebrated the continued perseverance of the two Micheals and hugged them when they stepped foot back in Canada. Anthony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, wrote that he was “pleased” to see them return home safely. Ms. Meng thanked the Communist Party for their continued support during her house arrest while Chinese authorities continued to downplay the connection between both sides’ release.

What Does This Mean for Chinese-Canadian Relations?

The three-year feud had been a major thorn in Chinese-Canadian diplomacy, so after this recent prisoner swap, one can hope for a slow return to normalcy between the two trans-Pacific nations. However, how long this relative calmness will last remains to be seen after President Biden’s pivot to East Asia, exemplified in the recent AUKUS deal that further raised tensions between China and the U.S. and its allies. Will China continue to pursue hostage diplomacy as a way to retaliate against this pact? Will Canada seek to mediate between the two giants or follow the U.S. and its hard stance against China? Only time will tell.

Lucas Holloway is a freshman majoring in International Studies and Economics at Johns Hopkins University. He is originally from Daytona Beach, FL, and is a member of the editorial team on the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs.

What is COVAX?

COVAX is the vaccine solution launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) to distribute vaccines in 140+ participating countries. COVAX is funded by donations and down payments from wealthy member countries and private organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With this funding, WHO has invested in a diverse portfolio of vaccines (including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Janssen, and Moderna) through funding their research and production. If any of the invested vaccines were approved, they would provide doses to COVAX.  The WHO had hoped that enough of these vaccines would succeed to provide two billion vaccines by the end of 2021.

With COVAX, WHO planned to distribute vaccines to every nation at the same price and for poor nations to receive free vaccines. In its initial stages, WHO predicted that 20% of the world would be vaccinated under its plan by the end of 2021. Since January of 2021, this plan has been implemented with COVAX proportionally distributing vaccines to the participating countries based on population sizes. 

What Went Wrong?
With three months left in 2021, COVAX is nowhere close to its goal. As of September 2021, the lack of supply has cut the expected doses available by 25% as anticipated in July 2021. It went from the expected 1.9 billion doses to 1.4 billion doses. The shortage was first caused by wealthy nations that have engaged in mass purchases and hoarding of vaccines by paying companies directly during the research, development, and distribution stage while holding off funding and pledges for COVAX. For example, nations like the U.S. could vaccinate their populations 4 times over if all invested doses are delivered. This, along with the COVAX policy of distributing vaccines proportionally, gave rise to situations in which countries administering boosters shots received more doses than countries with no supplies. Second, export restrictions have blocked key COVAX vaccine suppliers like the Serum Institute of India, from distributing jabs, slowing down the process. Third, there have been scale-up challenges during COVAX vaccine manufacturing in companies such as Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. Other vaccines companies have also not yet been approved for public use. Finally, poor countries have wasted vaccines during the distribution stages, lacking proper equipment to store and distribute them.

What Now?

With half a billion doses short of its goal, poor countries remain unprotected from recent surges caused by the Delta variant. While 81 percent of shots that have been administered have been in high- and upper-middle-income countries, only 0.4 percent of doses have been administered in low-income countries. In response to these issues,WHO has requested wealthy countries, especially ones that already secured vaccines, to wait on administering booster shots until the end of the year for other countries to receive the necessary vaccines. They have also revised their original decision to distribute vaccines proportionally by starting to distribute vaccines only to the 49 countries with the lowest levels of vaccination starting in October 2021.

And even with these difficulties, COVAX still seems to be planning to continuously operate until the end of the pandemic, supplying vaccines as provided. Outside of COVAX, countries have looked towards local vaccine manufacturing as the solution, with companies like the Serum Institute of India promising India half of its output to protect its home country.

Jina Lim is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is originally from Portland, Oregon and is part of the editorial team of the Hopkins Podcast of Foreign Affairs.

