13th International Education Conference
Democracy in Recession? 

Audio Resources on Global Democracy

Summary: The 13th International Education Conference focused on the theme, “Democracy in Recession?” with the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election as its context. The following resource list provides resources for teaching about democracy worldwide. Given screen-fatigue resulting from distance learning, these resources are completely audio-based.

General Resources

VOX Worldly
We live in a confusing time, bombarded every day with news from around the world that can be hard to follow, or fully understand. Let Worldly be your guide. Every Thursday, senior writer Zack Beauchamp, senior foreign editor Jennifer Williams, and staff defense writer Alex Ward give you the history and context you need to make sense of the moment and navigate the world around you. Produced by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

East Asia Episodes:

  • The Moral Urgency of the Uighur Crisis
    July 23, 2020
    Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about the Chinese government’s systematic detention of tens of thousands of Uighur Muslims in concentration camps, where many are subjected to torture, brainwashing, and other human rights abuses. They get into the disturbing details of what China is actually doing in these camps, what’s motivating the Chinese leadership to engage in such atrocities, and why the US and international community aren’t doing enough to stop it. They conclude by discussing what we can all do to try to change that.
  • The End of Hong Kong
    July 9, 2020
    Zack and Jenn talk about China’s new national security law in Hong Kong, a ploy by Beijing to seize more control of the semi-autonomous city. They explain how the law vacates Hong Kong’s democratic freedoms and how Hongkongers have been responding. Then they zoom out to talk about what the world can do to address the increasingly horrific human rights abuses of Xi Jinping’s government – and why the integration of China into the global economy, while tremendously beneficial in many ways, makes this all so much harder.
  • North Korea Blows Up the Peace Process – Literally
    June 25, 2020
    Zack and Alex cope with Jenn’s absence by talking about one of their favorite topics: North Korea. In recent weeks, North Korea ramped up military tensions with South Korea and literally blew up the latter’s de facto embassy in the country. It seems that the US-led negotiating process with North Korea, ongoing since 2018, has conclusively failed. The team explains what happened, the deep strategic and political reasons behind the talks’ collapse, and then predict what might happen with North Korea if Biden wins the 2020 US election.
  • A New “Cold War”?
    May 14, 2020
    Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about the idea of a US-China “cold war” – a notion that’s been around for a while, but has become super popular since the coronavirus has turned into a blame game between the world’s two leading powers. They discuss what it would mean for the countries to be in such a conflict, compare it to the actual Cold War, debate whether the term really applies to the US, and wrap up by talking about how or whether tensions between Washington and Beijing could successfully be dialed down. There are references to Blink-182, The Office, and thumb war.

East Europe & Russia/Eurasia Episodes:

  • The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
    October 8, 2020
    Zack, Jenn, and Alex explain the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh — a contested region inside Azerbaijani borders but populated largely by ethnic Armenians. They break down the Soviet-era origins of the conflict, discuss why the fighting has flared up in a particularly scary way this summer and fall, and then zoom out to the role that major powers like Russia and Turkey play.
  • Vaccine Nationalism
    August 13, 2020
    Alex and returning guest Jen Kirby talk about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Moscow has developed a coronavirus vaccine. They discuss how Russia skipped several safety steps and how the announcement highlights the troubling problem of “vaccine nationalism.” Basically, it’s every country for itself when creating a Covid-19 vaccine instead of working together — which could make it harder for the world to stop the pandemic. 
  • Is Trump letting Putin get away with murder?
    July 2, 2020
    Zack and Jenn break down the growing scandal surrounding intelligence reports that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to attack US troops in Afghanistan. They walk through the evidence so far that Russia did this and what Vladimir Putin’s motivations might have been. Then they talk about the evidence that Trump knew about it and did nothing — and how this points to a much bigger problem for American foreign policy in the Trump era. 
  • A coronavirus “coup” in Hungary
    April 2, 2020
    Zack, Jenn, and Alex explain how coronavirus is causing a global crisis for democracy — starting with Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán assumed dictatorial powers thanks to a legislature controlled by his party, effectively suspending democracy for an indefinite period of time. They explain the background necessary to understand what happened in Hungary and the implications for the country and Europe — and, then, in the second half, zoom out to talk about several other countries facing rising authoritarianism in a Covid-19 world, and why a pandemic is so dangerous for democracy in general.
  • The entire Russian government just resigned
    January 16, 2020
    Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about the recent resignation of Russia’s entire government — yes, you read that right. Guest Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a Russia expert at the Center for a New American Security, helps the team get a hold on what Putin’s play is: how he’s reorganizing the government to prepare for his own departure from the presidency, and what this means in the big picture for Russia’s future. They also talk about one of Zack’s weird dreams and the proper way to cook brussels sprouts.

