Episodes
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Warren Harding was the 29th President of the United States, serving between 1921 and his death from a heart attack in the Summer of 1923.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Harding famously proclaimed a "return to normalcy" following a frenetic period defined by severe economic downturn, race riots, anarchist bombings and labour strikes in the aftermath of the First World War.
Though Hardingâs presidency turned out to be relatively brief, two things remain highly interesting about Harding today. Firstly, despite being very popular at the time of his death, he is now frequently ranked as one of the worst presidents in American history. And secondly, his railing against progressivism, and desire to return the country to a more limited form of government, sounds eerily familiar to even the most casual followers of American politics in 2024.
Why has Hardingâs reputation collapsed so disastrously in the century since his death? Is this deserved? If Donald Trump intends to change American government in the fundamental ways he and his followers claim to, what can he learn from Warren Harding along the way? These are the questions at the heart of today's podcast.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Olaf Scholz has been Chancellor of Germany since December 2021. Following the collapse of his government a few weeks ago, he seems headed for electoral defeat early next year. Where did it all go wrong?
As a character, Scholz is muted and impersonal almost to the point of being dreary - famously described as the âpersonification of boredom in politicsâ by Der Spiegel. Such qualities make a profile like this difficult, so todayâs episode is more policy heavy than previous ones. But it does nonetheless achieve its principal aim in telling the story of a Germany that, nearing the midpoint of the 2020s, seems weary, directionless, and insecure.My returning guest for this conversation is Oliver Moody. Oliver is the Berlin Correspondent at the Times and Sunday Times, a post which sees him cover Germany, Scandinavia, Central Europe and the Baltics. IN this vein, Oliver will be publishing his first book next year; that book is Baltic: The Future of Europe, which seeks to uncover how this Northeastern corner of Europe will decide the course of the West in the coming years.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Patrice Lumumba was the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for just ten weeks in 1960.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
The brevity of Lumumba's time in charge reflects he difficulties of governing an enormous, ethnically diverse country deliberately underdeveloped by its former Belgian colonial masters.
But it was the fomenting rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union over Africa that had the largest impact on Lumumba's time as prime minister.
My guest today is Stuart A. Reid. Stuart is a Senior Fellow for History and Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and was previously an editor at Foreign Affairs between 2008 and 2024. He is also the author of The Lumumba Plot, which has just been released in paperback.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Daniel Noboa has been President of Ecuador since November 2023. The youngest democratically elected state leader in the world, Noboa has had a highly tumultuous introduction to high office.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
In January this year, violent crime in Ecuador, which had been increasing for nearly a decade, reached a terrible crescendo when two of the countryâs gang leaders escaped from prison, and a series of armed attacks, including bombings, were inflicted on prisons, markets and TV stations. The result was a declaration of a state of emergency by Noboaâs government, only six weeks old at the time.
To try and fight these forces, Noboa has reached out to the US, painting himself as a defender of democracy. As youâre about to hear, the US has given Noboa some considerable leeway in how he has prosecuted Ecuadorâs war on the gangs.
My guest today is Isabel Chiriboga. Isabel is an assistant director at the Atlantic Councilâs Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, where she contributes to the centerâs work on the Andes, including on Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru. She is also a frequent opinion contributor, and her work has been published in Foreign Policy, Miami Herald, the National Interest, Global Americans, and the New Atlanticist.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Robert Fico has been the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023, and has served in that position three times since 2006.
The thankfully unsuccessful attempt on Fico's life came at a time when the prime minister had become genuinely controversial internationally for the first time. This followed an increasingly erratic approach to the Slovakian media, pronounced lockdown and vaccine skepcitism in the aftermath of the pandemic, and opposition to military assistance to Ukraine - a country which shares a border with Slovakia.
What youâre about to hear is that there was a time when Fico was a much more conventional politician. So why has he changed? Was he responding to changes at home in Slovakia - a country with a distinct political trajectory to its neighbours - or did the World change around Slovakia, with Fico looking abroad for inspiration?My guest today is Dr Michal OvĂĄdek. Michal is a lecturer and assistant professor in European Institutions, Politics and Policy at University College London, who primarily researches issues related to EU institutions, and the rule of law. As well as Fico, we discuss the post-communist transition in Slovakia, the origins of Slovak ambivalence towards the Ukrainian war effort, and associated Russophilia, and the cultural divide inside the country today.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Nouri al-Maliki was Prime Minister of Iraq between 2006 and 2014, a tenure that makes him easily the country's longest serving post-2003 prime minister.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Maliki became Iraq's head of government in the maelstrom of Iraq's sectarian civil war, following the 2003 US-UK invasion of the country. Todayâs is a story of the collapse of the Iraqi state, and the highly imperfect efforts to rebuild it made necessary by the liquidation of virtually all of Saddam Husseinâs institutions by the United States within a matter of weeks.