The Bundestag, or the Federal Parliament of Germany, held elections on Sept. 26, 2021. German citizens cast two votes. They each voted for a direct representative, with the majority winning the seat. Additionally, each citizen voted for a political party, with the number of votes per party proportional to the number of seats won in parliament. The parties are now discussing potential negotiations to form coalitions. After a coalition forms the majority in parliament, a new chancellor will be appointed. Earlier this year, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel stepped down after 16 years in power. Merkel’s resignation begs the question: will the new chancellor build on Merkel’s policies or will Germany change directions?

The Election Results and What They Mean

The votes for each political party were distributed as such: Social Democratic Party (25.7%), the Christian Democratic Union (24.1%), the Green Party (14.8%), the Free Democratic Party (11.5%), the Alternative for Germany Party (10.3%), and the Left Party (4.9%).

The Social Democratic Party, a center-left party pushing for economic modernization and the expansion of social services, had the highest number of votes in this election and will have substantial control over the next coalition government. Still, this party has lost support in recent years. The Christian Democratic Union, a centrist party, which Chancellor Merkel was a leader of, performed similarly,  losing 49 seats from the previous election.

It is likely that the Greens and the Free Democrats will have a strong influence in coalition negotiations and the appointment of the new chancellor. Support for the Green Party has grown considerably in recent years, winning 51 seats. Many young voters and those living in Western Germany voted for the party. In this election, climate change was a primary concern for many, given the recent floods in Western Germany. The Free Democratic Party also attracted this young environmentally-conscious voter base, with their platform promoting new green technology. Although the Free Democratic Party, focused primarily on promoting business interests and personal freedom, did not experience the same substantial growth in voter support, gaining just 12 seats, they will likely form a coalition with the Social Democratic Party, influencing the election for chancellor.

In this election, the Left Party also lost support, with voters shifting to the Alternative for Germany party instead. The Alternative for Germany Party has gained momentum, especially in East Germany. In 2017, after Merkel welcomed migrants into Germany, this party, with its anti-immigration platform, rose to prominence. Although support for the party decreased in this election, having lost 11 seats, their support in East Germany remains strong.

Possible Coalitions and the Future of Germany

Because no party has a majority in Parliament, parties will have to negotiate and form coalitions to elect a chancellor. Since the election, parties have been discussing potential coalitions. The most likely coalition to form is the “traffic light coalition,” with the Social Democratic Party, the Free Democratic Party, and the Green Party. The “traffic light” party leaders will decide on whether to continue onto formal coalition talks by Friday. The “Traffic Light Coalition” would promote more progressive policies on climate change and social issues. Given the FDP’s pro-business stance, the parties may disagree about tax reform and climate change policy. While there may be some disagreement on issues, this coalition is likely to form.

Still, there are other possibilities, like the “Jamaica” coalition (the Christian Democratic Union, the Free Democratic Party, and the Green Party). The government under the “Jamaica” coalition would smoothly transition from Merkel’s more moderate leadership, as Merkel was a member of the CDU. In this coalition, however, the parties would likely struggle to agree with the Green Party against many of the CDU and FDP’s policies on the economy, climate, and social issues.

We do not yet know how these election results will shape the Bundestag, coalition negotiations, and the appointment of a chancellor. Still, undoubtedly, with Merkel’s resignation and shifting party support, there will be great changes in German politics.

History of Arctic Politics

Recognition of the Arctic’s strategic value rose during the Cold War when the Arctic became a new theater for the standoff between the United States and Soviet Union. Between the end of the Second World War and its collapse in 1991, the Soviet government relocated millions of people to work in Russia’s Arctic territory, with a focus on strengthening its industrial capacity and infrastructure in the region. Similarly, the U.S. considered the Arctic an important geopolitical battleground, exercising military presence in the form of nuclear submarines. 

With the end of the Cold War, Russia’s decline in industrial might, and subsequent mass emigration of workers out of the region, the strategic importance of the Arctic temporarily diminished after 1991. 