The Intelligence – Economist Podcast
Current-affairs podcast published every weekday by Economist Radio, that provides a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

East Asia Episodes:

East Europe & Russia/Eurasia Episodes:

  • Buy the way? Kyrgyzstan’s post-election chaos
    October 9, 2020
    Citizens are furious after a poll seemingly tainted by vote-buying; its annulment leaves a power vacuum that may yet draw in China and Russia. An author’s journey through the history of America’s racist militias, including the Ku Klux Klan, starts with his own family tree. And why not everyone is happy with Europe’s “golden passport” schemes. 
  • Enclave on edge: Armenia and Azerbaijan
    October 1, 2020
    The region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been the subject of dispute and skirmishes for decades—but the current conflict threatens to draw in both Turkey and Russia. Rule changes accelerated by the pandemic have revealed a better way to handle early-stage abortions. And, unravelling the mystery of the funnel-web spider’s deadly bite.
  • Sanctuary in Sochi: Belarus’ dictator clings on
    September 16, 2020
    Belarus dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, has travelled to Sochi amid major protests at home to ask Vladimir Putin for help. We examine whether he will get it—and what the price might be. The possible discovery of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus could be a tantalising hint of life beyond Earth. 
  • Insecurity services? Alexei Navalny’s poisoning
    August 25, 2020
    Doctors believe Russia’s opposition leader was poisoned, and suspicion naturally falls on the Kremlin. Why might the country’s leadership have taken such a risk? For LGBT people coming out is, in many places, far easier and more commonplace than it once was—thanks in part to the internet. 
  • Not free, not fair, not finished: Belarus’s election
    August 20, 2020
    Huge protests following a rigged election reveal that the people have had enough of “Europe’s last dictator”, Alexander Lukashenko. 
  • Return to centre? Poland’s presidential run-off
    July 10, 2020 
    Integration or isolation? Conservative family values or liberal ones? The knife-edge election will decide Poland’s direction for years, and will send a signal to populist leaders throughout Europe. We examine the long battle against HIV/AIDS and what lessons it holds for dealing with COVID-19.
  • Eastern exposure: Russia’s telling protests
    July 15, 2020
    The arrest of a popular governor in the country’s far east has sparked unrest that reveals President Vladimir Putin’s waning legitimacy—and hints at repression to come. Turkey’s president has turned the stunning Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque; the distraction tactic is unlikely to work. 
Center for East Asian Studies Resources

PODCASTS

Democracy Works
The Democracy Works podcast seeks to examine a different aspect of democratic life each week — from voting to criminal justice to the free press and everything in between. We interview experts who study democracy, as well as people who are out there doing the hard work of democracy day in and day out.

Selected episodes:

  • Hong Kong’s Fight is Everyone’s Fight
    September 28, 2020
    In some ways, the fight for democracy in Hong Kong is unique to the region and its relationship with China. However, the protests also feel familiar to anyone who’s been watching the Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. or what’s happening in countries like Hungary and Brazil. We examine what’s driving Hong Kongers into the streets, the generational divides that are emerging over issues like universal suffrage and income inequality, and what Hong Kong’s relationship with China might look like moving forward. Our guest is On-cho Ng, head of the Asian Studies Program at Penn State and Professor of History, Asian Studies, and Philosophy. He is a native Hong Konger and received both his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Hong Kong. 
  • China’s Threat to Democracies Around the World
    September 16, 2020
    Larry Diamond joins us this week to talk about the threat China’s model of authoritarian capitalism poses to liberal democracy in the United States and around the world. Economics drives politics, and it’s easy to admire China’s growth while looking past things like increasing surveillance and lack of respect for norms and the rule of law. Larry is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

ChinaTalk – Lawfare
A weekly conversation exploring China’s economy and tech scene. Guests include a wide range of policy analysts, business professionals, journalists, and academics. ChinaTalk is hosted by Jordan Schneider, who also writes a weekly newsletter translating and analyzing Chinese-language sources.

