Overview
Public Affairs hosted speakers who are prominent people in the world of international affairs, from acclaimed authors, to Nobel laureates, to high-ranking UN officials.
MAY 25, 2010 • Podcast
The Evolution of God
Robert Wright's astute analysis uses game theory: a religion that sees itself in a zero-sum relationship with outsiders will prove exclusionist and violent, while a ...
MAY 18, 2010 • Podcast
Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy
Raghuram Rajan traces the deepening fault lines in a world overly dependent on the indebted U.S. consumer to power global economic growth, and where ...
MAY 12, 2010 • Podcast
Faith and Power: Religion and Politics in the Middle East
Bernard Lewis is one of the world's foremost Western scholars on Islam. In this eloquent talk he shares some of his knowledge, and explains how ...
MAY 11, 2010 • Podcast
The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World
Ben Wildavsky shows how international competition for the brightest minds is transforming the world of higher education, and why this revolution should be welcomed, not ...
MAY 7, 2010 • Podcast
The Plundered Planet: Why We Must--and How We Can--Manage Nature for Global Prosperity
What, asks Oxford economist Paul Collier, are realistic and sustainable solutions to correcting the mismanagement of the natural world? Can an international standard be established ...
APR 30, 2010 • Podcast
How the Economy Works: Confidence, Crashes, and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
We need to synthesize the idea that a free-market economy is a self-correcting mechanism and the Keynesian principle that capitalism needs some guidance, says UCLA ...
APR 19, 2010 • Podcast
The Politics of Happiness: What the Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being
How can governments use the latest research on well-being to improve the quality of life for all their citizens? What role can government policy play ...
APR 13, 2010 • Podcast
How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace
Diplomatic engagement with rivals, far from being appeasement, is critical to rapprochement between adversaries, says Charles Kupchan, and diplomacy, not economic interdependence, creates the path ...
APR 9, 2010 • Podcast
Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization
Everything hinges on water; it is essential to life and to civilization. Will there be enough fresh water for 9 billion of us by 2050? In this ...
MAR 26, 2010 • Podcast
Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East
1.9 million Sunni Muslims have been forced into exile following the Iraq War, says Deborah Amos. What impact is this having on these people's lives, on ...