The Arctic’s Re-Emergence 

In recent years, the ramifications of climate change have re-thrust the Arctic into the spotlight. Valuable and highly profitable resources previously locked in by thick ice, such as oil, gas, and minerals, have now become accessible. New transportation routes opening due to melting ice have also sparked international interest, potentially allowing for shorter navigation periods and more efficient trading between the Pacific and Atlantic. These prospects may transform the Arctic into a hub of commercial activity. 

Arctic States and Other Key Players 

More than 4 million people live north of the Arctic circle in eight countries known as Arctic States: Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Despite having formed the Arctic Council, a forum for “promoting cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the Arctic states” in 1996, these nations still largely have different regional aims. 

Russia: With nearly half of the Arctic population living within its borders and the longest Arctic coastline out of the Council nations, Russia has a significant presence in the region. In addition to working to deter American influence and build its own position of power in the Arctic, Russia has invested vast amounts of resources to develop its Arctic territory in recent years. 

United States: George W. Bush and subsequent presidents’ stances regarding the Arctic emphasize “asserting a more active and influential national presence to protect its Arctic interests and to project sea power throughout the region.” However, without a significant investment in Arctic capabilities and infrastructure, the U.S. currently uses the region as a strategic position for its missile and surveillance defense technologies.  

China: Though about 900 miles away from the Arctic circle at its closest point, China declared itself a “near-Arctic” state in 2018 as part of its Arctic policy. With Beijing continuing to project its influence on the world stage, China aims to heighten its activity in the Arctic by building a “Polar Silk Road”, a network of trade routes through the Arctic to expedite global shipping delivery. For the time-being, though, China has been largely excluded from regional politics in the Arctic.  

The Role of the Arctic Today

Do current Arctic politics center solely around a scramble for the region’s abundant resources? Not exactly. Arctic nations have generally shown preference for a steady political environment where they can maintain regional dominance, which would be undermined by conflicts over natural resources. Nonetheless, the Arctic will continue to remain an area of great strategic importance to all actors. Not only is the current regional balance of power threatened by Russia’s aggressive build-up in Arctic military capabilities, but also by China’s emerging Arctic ambitions in recent years. Coupled with an alarming rate of climate change and its vital role in global trade interests, the Arctic could become a hotbed for competing national stakes.  

Oliver Gao is a freshman majoring in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is from Vancouver, Canada. 

In the last decade, economic sanctions have increasingly become a foreign policy tool of choice in the United States, with the United States designating nearly 1000 entities per year during Trump’s presidency. So, how does the U.S. decide which individuals are sanctioned and how sanctions are enforced? In this episode, we will discuss these questions as well as delve into the controversy behind the current U.S. sanctions policy.

Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Prior to Fletcher, he taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has previously held positions with Civic Education Project, the RAND Corporation and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and received fellowships from the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Council on Foreign Relations, and Harvard University. Drezner has written five books, including All Politics is Global and Theories of International Politics and Zombies, and edited two others, including Avoiding Trivia. He has published articles in numerous scholarly journals as well as in several newspapers and magazines. He has been a contributing editor for Foreign Policy and The National Interest. He received his B.A. in political economy from Williams College and an M.A. in economics and Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. His blog was named by Time as one of the 25 best blogs of 2012. His newest book is The System Worked: How the World Stopped Another Great Depression.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

On September 15, U.S. President Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced AUKUS, a new trilateral security pact. The agreement focuses on military capability, and the United States and the United Kingdom notably will be helping Australia acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines. What compelled Australia to seek this agreement? What are the strategic implications of nuclear submarines? And is AUKUS a precursor to a more substantive American engagement in the Indo-Pacific? Dr. Michael Green joins us on the podcast to discuss AUKUS and the future of the Indo-Pacific.