The level of hubris displayed by the US both before and after the invasion is extraordinary, and on perhaps no issue did the US not do its homework to a more embarrassing degree than the difference between Sunni and Shia muslims. Indeed, President Bush is reported to have been surprised on finding out in 2003 that Iraq had two different kinds of Muslim living in it.
My guest today is Renad Mansour. Renad is a senior research fellow and project director of the Iraq Initiative at Chatham House. He is also a senior research fellow at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, and a research fellow at the Cambridge Security Initiative based at Cambridge University. He is also the co-author of Once Upon a Time in Iraq, which has also been made into a BBC television series.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Sadyr Japarov has been the President of Kyrgyzstan since 2021. Japarov's rise to power came after his country had experienced three revolutions in 15 years, in a part of the World unused to political upheaval.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Today's episode investigates whether the three Kyrgyz revolutions, so unusual for Central Asia, have benefited the country's development. On the one hand, they sent a message to national and regional elites that their people had a voice, and were willing to use it. On the other, Japarov has made political hay out of the disorder visited upon Kyrgyzstan as a result of 15 years of turmoil, and is now rolling back democratic freedoms in the country.
My guest today is Bruce Pannier. Bruce is a Central Asia Fellow in the Eurasia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a longtime journalist and correspondent covering Central Asia. He also writes Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertyâs blog, Qishloq Ovozi.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Jean-Bertrand Aristide was President of Haiti three times between 1991 and 2004.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
A lightning rod for hope and democracy on his election in 1990, the overall course and tone of Aristide's political career was set remarkably early on in 1991, when after just eight months in power, Aristide was removed in a coup.
As youâre about to hear, Aristideâs reformist agenda never recovered from the 1991 coup, and his time in power can be interpreted as the overture to Haitiâs present crisis. It is one of the most crushing stories Iâve covered on this series, but my guest also provides hope in the form of stories about the enormous cultural and communal wealth of Haiti and its people.
That guest is Rosa Freedman. Rosa is Professor of Law, Conflict, and Global Development at the University of Reading, and has published extensively on the United Nations, international human rights law, sexual exploitation and abuse in conflict, and Haiti.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Keir Starmer has been the leader of the UK Labour Party since 2020. This makes him Leader of the Opposition, and - if the polls are to be believed - Britain's next prime minister.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Amid a revolving door of prime ministers, Brexit, and the pandemic, Starmerâs rise from leader of the weakest Labour Party since the Second World War to being in poll position in the race for Downing Street has taken many by surprise. Itâs also left a public clamouring for more information about who this man is, what makes him tick, and what he believes in.
This podcast tries to assess the validity of the conventional wisdoms that have grown up around Starmer. Starmer will face many challenges if he ever becomes prime minister, so itâs important to think about who he is, before the demands of Downing Street swamp him.
My guest today is Tom Baldwin. Tom is a British journalist who has worked for the Times and the Sunday Telegraph as political editor; he was also a senior political adviser to Ed Miliband when Miliband was Labour leader. Tom has also written Keir Starmer: The Biography, an unauthorised but authoritative account of the man himself. More recently than that he has also co-authored England: Seven Myths That Changed a Country and How to Set Them Straight.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Afonso Dhlakama was the leader of RENAMO, Mozambique's main opposition movement, for over forty years until his death in 2018.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Dhlakamaâs story, and the Mozambican Civil War at large, are notable for two reasons. First is the regional and international dimension of the war. Mozambique's FRELIMO government courted support from communist powers such as East Germany but also became welcome in Margaret Thatcherâs Downing Street.
Secondly, the two sides in the Civil War have actually come to an agreement in the early 1990s, having participated in a fifteen year civil war which claimed the lives of perhaps a million people. Does this make Mozambique a democracy today? Probably not. But its elites have at least accepted that they need to engage in some kind of inter-party horse trading.
My guest today is Alex Vines. Alex has led the Africa Programme at Chatham House since 2002, and his wealth of experience working on issues related to Africa is immense, having appeared on the UN Panel of Experts on CĂ´te dâIvoire and Liberia, chairing the former. He was also a UN election officer in Mozambique in 1994, and has authored many works related to the country.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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J.R. Jayewardene served as prime minister and then president of Sri Lanka between 1977 and 1989.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Sri Lankan history, politics and society is dominated by tensions between two ethnic groups. Ethnic divisions are intrinsic to countless countries, including many covered on this podcast before. The key question the Sri Lankan experience raises though is this: in stoking ethnic tensions, what is more important: how the government works, or who runs it?
