Why It Matters

Living in History

Whether you think we are making history or repeating it, it’s safe to say we are living in a historic time. In this episode, Why It Matters asks three historians to weigh in on how to use the past to examine the present and make better choices for the future.

 

Featured Guests: 

Richard N. Haass (President, Council on Foreign Relations) 

Margaret MacMillan (Professor of History, University of Toronto) 

Annette Gordon-Reed (Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History, Harvard Law School)

 

For more information on this episode, visit us at cfr.org/podcasts/living-history

 

The World is Watching Us

The killing of George Floyd, the anti-racist protest movement that followed, and the administration’s response have shaken America, and reverberations can be felt across the globe. It is unclear what type of reform will follow the U.S. protests, but it is undeniable that the world is watching what happens closely.

 

Featured Guests: 

Chika Oduah (Independent Multimedia Journalist) 

Keith Richburg (Director, Journalism and Media Studies Center at the University of Hong Kong)

 

For more information on this episode, visit us at cfr.org/podcasts/world-watching-us

The Human Cost of Labor Trafficking

It is estimated that twenty to forty million people around the world are victims of human trafficking. Of these, the majority are trafficked for labor, and many of them are exploited in the United States.

 

Featured Guests: 

Susy Andole (Voices of Hope, Anti-Trafficking Program, Safe Horizon) 

Mark P. Lagon (Chief Policy Officer, Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria) 

Anita Teekah (Senior Director, Anti-Trafficking Program, Safe Horizon)

 

For more information on this episode, visit us at cfr.org/podcasts/human-cost-labor-trafficking

Exporting Authoritarianism

China is undertaking massive infrastructure projects across the world and loaning billions of dollars to developing nations. On paper, the objective is to build a vast trade network, but is China also exporting authoritarianism?

 

Featured Guests: 

Jessica Chen Weiss (Associate Professor of Government, Cornell University) 

Elizabeth C. Economy (C. V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies)

 

For more information on this episode, visit us at cfr.org/podcasts/exporting-authoritarianism

WhatsApp With India?

Roughly four hundred million people in India use the encrypted messaging platform WhatsApp. Now, the country’s ruling party is trying to force WhatsApp to let the government trace and censor messages. The outcome could change digital freedoms in the world’s largest democracy, and could have strong implications for the future of privacy everywhere.

 

Featured Guests: 

Seema Mody (Global Markets Reporter, CNBC) 

Vindu Goel (Technology and Business Reporter, New York Times) 

Chinmayi Arun (Resident Fellow, Yale University)

 

For more information on this episode, visit us at cfr.org/podcasts/whatsapp-india

Wearing the World Out

What’s the true cost of cheap clothes? Fast fashion has become a multibillion-dollar industry in recent decades, reshaping the world’s shopping habits. But the industry’s low prices disguise a staggering environmental cost.

 

Featured Guests: 

Elizabeth Segran (Senior Staff Writer, Fast Company) 

Linda Greer (Senior Global Fellow, Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs Beijing China) 

Amber Valletta (Activist, and founder, Master & Muse)

 

For more information on this episode, visit us at cfr.org/podcasts/wearing-world-out

Bonus Episode: "A Medically Induced Economic Coma"

Is the coronavirus a zero-sum game in which we must choose between saving lives and saving the economy? In this episode, we sit down with two experts to find out.

Season Two Trailer

Now more than ever, it’s clear that global problems can become local in a flash. In season two, Why It Matters dives into a new set of challenges that will shape our lives in the years to come.

Coronavirus

The worldwide spread of the new coronavirus has pulled back the curtain on the vulnerabilities of our interconnected world. Now we are left asking some basic questions. What lessons have we learned so far? 

Guests: 

Sylvia Burwell, former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services 

Tom Frieden, former Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

Rana Foroohar, Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor, Financial Times 

Shannon O’Neil, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations 

  

The One Where We Talk About NATO at a Party

You’re making the rounds at a party when someone asks you about NATO. Is it still important? The alliance is credited with preventing a third world war, but a lot of us don’t know what it is or how it works. This episode takes a look at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from the ground up, paired best with a cold drink.