Selected episodes:

  • A Deep Dive on China and the Uighurs
    July 15, 2020
    We talk a lot about Chinese policy in Hong Kong, but there’s another human rights crisis going on in China in the province of Xinjiang. It concerns the Turkic minority known as the Uighurs whom the Chinese government has been rounding up and putting in reeducation camps. It is an ugly story—one that the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to keep from international attention, with some degree of success. To walk us through the situation in Xinjiang, Benjamin Wittes spoke with Jessica Batke, a senior editor at ChinaFile; Darren Byler, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder whose research focuses on Uighur dispossession; and Maya Wang, a senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch, who has written extensively on the use of biometrics, artificial intelligence and big data in mass surveillance in China.
  • Hong Kong Protests One Year On
    June 22, 2020
    This week’s ChinaTalk featured Antony Dapiran going deep with me on the origin, meaning, and legacy of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. We drew parallels and contrasts throughout between HK and Black Lives Matter.
  • Evan Osnos on Tiananmen, Protests and Political Leadership
    June 9, 2020
    Evan Osnos is a correspondent for the New Yorker. We discussed his pieces on the protests in D.C. and coverage of U.S.-China relations.

Asia In-Depth

Understanding Asia has never been more vital – or more challenging. That’s why we talk to the people who know it best. The Asia In-Depth podcast brings you conversations with the world’s leading experts on politics, economics, and culture, providing incisive, illuminating coverage of stories that matter.

Selected episodes:

  • Xinjiang Under Surveillance
    August 6, 2020
    In this episode of Asia In-Depth, we are joined again by BuzzFeed News international correspondent Megha Rajagopalan, who was on the podcast last fall to discuss China’s surveillance technology and its spread around the world. Today, she gives us an update on the situation in Xinjiang alongside Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, an investigative journalist who covers China for Axios. They recently discussed their work during an event hosted by Asia Society Switzerland’s Nico Luchsinger. During the conversation, Rajagopalan and Allen-Ebrahimian explain the difference between ordinary surveillance in China and the specialized technology that is being used in Xinjiang, how personal data is being used against the Uighur community, the rise of re-education camps, and more. 
  • Are Democracies Handling COVID-19 Better Than Authoritarian Countries?
    June 11, 2020
    The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments around the world to manage a huge public health risk using lockdowns, travel bans, digital contact tracing, and other tools. Some countries have been shining examples of how the outbreak was successfully managed — while others are the target of widespread criticism. This has sparked a public discussion about whether certain kinds of governments have been more effective; can one make the case that democratic or authoritarian governments are better equipped to deal with COVID-19?  That was the subject for this episode of Asia In-Depth, featuring Fareed Zakaria, author and host of the CNN show Fareed Zakaria GPS, and Asia Society Policy Institute President and former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd. Zakaria and Rudd also discussed the murder of George Floyd — and the worldwide protests that have followed.
  • Hong Kong on the Brink
    February 20, 2020
    The future of Hong Kong forms the basis of the new book ‘Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink.’ Its author, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. He places the recent events in Hong Kong in a broader historical context and considers whether the territory will ever return to the way things were before the protests began. In this episode of Asia In-Depth, recorded live on the Asia Society New York stage, Wasserstrom talks with New Yorker correspondent Jiayang Fan and ChinaFile editor Susan Jakes about Hong Kong’s tenuous present — and future.
  • Is Chinese-Style Surveillance the Future?
    December 5, 2019
    What exactly is Chinese-style surveillance like — and will it spread to other dictatorships around the world? And what responsibilities do tech companies have to ensure their services do not contribute to democracy’s erosion? In this episode of Asia In-Depth, BuzzFeed News correspondent Megha Rajagopalan talks about her reporting on these questions with Asia Society’s Matt Schiavenza.
  • American Universities in China – Free Speech Bastions or Threat to Academic Freedom?
    May 19, 2017
    In this episode of Asia In-Depth, we zoom in on the case of NYU Shanghai with interviews with students, professors, administrators, outside analysts, and critics to see where the school falls in China’s political landscape, and what effects it’s leaving on those who study there.
  • Taiwan’s New Direction
    March 14, 2016
    We explore how Taiwan has continued to drift further away from the mainland psychologically, and what the implications are of a new Taiwanese government that’s less friendly with Beijing. We hear from Jerome Cohen, director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at New York University (NYU), Douglas Paal, a former unofficial U.S. representative to Taiwan as director of the American Institute in Taiwan, and Yu-jie Chen, a research scholar on human rights developments in Taiwan and China at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at NYU.

