Thanks to demand from big emerging economies, most South American governments have become increasingly “resource nationalistic” and have ramped up social spending to meet the needs of the poor and the indigenous, causing poverty levels to drop – at the same time as poverty has been on the increase in the United States. Will the U.S. continue losing influence in Latin America? Will China soon dominate the area both commercially and strategically? Can the U.S. do business with countries from Mexico to Argentina without interfering in their internal affairs? Journalist Hal Weitzman provides an in-depth analysis of these questions in Latin Lessons: How South America Stopped Listening to the United States and Started Prospering.

Thanks to demand from big emerging economies, most South American governments have become increasingly “resource nationalistic” and have ramped up social spending to meet the needs of the poor and the indigenous, causing poverty levels to drop – at the same time as poverty has been on the increase in the United States. Will the U.S. continue losing influence in Latin America? Will China soon dominate the area both commercially and strategically? Can the U.S. do business with countries from Mexico to Argentina without interfering in their internal affairs? Journalist Hal Weitzman provides an in-depth analysis of these questions in Latin Lessons: How South America Stopped Listening to the United States and Started Prospering.

“Latin Lessons: How South America Stopped Listening to the U.S. and Started Prospering”

A talk by David Scheffer, Director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University. As senior adviser to Madeleine Albright and then as President Clinton’s ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, David Scheffer was at the forefront of the efforts that led to criminal tribunals for the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia, and that resulted in the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court. All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals is Scheffer’s gripping insider’s account of the international gamble to prosecute those responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and to redress some of the bloodiest human rights atrocities in our time.Introduction by Susan Gzesh, Executive Director of the University of Chicago Human Rights Program and Senior Lecturer in the College.

A talk by David Scheffer, Director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University. As senior adviser to Madeleine Albright and then as President Clinton’s ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, David Scheffer was at the forefront of the efforts that led to criminal tribunals for the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia, and that resulted in the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court. All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals is Scheffer’s gripping insider’s account of the international gamble to prosecute those responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and to redress some of the bloodiest human rights atrocities in our time. Introduction by Susan Gzesh, Executive Director of the University of Chicago Human Rights Program and Senior Lecturer in the College.

“All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals”

For the last decade, Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Revolution” has captured international attention. Poverty, inequality, and unemployment have all dropped, while health, education, and living standards have seen a commensurate rise. Venezuela Speaks! is the real, bottom-up account of the country's bloodless uprising and reorganization.Co-editor Carlos Martinez will explain how the stories in Venezuela Speaks! offer a different perspective than that of the international mainstream media, which has focused predominantly on Venezuela’s controversial president, Hugo Chavez.

For the last decade, Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Revolution” has captured international attention. Poverty, inequality, and unemployment have all dropped, while health, education, and living standards have seen a commensurate rise. Venezuela Speaks! is the real, bottom-up account of the country's bloodless uprising and reorganization. Co-editor Carlos Martinez will explain how the stories in Venezuela Speaks! offer a different perspective than that of the international mainstream media, which has focused predominantly on Venezuela’s controversial president, Hugo Chavez.

"Venezuela Speaks!" 

In this talk, Robert Pape presents findings from the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism demonstrating that, contrary to popular belief, religion alone motivates only a tiny minority of suicide attacks. Instead, the root cause is foreign military occupation, which triggers secular and religious people to carry out suicide attacks. From The World Beyond the Headlines series.

"Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It"

A speech by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO. In his first visit to Chicago as Secretary General, Anders Rasmussen discusses Afghanistan, the lessons learned after eight years, and implications for future operations.

“Afghanistan and the Future of Peace Operations”

A multi-disciplinary panel, held at the Shedd Aquarium, provided a public examination and discussion of the threat of Asian carp to Chicago and the Great Lakes. Experts in biology, economics and policy shared the most up to date information about how these species threaten the ecology of the Great Lakes, how closing Chicago waterways would affect the regional economy, and the broader implications for the Great Lakes region and environmental management. Cosponsored by the Program on the Global Environment and the Chicago Council on Science and Technology.

“Asian Carp Invasion: Potential Economic and Ecological Impacts in the Great Lakes”

A talk by political scientist Gilles Dorronsoro, visiting scholar in the Carnegie Endowment's South Asia Program. His research focuses on security and political development in Afghanistan, particularly the role of the International Security Assistance Force, the steps required to achieve a viable government in Kabul, and the conditions necessary for withdrawal scenarios. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series. Cosponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the South Asian Language &amp; Area Center, and the Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies.

“The Consequences of the Escalation of War in Afghanistan”

A talk by journalist and author Roger Thurow. For more than thirty years, humankind has known how to grow enough food to end chronic hunger worldwide. Yet while the "Green Revolution" succeeded in South America and Asia, it never got to Africa. Now, an impending global food crisis threatens to make things worse. In the west we think of famine as a natural disaster, brought about by drought; or as the legacy of brutal dictators. But in this powerful investigative narrative, Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman argue that in the past few decades, American, British, and European policies conspired to keep Africa hungry and unable to feed itself. As a new generation of activists work to keep famine from spreading, Enough sheds light on a humanitarian issue of utmost urgency. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series. Cosponsored by the Program on the Global Environment.

“Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty”

A talk by Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz. The current global financial crisis carries a "made in America" label. In "Freefall", Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz explains how America exported bad economics, bad policies, and bad behavior to the rest of the world, only to cobble together a haphazard and ineffective response when the markets finally seized up. Drawing on his academic expertise, his years spent shaping policy in the Clinton administration and at the World Bank, and his more recent role as head of a UN Commission charged with reforming the global financial system, Stiglitz then outlines a way forward building on ideas that he has championed his entire career: restoring the balance between markets and government; addressing the inequalities of the global financial system; and demanding more good ideas (and less ideology) from economists. "Freefall" combines an account of the current crisis with a discussion of the broader economic issues at stake. From the World Beyond the Headlines series.

“Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy”

A talk by American University professor Deborah Brautigam. Is China a rogue donor, as some media pundits suggest? Or is China helping the developing world pave a pathway out of poverty, as the Chinese claim? This well-timed book provides the first comprehensive account of China's aid and economic cooperation overseas. Deborah Brautigam tackles the myths and realities, explaining what the Chinese are doing, how they do it, how much aid they give, and how it all fits into their "going global" strategy. Will Chinese engagement benefit Africa? Using hard data and a series of vivid stories ranging across agriculture, industry, natural resources, and governance, Brautigam's fascinating book provides an answer. Cosponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

“The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa”

The World Beyond the Headlines series is a collaborative project of the Center for International Studies, the International House Global Voices Program, and the Seminary Co-op Bookstores and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Its aim is to bring scholars and journalists together to consider major international issues and how they are covered in the media.

The World Beyond the Headlines from the University of Chicago

A talk by Steve LeVine.Russia is once again front and center in the wake it's invasion of Georgia and effective re-assertion of dominance in the Caucasus region. What levers can the U.S. and Europe assert against Putin's aggression? What is Russia's political calculus and how can we change the inputs into their equation? Are there key insights into the Chechen wars and Putin's post-presidency plans that can help us visualize the future? BusinessWeek foreign affairs correspondent and author Steve LeVine discusses Russia's objectives, advantages and vulnerabilities in Georgia and the Caucasus region in the wake of the recent clash in Georgia.From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

A talk by Steve LeVine. Russia is once again front and center in the wake it's invasion of Georgia and effective re-assertion of dominance in the Caucasus region. What levers can the U.S. and Europe assert against Putin's aggression? What is Russia's political calculus and how can we change the inputs into their equation? Are there key insights into the Chechen wars and Putin's post-presidency plans that can help us visualize the future? BusinessWeek foreign affairs correspondent and author Steve LeVine discusses Russia's objectives, advantages and vulnerabilities in Georgia and the Caucasus region in the wake of the recent clash in Georgia. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"Putin's Labyrinth: What Russia Won in Georgia; Why the U.S. Will Continue to Lose"

"Superclass" provides the first in-depth examination of the connections between the global communities of leaders who are at the helm of every major enterprise on the planet and control its greatest wealth. It is an unprecedented examination of the trends within the superclass, which are likely to alter our politics, our institutions, and the shape of the world in which we live. Rothkopf is also the widely acclaimed author of "Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power". He is currently a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a teacher of international affairs at Columbia University's Graduate School of International and Public Affairs. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making"

"Our government can make you disappear." Those were the words Steven Wax never imagined he would hear himself say. In his twenty-nine years as a public defender, Wax had never had to warn a client that he or she might be taken away to a military brig, or worse, a "black site", one of our country's dreaded secret prisons. How had our country come to this? The disappearance of people happens in places ruled by tyrants, military juntas, fascist strongmen?governments with such contempt for the rule of law that they strip their citizens of all rights. But in America? "Kafka Comes to America" reveals where and how our civil liberties have been eroded in favor of a false security, and how each of us can make a difference. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror"

In his book "Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War", Jimmie Briggs book provides a vitally important perspective on the global tragedy of child soldiers. More than 250,000 children have fought in three dozen conflicts around the world. From the "little bees"" of Colombia to the "baby brigades" of Sri Lanka, the subject of child soldiers is changing the face of terrorism. Briggs was awarded the John Bartlow Martin Award from Northwestern University for a story about the Gulf War's impact on children, which became a finalist for a National Magazine Award. Briggs is a New York-based writer, teacher, and freelance journalist. He has written for the Washington Post, The Village Voice, El Pais, Emerge, Vibe, LIFE, and The New York Times Magazine. He served as an advisor to the movie "Blood Diamond", and is currently completing a book on rape as a weapon of war. Briggs is the first African American to be appointed as Goodwill Ambassador and Special Envoy for Children and Armed Conflict by WAFUNIF at the UN. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War"