Dr. Green is the senior vice president for Asia and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and director of Asian Studies at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He served on the staff of the National Security Council (NSC) from 2001 through 2005, first as director for Asian affairs and then as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Asia, with responsibility for East Asia and South Asia.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Tunisia has a history of beating the odds. It was the only country to come out of the Arab Spring as a democracy, and despite a difficult political environment in the country, civil society groups were able to come together to keep the government stable and democracy in place. However, the future of Tunisia’s democracy is at risk after the events of July 25, when Tunisian President Said suspended Parliament and dismissed the Prime Minister. What spurred this decision? What does this move mean for Tunisia’s stability and democracy in the long run? Joining me today to discuss these questions and more is Dr. Sarah Yerkes.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Cover Image source: Image source: “Currencies on White Background” by Images_of_Money is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Cover Image source: Image source: “Currencies on White Background” by Images_of_Money is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Cover Image source: Image source: “Currencies on White Background” by Images_of_Money is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Cover Image source: Image source: RAISING GOVERNMENT AMBITION
THE INDCS, beforetheflood.com 

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Cover Image source: Image source: RAISING GOVERNMENT AMBITION
THE INDCS, beforetheflood.com 

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Cover Image source: Image source: Grunge, What Do The Olympic Rings Actually Stand For?

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

In our second edition of our Up to Speed narrative series, we tell the story of Japan’s economic miracle. What fueled Japan’s unprecedented economic boom, what led to its stagnation beginning in the 1990s, and what lessons can we learn from the story of Japan for the international economic challenges of today?

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

This Friday will mark President Joe Biden’s 100th day as the 46th President of the United States. This means 100 days of Biden Foreign Policy. What has he done thus far? Has he kept his campaign promises? What are some areas his administration could improve on? And, is there a semblance of a Biden Foreign Policy Doctrine yet? To answer these questions and more, we are joined by Dr. Kori Schake.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Today, Thursday April 22nd, is Earth Day, a global holiday celebrating environmental protection. In light of this holiday, on today’s episode we will be discussing how the global transition toward a less carbon intensive energy system is affecting global geopolitics as we know it. Over the past century, energy geopolitics have centered on struggles to secure oil and gas, but if oil and gas become less important, will energy geopolitics eventually go away? To help us tackle this question, today on the podcast we have Dr. Morgan Bazilian. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

China today is undergoing tremendous domestic changes while it is adopting a bolder foreign policy giving rise to Sino-American competition. At the center of it all is Xi Jinping– the general secretary of the Chinese Community Party, the president of China, and the paramount leader for nearly 10 years. What changes to China have Xi Jinping made? Does Xi’s rule mark a clear break from the reform era that started under Deng?  Dr. Andrew Mertha joins us today on the podcast to discuss China under Xi Jinping.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Israel’s parliamentary election this March– its fourth in two years– has provided no conclusion to the political deadlock the country continues to face. As of now, neither coalition has been able to achieve a majority in Israel’s parliament, continuing the electoral gridlock which may result   in a fifth election this summer. This constant cycle of reelection underscores an ongoing political crisis in Israel. What are the factors that have caused such a severe national political deadlock? What is Netanyahu’s role in this crisis? What does the inability for Israel’s parliament to form stable coalitions say about the state of its government and its position in the Middle East? Joining us today to answer these questions is Dr. Natan Sachs. 

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Since our last podcast on the global search for a COVID-19 vaccine, featuring Dr. Chris Beyrer, multiple vaccine candidates representing countries and private corporations around the world have begun worldwide distribution in an effort to finally end the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this distribution has been heavily criticized for its unevenness, as higher-income countries have secured earlier access to massive amounts of vaccine relative to lower- and middle-income countries. In tandem, a manufacturing crisis has arisen in vaccine production, as demand has far exceeded supply, while vaccine hesitancy and misinformation have surged online. Many have referred to the underlying cause of this vaccine inequity as vaccine nationalism, where countries have prioritized widespread distribution of vaccine to their own citizenry above global distribution. In a pandemic that ignores borders and nationalities, many see this as a high-risk situation for the rise of more COVID-19 variants. Here to discuss with us is Jennifer Nuzzo.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