East Asia Hotspots
The series has episodes released between April 8, 2020 and July 20, 2020
Contemporary politics, policy, and society in East Asia analyzed and explored. Join the NRC team as they interview experts, scholars, and public officials on the latest trends and hotspots in East Asia.


Hong Kong on the Brink
The series has episodes released between August and December 2019 (as of 10.22.20)
Hong Kong has again erupted in protest over frustrations with Beijing’s increasingly iron-clad rule. In response, embattled Hong Kong government leader Carrie Lam has authorized aggressive police tactics. Communist Party of China leader Xi Jinping has threatened to send in domestic security forces to quell the demonstrators. In “Hong Kong on the Brink,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette and Chief Communications Officer Andrew Schwartz unpack the latest developments in this volatile conflict.


Asia Unbound
Council on Foreign Relations experts explore the cutting-edge issues emerging in Asia today.

Selected episodes:

  • Joshua Wong and Brian Leung on Hong Kong’s Pro-democracy Movement
    September 18, 2019
    Joshua Wong and Brian Leung have been two of the movement’s most vocal leaders. Wong serves as the Secretary General of Demosistō, a Hong Kong pro-democracy political party, and Leung garnered attention for removing his face mask while leading protests inside the Hong Kong Legislative Council in July 2019. In mid-September, Wong and Leung traveled to the United States to meet with U.S. officials to press their case. In this podcast, they sit down with Dr. Elizabeth Economy to discuss the roots of their political activism, their thoughts on the protest’s current status, and their goals for their tour abroad.
  • Is China the Bully of Asia?
    March 1, 2018
    With over 5,000 years of history, modern China must be understood through the lens of its past. In his recent book, ‘Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order,’ Steven Mosher argues that from its earliest emperors to President Xi, China has maintained continuity through its distinctive culture and political ideology. Mosher contends that modern China is attempting to reclaim its historic position as global hegemon, to the detriment of American ideals and goals. He argues that without action, the United States will be left behind. But is Beijing truly attempting an assault on Western values and governance? Is China planning to supplant the West’s global leadership?
  • North Korea’s Information Underground
    January 12, 2017
    Jieun Baek, author of ‘North Korea’s Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground is Transforming a Closed Society,’ tells the story of the outlawed political and social information that is penetrating North Korea’s hermetic borders. Through dozens of interviews with North Korean defectors, Baek finds that everyday North Koreans crave news and entertainment from the outside world – from romantic television dramas to basic weather reports. Most of all, the foreign knowledge they seek helps to dismantle the façade of total information control the North Korean government has tried to erect around its citizens. Brokers smuggle DVDs, USB sticks, and SD cards with illicit media into the country, and citizens use black-market radios to pick up forbidden stations use black-market radios to pick up forbidden stations from South Korea, the United Kingdom, and beyond. The North Korean government fights back in a deadly game of cat and mouse, dealing out fines, detentions, and even public executions to individuals it catches consuming or exchanging contraband content. At the same time, defectors says that information from the outside world is one of the best tools available to help citizens resist the country’s oppressive regime. Baek shares her account of North Korea’s information underground and her own efforts to send fragments of the outside world into the hermit kingdom.
  • Fifteen Minutes with Joshua Wong
    November 22, 2016
    Joshua Wong sits down with Elizabeth Economy to stress the importance of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement to his shared fight for self-determination. Will democracy advocates be able to accomplish their aims through their new positions? And how far is Beijing willing to go in order to intervene in Hong Kong affairs and suppress democratic activities?
  • The Perfect Dictatorship
    September 14, 2016
    On this week’s Asia Unbound podcast, Stein Ringen, emeritus professor at the University of Oxford and author of ‘The Perfect Dictatorship: China in the 21st Century,’ gives us his take on the Chinese party-state. He dubs China today a “controlocracy,” a sophisticated dictatorship that values its grip on power above all else. Ringen believes that Xi Jinping’s anticorruption campaign aims not just to flush out political rivals or protect state coffers, but to root out competing power centers that subvert Beijing’s control. His book is as exacting and stark as a Jo Nesbø novel—and his conclusions are just as grim. Listen in as Ringen describes how even with continued deep engagement from the international community, China’s best-case prognosis is a “hard dictatorship.” Without engagement, China’s fate is far worse—all-out authoritarianism or total chaos. And that’s a China no one wants to see. 
  • The Dictator’s Dilemma: The Chinese Communist Party’s Strategy for Survival
    July 21, 2016
    Are Chinese citizens unhappy with their government? Media coverage of corruption, pollution, and censorship might lead outsiders to believe that they are. Bruce Dickson, professor of political science and international affairs and director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University, offers evidence to the contrary. In 2010 and 2014, in collaboration with Chinese scholars, Dickson conducted two broad public opinion surveys of thousands of Chinese urbanites that culminated in his new book, ‘The Dictator’s Dilemma: The Chinese Communist Party’s Strategy for Survival.’ Dickson finds little real evidence for the “revolution of rising expectations”—the idea that average Chinese citizens will gradually demand more accountability and greater civil liberties as standards of living rise. The takeaway? Barring any major new obstacles, do not expect significant evolution in the Chinese system in the near future. Still, Dickson warns that the Chinese government must walk a fine line in its efforts to maintain its popularity; it must remain careful not to overuse its repressive tools and turn supporters into enemies.