Today's subject demonstrates that in the case of Sri Lanka, the latter is true. During his presidency, J.R. presided over the so called Black July riots, which saw the deaths of 5000 Tamils in a single month. But even when he saw the results of leaning into ethnic division - and there was evidence of the results of doing so long before Black July- he wasnât compelled to stop. For this reason, J.R might hold greater responsibility for Sri Lankaâs ethnic strife and ensuing civil war than any other Sri Lankan.
My guest today is Dr. Asanga Welikala. Primarily focusing on constitutional theory and commonwealth constitutional history, Asanga is a lecturer in public law at the University of Edinburgh School of Law. He is also a Research Associate of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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The Houthis, a Yemeni political and military organisation, have made headlines across the World since they began blocking the Red Sea nearly six months ago. But despite their association in people's minds with Gaza, and Iran's "Axis of Resistance", their true motives are poorly understood.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
This is the second half of a two-part conversation seeking to explain the Houthis' influence in Yemeni politics and society. Today's episode deals with the period since 2013, and especially since the outbreak of civil war in Yemen in 2014.
How have the Houthis gone from being an obscure group in the mountainous region of Northern Yemen to controlling two thirds of the countryâs population? And most importantly of all, how have the Houthis managed to fend off a US-backed alliance comprised of the armed forces of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar?
As was the case in Part 1, my guest for this conversation is Isa Blumi. Isa is an associate professor of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholm University. Isa has published several books on Turkey, the Balkans, the late Ottoman Empire and Yemen, including Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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The Houthis, a Yemeni political and military organisation, have made headlines across the World since they began blocking the Red Sea nearly six months ago. But despite their association with Gaza, and Iran's "Axis of Resistance", their origins in the turbulent Yemeni politics of the 1990s and 2000s are not widely understood.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
This is the first half of a two-part conversation seeking to explain the Houthis' rise to prominence, and covers the unification of Yemen in 1990, the arrival of Sunni extremism in the country from Saudi Arabia, and the violent attempts of President Saleh to impose order on Yemen. All of these strands, and others, contributed to the Houthis' development, and sent Yemen hurtling towards the Arab Spring, and civil war.
My guest today is Isa Blumi. Isa is an associate professor of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholm University. Isa has published several books on Turkey, the Balkans, the late Ottoman Empire and Yemen, including Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Jens Stoltenberg has been Secretary General of NATO since 2014, and prior to that served twice as Prime Minister of Norway.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Looking at him is interesting because, at least in the early part of his premiership, many commentators, buoyed by the end of the Cold War and the third wave of democratisation, genuinely believed that the world was converging on Norwegian attitudes towards democracy and international cooperation. During his time as NATO Secretary General, though, the World has stopped converging on Norwegian, or Western, ideals of democracy. In fact, too often, it seems as if the West is converging on the rest of the World.
In this context, is gradualism, the political approach favoured by Stoltenberg, insufficient? Stoltenberg is rarely described as controversial, but is his political philosophy and his outlook now the very thing all politicians wish to avoid becoming more than anything else - outdated?
My guest today is Magnus Takvam. Magnus is a Norwegian journalist, broadcaster and political commentator who until 2022 worked with NRK, the Norwegian state-owned Broadcasting Corporation. As well as Stoltenbergâs career, Magnus and I discuss the effect oil wealth has had on Norwegian politics and society, the 2011 Norway attacks, which occurred on Stoltenbergâs watch, and the future trajectory of Norwegian politics.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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John Magufuli was the President of Tanzania between 2015 and 2021. He was the sixth in a long line of presidents drawn from the same political party, the CCM, which has ruled Tanzania since its independence in 1961.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
CCM presidents came and went, standing down after two terms in office, just as American presidents do. But in the 2000s, the CCM started to lose popularity in Tanzania. Corruption scandals and political infighting saw elections become closer - even after the CCM had rigged them. And it was at this point, sensing vulnerability, that the CCM decided to take a more openly authoritarian turn, by choosing John Magufuli as its leader.
Magufuli quickly moved to shut down dissenting voices and newspapers, as well as restrictions on opposition rallies. Like the canniest of dictators, he sought to demonstrate his power to others by openly lying to them, claiming green was blue. He also came to lie about the coronavirus pandemic, which he said could be treated by steam inhalation, and discouraged was wearing, testing and vaccination.
My guest today is Aikande Kwayu. Aikande is a Tanzanian social scientist, author and management consultant who has written extensively about the political and society of her home country. Much of her work focuses on international development, political economy and the role of religion in Tanzanian society.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Mary Lou McDonald has been the Leader of the Opposition to the Irish Government since 2020. She is also the leader of centre-left political party Sinn Fein, currently the second largest party in the Irish parliament (Dail).