 The US Department of Defense. One of, if not the largest bureaucracy in the world with a budget larger than the next ten countries combined. Where does its budget come? Why does it receive so much federal money? And, how should the US reform its military spending to meet the challenges of the 21st Century?To answer these questions and discuss the present and future of the US defense budget, we are joined today on the podcast by Todd Harrison.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

In 2011, Syrian protests against the Assad regime escalated into a long and complex conflict between the Syrian government backed by Russia and Iran and rebel groups backed by the United States, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Diplomatic efforts have been unsuccessful as the Syrian regime has been accused multiple times of using chemical weapons in recent years. To date, over 400,000 people have been killed in Syria, fueling millions of Syrian refugees and internally displaced people.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Today we will be discussing Germany after Merkel. Who is Angela Merkel?  How did she change Germany during her 15 years in office? How will Germany be different under the next Chancellor? Joining us today to answer these questions is Dr. Constanze Stelzenmuller.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Today we will be discussing artificial intelligence. what is AI? Why it has increasingly been seen as a national security threat, and what are its effects on US-China competition? How does this “new oil” of the century affect us? Joining us today to parse through these complicated questions is Henry Farrell.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

The ongoing U.S. military presence in Afghanistan has become a sore point in American international and domestic affairs. At home, it was a major political promise for Donald Trump to pull the U.S. out of what have been called its “forever wars” in the Middle East. Four years, several peace talks, and large troop removals later, the U.S. has the lowest number of troops in Afghanistan it’s had in 20 years, but has still not completely pulled out of the country. To stay is now a major question facing the Biden Administration. Joining us to discuss the forever war and the unique role of the media in this conflict is Jessica Donati. 

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Iran is a major force in world affairs. Since Ayatollah Khomeini and the clerical class established a theocratic regime in 1979, the Islamic Republic has behaved in opposition to US incursions in its backyard and plays a central role in conversations on regional stability and global security. With the Ayatollah’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its regional proxy groups, Iran’s clerics frequently use their sprawling network to implement foreign policy goals and sow instability in its neighbors. Now, with a new US president, a revived nuclear program, growing domestic opposition to the clerical regime, and a US-led coalescing of nations against Iran, the situation between Iran and the US has rarely been more tense.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden revoked the Keystone Pipeline’s permit, all but shutting down construction. But, why did the Biden Administration decide to do this? What has made the Keystone Pipeline so controversial in the United States? And what does that mean for the future of US-Canada relations? Joining us today on the podcast to answer those questions and more is Professor Christopher Sands.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Millions of people worldwide are affected by the human trafficking crisis, which has only been exacerbated by the COVD-19 pandemic. In this episode, we will cover what human trafficking or modern slavery is, and what makes people vulnerable. We will also discuss the international security risks posed by human trafficking, including how it can be used by terrorist organizations and oppressive regimes. Finally, we will examine just how trafficking has evolved to make it so difficult to disrupt. Joining us today is Jamille Bigio.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

In the early hours of February 1st, 2021, Myanmar’s military staged a coup d’etat against its democratically elected government. Myanmar’s defacto civilian leader, Aung san suu kyi was arrested, alongside Myanmar’s president and dozens of other civilian officials. By the afternoon, the military had announced the imposition of a one-year state of emergency, in which supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power would be granted to a Senior General of the military, Min Aung Hlaing. In the weeks since, thousands of Burmese people have taken to the streets to protest the coup, and demand a return to civilian rule. How have the lives of those in Myanmar changed since the coup, what are the prospects for a return to civilian rule, and in what ways have geopolitics affected international response? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Mr. Sebastian Strangio.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Does the new EU-China investment agreement signal a closer relationship between the two powers? The EU and China reached an important investment agreement – just as the US is seeking to strengthen its own relationships with its European allies. Why have the EU and China reached this deal, what does it contain, and how will the new Biden administration respond? And will the EU Parliament go through with ratifying the agreement?

To discuss these questions, joining us today on the podcast is Theresa Fallon.