Democracy and Disorder
In this project—“Democracy and Disorder: The Struggle for Influence in the New Geopolitics”—experts from across the Foreign Policy program at Brookings have assessed challenges to democracy in critical regions; charted their geopolitical implications for international order; and have issued responses to secure the fate of the democracy within that order.

Selected episodes:

  • Challenges to Democracy in East Asia
    March 9, 2019
    East Asia is home to diverse political regimes, economies, and religions, and is central to global economic trade and growth. But it is also a region increasingly defined by U.S.-China competition. Moving forward, what role Japan will play in upholding a rules-based order, and how will China’s rise influence domestic political trends, particularly in Southeast Asia? In this podcast, the second episode a four-part podcast series from the Democracy and Disorder Project at the Brookings Institution, host Torrey Taussig talks with Senior Fellows Jonathan Stromseth and Mireya Solís about challenges to democracy in East Asia.

NPR ThroughLine
The past is never past. Every headline has a history. Join us every week as we go back in time to understand the present. These are stories you can feel and sounds you can see from the moments that shaped our world.

Selected episodes:

  • Hong Kong
    May 28, 2020
    Last week, the Chinese government made the latest and perhaps the most serious move yet to crack down on Hong Kong’s semi-autonomy. It’s just the latest such effort by Beijing in the decades-long tensions between China and Hong Kong and it seems to take advantage of the quarantine calm that has subdued months of protests. But when did these tensions begin and what have Hong Kongers been fighting for?

This American Life
This American Life is a weekly public radio program and podcast. Each week we choose a theme and put together different kinds of stories on that theme.

Selected episodes:

  • Umbrellas Down
    July 10, 2020
    As China’s new national security law tightens its control over Hong Kong, we return to our episode about last fall’s anti-government protests and check in to see how people are responding. 
  • Umbrellas Up
    October 18, 2019
    For over 100 days now, protestors in Hong Kong have taken to the streets every weekend. What it’s like to live through that.
Center for East European & Russian/Eurasian Studies Resources

PODCASTS

Lost in America
Why does the President of Belarus always imprison his political opponents? What does the UAE-Israel Deal mean for the Arab World?
Comedians Turner Sparks and Michael Ira Kaplan turn comics stationed around the globe into embedded reporters so you can know what’s really going on.