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Since 2000, Sinn Fein has gone from being an extra-parliamentary party to being the most popular party in the Irish Republic, on course to win the next general election under McDonald. On the face of it, Sinn Feinâs success seems reasonably straightforward; in a country with fast economic growth, but unequal distrubiton of opportunity, social service provision and housing, especially for young people, a party of the left has become popular.
However, Sinn Fein also seeks to bring about a united Ireland, something which forces the party to reconcile the views, priorities and memories of its voters in the Irish Republic with those of its voters in Northern Ireland. These views, priorities and memories, as you're about to hear, are often hard to bring together.
My guest today is Pat Leahy. Pat is the political editor of The Irish Times, and also the author of books on Irelandâs political system, including The Price of Power: Inside Irelandâs Crisis Coalition.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Nayib Bukele has been the President of El Salvador since 2019. He has transformed the country from the nation with the world's highest murder rate to that with the world's highest incarceration rate, having arrested more than 70,000 people (1% of the population) in less than two years.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
His programme presents complicated trade offs and moral dilemmas; how much of your freedom would you be willing to submit for safety?
Meanwhile, economic opportunity is still difficult to come by, as Bukeleâs government has done little to invest in social services, and instead has spent his time gentrifying the Salvadoran coastline and making Bitcoin legal tender. The deal Bukele has offered Salvadorans seems to be: youâll submit your civil liberties, I'll eradicate crime, but after that, youâre on your own.
My guest today is Ricardo Avelar. Ricardo is a Salvadoran journalist at Revista Factum, a digital magazine committed to bringing independent journalism to El Salvador.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist militant group and political party, established in 1985. Hezbollah has a reputation as one of the Middle Eastâs great agitators, having engaged Israel in conflict twice, once in the 1980s and again in 2006. Their financing by and allegiance to the Iranian ayatollah, the Westâs bogeyman in the region, underpins this image.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
But simply viewing Hezbollah as a regional troublemaker conceals an intriguing domestic story which is far more nuanced; in the context of Lebanonâs sectarian strife, Hezbollah has consistently gone in to bat for the countryâs Shia Muslim population. For decades seen as the nationâs underdog, patronised and belittled by Christians and Sunnis, Hezbollah has made it clear that Shia interests will no longer be dismissed out of hand.
My guest today is Heiko Wimmen. Heiko is head of the Iraq-Syria-Lebanon project at the International Crisis Group, an independent organisation working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world. Heiko, who is German by origin, has lived in the region, and mostly in Lebanon, since 1994, and has worked as a journalist, broadcast producer and researcher. As well as the groupâs history, we discuss the precarious situation of 2024, when another war between Hezbollah and Israel appears possible.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Kim Yo Jong is the younger sister of the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un.
Since Jong Unâs accession to power in 2011, he has placed his sister into positions of increasing importance domestically and increasing prominence internationally.The question is: is Jong Un following the advice of Michael Corleone, keeping his friends close but his enemies closer? Or is there genuine affection between Jong Un and Yo Jong? Furthermore, does Yo Jong have aspirations beyond playing second fiddle?
My guest today is the author of a recent book about Kim Yo Jong. He is South Korean scholar Sung-Yoon Lee. Yoon is a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. His book is The Sister: The extraordinary story of Kim Yo Jong, the most powerful woman in North Korea, which has been released to critical acclaim.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Hafiz al-Assad was the President of Syria between 1970 and 2000. Father of present Syrian leader Bashar, Hafiz inherited a country in disarray, beset by political and religious division at home, and subject to interference from regional powers.
Best of the Left: Progressive Politics, News, Culture.
Displaying extraordinary brutality, Hafiz imposed order on Syriaâs diverse population and also turned his country into an important decision maker. His troops intervened in Lebanonâs dreadful civil war, and occupied large parts of the country for the rest of Hafizâs life. As well as cementing Hafizâs own position, this also strengthened Assadâs hand in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hafiz understood that for small countries, geopolitical success rests on making yourself difficult to be dispensed of, or overlooked. The career of my guest today shows how well Hafiz did this; in conjunction with his role as Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Itamar Rabinovich was Israelâs Chief Negotiator with Syria from 1993 until 1996, at a time when many believed that peace between Israel and Palestine hinged upon Syrian recognition of Israel. Rabinovich has dedicated his life to researching Syria, and its relations (or lack thereof) with Israel, and is the author of 14 books on the country.
Expertly-curated by humans, not algorithms or AI, since 2006. 1000s of 5âď¸ reviews!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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