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Is the Brexit saga coming to an end? On the last day of 2020, the United Kingdom and the European Union signed an important agreement that will define much of the post-Brexit relationship between the two powers. What does this Trade and Cooperation Agreement contain, and how will it impact the economies and politics between and within the EU and the UK? And what does this Brexit agreement mean for the future of relations between the United States and both the UK and EU?

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

In this episode of the foreign policy toolbox, we discuss the importance of nuclear arms control, its history and its future. 

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

In this special episode of the podcast, we discuss the future of U.S.-Russia relations under the Biden Administration with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War generated meteoric expectations for US-Russia relations. Just thirty years later, not only have these expectations not been met, but the cold war has been replaced by a new era of U.S.-Russia confrontation — a hot peace.

In this episode, we dive into the development of this new confrontational era and discuss what policy direction the Biden administration might choose to take. Furthermore, we examine just how instrumental Vladimir Putin is to the future of US-Russia relations.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Today on the podcast, we discuss Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish foreign policy, and Turkey’s increasing impact on the Middle East and the world. Who is President Erdogan? What are his domestic and foreign policy goals and motivations? What has President Erdoğan’s policies been towards neighboring Middle Eastern countries, specifically Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Israel? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Dr. Henri Barkey.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Today, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden was inaugurated into office as the 46th President of the United States. Throughout his campaign, Biden promised to conduct a drastically different foreign policy than his predecessor. We look at what this change could look like in Latin America on issues such as global action for climate change, countering a rising China, and human rights. Joining us today on the podcast to discuss the Biden presidency and Latin America is Brian Winter.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Welcome back to the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs, the entirely student-run podcast out of Johns Hopkins University. In this episode, we dive into the topic of Hindu nationalism — how has it affected Indian politics, society, and foreign policy? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Dr. Milan Vaishnav.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Welcome back to the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs, the entirely student-run podcast out of Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. – Russia relationship is at a near thirty year low. From the Russian annexation of Crimea, to covert poisonings authorized by the Kremlin abroad, interference in democratic elections, and most recently, a massive cyber espionage campaign against the United States, Russia under Vladimir Putin has become an increasingly dangerous threat to US foreign policy interests, and the risk of escalating conflict is high. In this episode of POFA, we tackle this issue with Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman.

00:00 – 20:00:  Our conversation begins with a discussion on Vindman’s most recent article in Foreign Affairs, in which he discusses the importance of convening a summit of Democracies to fight back against the rise of authoritarian leaders and states.

21:00 – 46:00 We then dive in to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the U.S. – Russia relationship since, and how Vindman believes we should approach U.S – Russia relations moving forward.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Welcome back to the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs, the entirely student-run podcast out of Johns Hopkins University. Today on the podcast, we will be discussing U.S. foreign policy toward Taiwan, and the future of U.S.-Taiwan relations under President Joe Biden. What are the drivers of the relationship between the United States and Taiwan? How has the relationship evolved due to rising tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China? How seriously should we take the threat of attack upon Taiwan by the People’s Republic of China? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Bonnie Glazer.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

For some, the Central Intelligence Agency remains shrouded in secrecy. Others recall the CIA’s Cold War-era attempts at regime changes and the ensuing national repercussions of these actions. Today, we will discuss the basics of what the CIA is in order to understand what its true goals and missions are. What has the CIA done throughout its history, and what have been its greatest accomplishments– and failures? What does it mean for the CIA director to be the nation’s honest broker of information? How do the CIA and the President communicate and coordinate, especially when their relationship is fraught? These are just a few of the questions we discuss today with our guest, Mr. Chris Whipple.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Years since the roar of the first steam engine, we have become increasingly dependent on non-renewable sources of energy that spurred growth but also created the current climate crisis.. Our generation stands at a crossroads. Faced with the monumental task of saving our planet, international cooperation on the issue of climate change is a necessity and important issue remain to be solved. Today on our podcast we will compare the Obama and Trump administrations’ climate policies, discuss the merits and shortcomings of the Paris Climate Accords, and talk about the growing role of Chinese leadership on this issue Joining us today on this podcast to discuss global climate politics is governor Peter Shumlin. 