Selected episodes:

  • Piotrek Szumowski: Far-Right Politics Rules Poland
    October 27
    With the passing of anti-abortion laws a few days ago and the expansion of LGBT Free Zones covering an estimated 1/3rd of the country, it is clear that Poland’s society is moving further to the right than they have in a long time. How did we get here? What does it all mean? Where does it go from here? Polish comedian Piotrek (Peter) Szumowski is here to answer as many of Turner Sparks and Michael Ira Kaplan’s questions as possible.
  • Narek Margaryan: Armenia-Azerbajian At War
    October 12 2020
    Armenian Comedian Narek Margaryan joins Turner and Kap from his home in Yerevan to answer every question they have about the current Armenia – Azerbaijan conflict. When did it start? Why are Russia and Turkey involved? Did Putin really negotiate a peace treaty? Did the peace treaty last more than 5 minutes (No)? What’s the best solution? And as always, why haven’t we heard more about this?
  • Oleg Denisov: Putin Critic Poisoned in Russia
    September 28 2020
    Russian comedian Oleg Denisov joins Turner and Kap to explain who politician Alexi Navalny is, how he has gained support over time amongst Russians and why Putin (allegedly) poisoned him. Oh, and we also find out what Russians think of Donald J. Trump.
  • Pedja Bajovic: Does Serbia-Kosovo “Peace Deal” Matter?
    September 22, 2020
    Balkan Comedian Pedja Bajovic joins the guys to try to figure out if this supposed peace deal that the Trump administration brokered between Serbia and Kosovo actually did anything.

Conversations with Tyler
Tyler Cowen engages today’s deepest thinkers in wide-ranging explorations of their work, the world, and everything in between.

Selected episodes:

  • Masha Gessen on the Ins and Outs of Russia (Ep. 73)
    August 14, 2019
    What sort of country would compel you to flee it, draw you back ten years later, then force you away yet again after two decades? Masha Gessen knows the answer all too well, having dedicated her career to writing and reporting about Russian society from both within and outside her native country. A true polymath, Gessen’s wide-ranging books and articles cover mathematics, history, human rights, counterterrorism, and much more. Masha joined Tyler in New York City to answer his many questions about Russia: why was Soviet mathematics so good? What was it like meeting with Putin? Why is Russian friendship so intense? Are Russian women as strong as the stereotype suggests — and why do they all have the same few names? Is Russia more hostile to LGBT rights than other autocracies? Why did Garry Kasparov fail to make a dent in Russian politics? What did The Americans get right that Chernobyl missed? And what’s a good place to eat Russian food in Manhattan?

SRB Podcast
Sean Guillory earned his PhD from UCLA in 2009 in Modern Russian History. He is the Digital Scholarship Curator in the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the host of this weekly podcast on Eurasian politics, culture and history. The show features interviews with academics, journalists, policy makers, and pundits on Eurasia’s past and present geared toward the general public interest.

Selected episodes:


Geopolitics on the Move
Geopolitics on the Move is a podcast series hosted by Sean Guillory (SRB Podcast) and Fyodor Lukyanov (Russia in Global Affairs) that discusses the crucial geopolitical issues that currently define world politics with some of the best Russian, European, and American thinkers. Geopolitics on the Move is produced by Russia in Global Affairs, the Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and the Center for Russian, Eastern European, & Eurasian Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. The Carnegie Corporation of New York provided funding.
A short podcast series. Each episode is approximately 1 hour. All the episodes might be of interest, but the most relevant is:

  • Wither Liberal Democracy?
    September 17, 2020
    At the end of the 20th century, liberal democracy appeared to triumph. History as a story of political evolution was over. But today, many point to a crisis of liberal democracy and fret over whether liberal democratic has enough dynamism to shine again. Why has such a promising beginning turned into such a whimpering finale? Is liberal democracy really at an end? We asked Ivan Krastev, a leading researcher at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, for his thoughts.

On Point
On Point is broadcast every weekday on NPR stations around the country. Produced by WBUR in Boston, On Point’s vibrant conversation covers everything from breaking news to ancient poetry, and features writers, politicians, journalists, artists, scientists and ordinary citizens from around the world.
The show is broadcast live on air from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. EST Monday through Friday, and airs again throughout the day and evening on more than 290 NPR stations coast to coast. The show is also available digitally through WBUR’s website, apps and its online archive, in addition to its regular podcast.

Selected episodes:


Mesto47
мesto47 is a collection of such stories along the Transsiberian railway. No filter, told in first person.  What you would make out of them: discover the mysterious Russian soul, reconfirm your stereotypes, or maybe find yourself, it is up to you.


