2017 will be remembered for upheavals across the board and Carnegie Council's audience picks reflect this. Our most popular podcasts and web resources this year focused on shifts in the established geopolitical order; migrants and refugees; and the disruptions brought about by new technologies. Although audio podcasts remain our most accessed resource, we saw a big increase in video podcast views in 2017. In fact, the top resource for the year was James Traub's video highlights on migrants and refugees.
What will be foremost in 2018? Stay tuned for more Carnegie Council audio, video, and text materials, making ethics matter in international affairs.
TOP FIVE AUDIO PODCASTS
1) Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times From massive leaps in technology to ever-increasing globalization to the acceleration of climate change, workplace, politics, geopolitics, and ethics are all going through tectonic shifts. Why is this happening? Why was 2007 such a turning point and what's next? Thomas Friedman makes sense of it all, and offers hope going forward. (Public Affairs Program, January 2017, audio, video, transcript, and TV show)
2) Top Risks and Ethical Decisions 2017 Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group, Former Carnegie Council Trustee; Devin Stewart, Carnegie Council The world is entering a geopolitical recession, i.e. an unwinding of the old global order, says political scientist Ian Bremmer, in his grimmest New Year forecast ever. Topics include the potential challenges from a Trump administration, President Obama's legacy of a more fractured world, human rights in the Middle East, and the fate of liberalism. (Ethics Matter interview series, January 2017, audio, video, and transcript)
3) A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order Richard N. Haas, Council on Foreign Relations In this measured and comprehensive overview, given not long after Trump took office, Richard Haas lays out the global situation facing President Trump and what may lie ahead. Topics include the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Russia, NATO, the UN, and the main factor behind job losses. (Public Affairs Program, March 2017, audio, video, and transcript) 4) The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics John B. Judis, Author and Journalist; Joanne Myers, Carnegie Council How exactly should we define populism? What led to its current resurgence in Europe and the United States, on both the right and the left? And in particular, how can we explain the Trump phenomenon? For answers, don't miss this fascinating discussion with John Judis. (Public Affairs Program, February 2017, audio, video, transcript, and TV show)
5) Former U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Reflects on the Democratic Transition Derek Mitchell, Albright Stonebridge Group; United States Institute of Peace; Devin Stewart, Carnegie Council What were Myanmar's major challenges during its transition to democracy—and indeed to this day? What was the U.S. role in the transition? What is the situation with the Rohingya minority? How will the Trump administration approach Myanmar, and Southeast Asia in general? An informative discussion with Ambassador Mitchell. (Asia Dialogues, February 2017, audio and transcript)
TOP FIVE VIDEO PODCASTS
1) James Traub on Immigrants and RefugeesJames Traub, Author and Journalist; Stephanie Sy, Ethics Matter Host and Journalist What happens when Sweden, one of the most welcoming countries on Earth for migrants, simply runs out of beds? What are the unpleasant (and politically incorrect) truths about the difficulties of assimilation in Europe? How can we have honest policy discussions about this? James Traub has been spending time in Sweden, France, and Germany and has given these sensitive issues much thought. Don't miss his unflinching analysis. (Ethics Matter interview series, June 2017, audio, video, transcript, and TV show)
2) Clip of the Month: The Shift in Power to the East with Gideon Rachman Gideon Rachman, Financial Times Financial Times chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman says, "We've reached the point where the West's grip on world affairs begins to loosen." China's economic rise is, indeed, a big reason for this shift, but how do Brexit, Crimea, and "red lines" fit into the story? What will be the effect on Southeast Asia, Australia, and Africa? (Public Affairs Program, April 2017, audio, video, and transcript)
3) Clip of the Month: A Populist in the White House with John B. Judis John B. Judis, Author and Journalist; Joanne Myers, Carnegie Council Recorded in February 2017, Judis discusses what it may mean to have a populist in the White House. Will the new president be able to seize the momentum that won him the election or, like Syriza in Greece, will he disappoint his supporters and become, in effect, the "Establishment" that he railed against? Judis also invokes the dark days of 1920s and 1930s and lays out a frightening scenario. (Public Affairs Program, February 2017, audio, video, transcript, and TV show)
4) Scott D. Sagan on the Nuclear Necessity Principle Scott D. Sagan, Stanford University; Randall Pinkston, Ethics Matter Host and Journalist Major changes must be made if U.S. nuclear war plans are to conform to the principles of just war doctrine and the law of armed conflict, declares Scott Sagan, who proposes a new doctrine: "the nuclear necessity principle." In sum, the U.S. will not use nuclear weapons against any target that could be reliably destroyed by conventional means. (Ethics Matter interview series, August 2017, audio, video, transcript, and TV show)
5) Clip of the Month: Jobs, Education, and Assimilation in France with Gilles Kepel Gilles Kepel, Sciences PoIn this clip, Kepel answers a question that is on everyone's mind: How can France respond structurally to young Muslims who feel alienated from society? In a sincere answer, Kepel references his own background and points to two key areas that President Macron will be working on as he begins his five-year term. (Public Affairs Program, May 2017, audio, video, and transcript)
TOP FIVE CARNEGIE COUNCIL WEBSITE RESOURCES 1) George Friedman: The End of the International Order and the Future of Asia George Friedman, Geopolitical Futures; Founder of Stratfor; Devin Stewart, Carnegie Council Tired of conventional wisdom? Check out geopolitical forecaster George Friedman. The period that began at the end of World War II was a freak, he says. "We're returning to a more normal structure in which the nation-state is dominant, international trade is intense but managed by states for their own benefit, and where this idea that the nation-state is obsolete goes away." And find out why he's bullish on Japan and thinks we overestimate China. (Asia Dialogues July 2017, audio and transcript) 2) No Place for Eritreans Abraham T. Zere, PEN Eritrea in Exile Eritreans are fleeing their repressive homeland at the rate of 5,000 a month. Yet once they manage to leave, new dangers await these hapless refugees, from extortion to violence and death. How can the world turn its back? (Carnegie Ethics Online article, March 2017)
3) Asylum in the United States for Unaccompanied Children Margaret Kuehne Taylor, United States Department of Justice The current magnitude of child migration to the United States is unprecedented. How does the U.S. asylum process for unaccompanied children work? The views and analyses expressed in this article are the author's alone and do not represent the positions of any U.S. government entity or the American Bar Association. (Carnegie Ethics Online article, February 2017)
4) The Risks and Rewards of Big Data, Algorithms, and Machine Learning, with danah boyd danah boyd, Microsoft Research; Data & Society; Stephanie Sy, Ethics Matter Host and Journalist How do we analyze vast swaths of data and who decides what to collect? For example, big data may help us cure cancer, but the choice of data collected for police work or hiring may have built-in biases, explains danah boyd. "All the technology is trying to do is say, 'What can we find of good qualities in the past and try to amplify them in the future?' It's always trying to amplify the past. So when the past is flawed, it will amplify that." (Ethics Matter interview series, September 2017, audio, video, transcript, and TV show) 5) Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Yuval Noah Harari, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Soon, humankind may be able to replace natural selection with intelligent design and to create the first inorganic lifeforms, says Yuval Noah Harari. If so, this will be the greatest revolution since life began. But what are the dangers, and are they avoidable? (Public Affairs Program, February 2017, audio, video, transcript, and TV show)