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

NATO has been a critical pillar of US foreign policy since its inception in 1949. Since the end of the Cold War however, NATO’s purpose has been reimagined, its challenges expanded, and its unity weakened. What will the future of US-NATO relations look like under the incoming Biden administration, and what role will the alliance play in US foreign policy? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Dr. James Goldgeier

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

The emergence of social media in recent years has profoundly improved communication and information-sharing around the world. However, social media has also become a powerful tool in conflicts and warfare. Today, the same platforms used to organize protests are used by terrorist groups and belligerent nations to spur attacks and sway elections. In this episode, we will discuss the tactics used to weaponize social media as well as what can be done to protect against these risks while balancing internet freedom.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

For several months now, tens of thousands of Thais have taken to the streets of Thailand to demand constitutional and monarchical reforms. The movement gained steam in September and October, galvanized by student groups organizing pro-democracy protests over social media. What sparked these protests, what are the specifics of their demands, what may be the government’s response, and why is Katniss Everdeen’s famous three-finger salute a symbol of Thai resistance? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Joshua Kurlantzick.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

The United Kingdom is fraying. After decades of neoliberal economic policy, devolution, the end of empire, and recent events such as Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, the people of Scotland have questioned their place in the United Kingdom. Support for a second independence referendum is at a record high, and those who favor independence now compose nearly 60% of the Scottish electorate, according to recent polling. As Scotland stands at a crossroads, its relationship with Britain is being re-examined as the spectre of Scottish independence poses unique challenges for Europe and the world.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Welcome to our second episode in our Foreign Policy Toolbox Series — where we unravel the mysteries of the most important institutions, concepts, and policies that decision makers actually use to implement foreign policy. In today’s episode, we are discussing the United Nations Peacekeepers. What do UN peacekeepers actually do, where are they deployed today, and how have their mandates changed over time? To help us answer these questions, today we are joined by Dr. Paul Williams

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

On this episode, we discuss China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the signature foreign policy project of Chinese President Xi Jinping. What are the objectives of the BRI, is debt-trap diplomacy a real threat, and what are the global implications of the initiative? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Dr. Daniel Markey.

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Today we’ll be talking about the #EndSARS movement in Nigeria. In October 2020, protests erupted in Nigeria against the country’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, mirroring the American Black Lives Matter movements. Though these protests are a new event, civil unrest and issue of government-sanctioned violence have existed in Nigeria since its colonization. To explain the #EndSARS movement and provide some historical context to the events, joining us today on the podcasts is Ambassador John Campbell.

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

In our final episode of our 2020 election series, we discuss public opinion polling on issues of foreign policy. On what issues of foreign policy do Democrats and Republicans agree with each other? What does the American public view as most threatening to America’s national security? How have opinions of trade and alliances changed over time? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Dina Smeltz.

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

In this episode, we discuss what foreign policy may look like under a Biden Administration, should he win the November 2020 presidential election. What worldview guides Joe Biden’s decision making in foreign policy? What foreign policy priorities might a Biden Administration choose to tackle first? How would a Biden Administration’s foreign policy differ from the Trump Administration’s? To help us answer these questions, today on the podcast we are joined by Dr. Jim Lindsay. 

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

In this episode, we are discussing technology and its role in election interference, from 2016 to this new election cycle. Since the 2016 elections, Americans have been warned by their intelligence agencies that international actors, primarily Russia, have engaged in both cyberattacks and influence operations to attempt to sway the presidential elections. The Trump Administration maintained a public denial of these claims, and as we enter the 2020 elections, has not changed its stance, despite reports of repeated interference. Joining us to discuss the continued rise of election interference is Mr. Jon Bateman.

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @HopkinsPOFA

Send us an email at: Hopkinspofa@gmail.com