PBS Frontline: Putin’s Revenge
The inside story of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s conflict with the United States.
Part 1: Video  Audio
Part 2: Video  Audio
Companion resources and interviews

Center for Middle Eastern Studies Resources

PODCASTS

Radiolab Presents: The Other Latif
2020
Radiolab’s Latif Nasser always believed his name was unique, singular, completely his own. Until one day when he makes a bizarre and shocking discovery. He shares his name with another man: Abdul Latif Nasser, detainee 244 at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. government paints a terrifying picture of The Other Latif as Al-Qaeda’s top explosives expert, and one of the most important advisors to Osama bin Laden. Nasser’s lawyer claims that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that he was never even in Al-Qaeda. This clash leads Radiolab’s Latif into a years-long investigation, picking apart evidence, attempting to separate fact from fiction, and trying to uncover what this man actually did or didn’t do. Along the way, Radiolab’s Latif reflects on American values and his own religious past, and wonders how his namesake, a fellow nerdy, suburban Muslim kid, may have gone down such a strikingly different path.


Kerning Cultures
Kerning Cultures highlights human-centered stories from across the Middle East and North Africa.

Selected episodes:


The afikra Podcast
The afikra Podcast features conversations and community presentations about the history and culture of the Arab world. afikra is a global educational and content platform aimed at promoting intellectual curiosity and understanding about the history & culture of the Arab world.

Selected episodes:

  • Who Were the Moors?
    September 25, 2020
    The term Moor can refer to several groups of ‎people from North Africa. In this presentation, Mahdi Blaine examines  the origins of the term along with developing a narrative for its usage in Europe ‎throughout history.

15 Minute History
15 Minute History is a history podcast designed for historians, enthusiasts, and newbies alike. This is a joint project of Hemispheres, the international outreach consortium at the University of Texas at Austin, and Not Even Past, a website with articles on a wide variety of historical issues, produced by the History Department at the University of Texas at Austin. This podcast series is devoted to short, accessible discussions of important topics in world history, United States history, and Texas history.


Ventures: The CMES Podcast
“Ventures” is a podcast from the University of Chicago Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES). Taking a cue from Marshall Hodgson, the former University of Chicago Professor and author of the renowned Venture of Islam series, this podcast dives into the expansive geographical and historical terrain covered by Middle Easterners. “Ventures” features interviews with leading lights in the field of Middle Eastern & Islamic studies as well as artists, musicians, and journalists.

Selected episodes:


Ottoman History Podcast
Ottoman History Podcast is dedicated to offering a multivocal and inclusive discussion of history in the Ottoman Empire and elsewhere that showcases numerous perspectives on the past. As one of the largest digital resources for academic discussion concerning the Ottoman Empire, the podcast features interviews with a wide variety of scholars.

Selected episodes:

  • Zeinab’s Odyssey: Gender, Mobility, and the Mahjar
    September 28, 2020
    Zeinab Ameen was born in late Ottoman Lebanon. Like hundreds of thousands of other people of her generation in the Ottoman Empire, she and her family decided to emigrate to America during the early 20th century. The result was a tale of tribulation that spans more than three decades. 
  • Plague in the Ottoman World
    March 19, 2020
    The plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, which lives in fleas that in turn live on rodents. Coronavirus is not the plague. Nonetheless, we can find many parallels between the current pandemic and the experience of plague for people who lived centuries ago. This special episode of Ottoman History Podcast offers state of the art perspectives on the history of plague in the Ottoman Empire, and many of their observations may also be useful for thinking about epidemics in the present day.

MUSIC

 Emel Mathlouthi
Emel Mathlouthi is a Tunisian vocalist and heavy metal artist whose music criticizing the government of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali launched her to international fame during Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” of 2011. Mathlouthi performed her signature song, “Kelmti Horra (My Word is Free)” at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony. 

Omar Offendum
Omar Offendum is a Syrian-American rapper and spoken word artist that fluidly switches between English and Arabic in his music while addressing issues of Arab-American identity, politics, and culture.

Ramy Essam
Ramy Essam is an Egyptian rock musician whose performances in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution earned him the title “the voice of Egypt’s revolution.” Essam, who now lives in exile, continues to promote human rights through his music. Below are selected songs from his performances in Tahrir Square (with English translations provided when available). His performances can also be viewed in the documentary film, “The Square.