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

A talk by Jonathan Mahler and Neal Katyal.In his latest book, The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power, Jonathan Mahler chronicles the challenge to the assertion of presidential power in the designation of enemy combatants. Written with the cooperation of the attorneys who represented Hamdan, Lt. Commander Charles Swift and Georgetown constitutional law scholar Neal Katyal, Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld is the inside story of the historic Supreme Court case and its effect on executive authority and the rule of law. Mahler and Katyal appear together to discuss the book, the case, and the future of presidential power.From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

A talk by Jonathan Mahler and Neal Katyal. In his latest book, The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power, Jonathan Mahler chronicles the challenge to the assertion of presidential power in the designation of enemy combatants. Written with the cooperation of the attorneys who represented Hamdan, Lt. Commander Charles Swift and Georgetown constitutional law scholar Neal Katyal, Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld is the inside story of the historic Supreme Court case and its effect on executive authority and the rule of law. Mahler and Katyal appear together to discuss the book, the case, and the future of presidential power. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power"

A talk by author and Earth Policy Institute founder Lester Brown. As fossil fuel prices rise, oil insecurity deepens, and concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging. Wind, solar, and geothermal energy are replacing oil, coal, and natural gas, at a pace and on a scale we could not have imagined even a year ago. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, we have begun investing in energy sources that can last forever. Plan B 4.0 explores both the nature of this transition to a new energy economy and how it will affect our daily lives. Cosponsored by the Program on the Global Environment. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

"Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization"

A talk by professor and author David Bosco. From the Berlin Airlift to the Iraq War, the UN Security Council has stood at the heart of global politics. Part public theater, part smoke-filled backroom, the Council has enjoyed notable successes and suffered ignominious failures, but it has always provided a space for the five great powers to sit down together. Five to Rule Them All tells the inside story of this remarkable diplomatic creation. Drawing on extensive research, including dozens of interviews with serving and former ambassadors on the Council, the book chronicles political battles and personality clashes as it opens the closed doors of its meeting room. What emerges here is a revealing portrait of the most powerful diplomatic body in the world. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

"The U.N. Security Council and the Making of the Modern World"

Thabo Mbeki

A talk by South African author and journalist Mark Gevisser.Mark Gevisser is currently The Nation's Southern African correspondent. In South Africa, his work has appeared in the Mail &amp; Guardian, the Sunday Independent, the Sunday Times and many magazines and periodicals. Internationally, he has written widely on South African politics, culture and society, in publications ranging from Vogue and the New York Times to Foreign Affairs and Art in America.Read Mark Gevisser's featured CIS article connecting Barack Obama's election and the legacy of liberation in South Africa...From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series. Cosponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), the Political Science Department, the African Studies Workshop, and the Human Rights Program.

A talk by South African author and journalist Mark Gevisser. Mark Gevisser is currently The Nation's Southern African correspondent. In South Africa, his work has appeared in the Mail &amp; Guardian, the Sunday Independent, the Sunday Times and many magazines and periodicals. Internationally, he has written widely on South African politics, culture and society, in publications ranging from Vogue and the New York Times to Foreign Affairs and Art in America. Read Mark Gevisser's featured CIS article connecting Barack Obama's election and the legacy of liberation in South Africa... From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series. Cosponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), the Political Science Department, the African Studies Workshop, and the Human Rights Program.

“The Future of the South African Dream: Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, and the South African Elections”

A talk by Rashid Khalidi.Rashid Khalidi is Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, and is among the foremost U.S. historians of the modern Middle East. He is the author of numerous books on the region--several written during his many years on the faculty at the University of Chicago--including Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness; Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East; and The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood.From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

A talk by Rashid Khalidi. Rashid Khalidi is Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, and is among the foremost U.S. historians of the modern Middle East. He is the author of numerous books on the region--several written during his many years on the faculty at the University of Chicago--including Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness; Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East; and The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East"

A talk by authors Jim Shultz &amp; Melissa Crane Draper. (Moderated by Jerome McDonnell, host of Chicago Public Radio's Worldview.)Author Jim Shultz is founder and Executive Director of the San Francisco based Democracy Center and has lived and worked in Bolivia for much of the past decade, chronicling grassroots movements to control exploitation of Bolivia's natural resources, from water resources to oil and natural gas. With Melissa Crane Draper and other Democracy Center affiliates, Shultz places Bolivians' struggles in a broader context of Latin America's experiences with forces of globalization.From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

A talk by authors Jim Shultz &amp; Melissa Crane Draper. (Moderated by Jerome McDonnell, host of Chicago Public Radio's Worldview.) Author Jim Shultz is founder and Executive Director of the San Francisco based Democracy Center and has lived and worked in Bolivia for much of the past decade, chronicling grassroots movements to control exploitation of Bolivia's natural resources, from water resources to oil and natural gas. With Melissa Crane Draper and other Democracy Center affiliates, Shultz places Bolivians' struggles in a broader context of Latin America's experiences with forces of globalization. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"Dignity and Defiance, Stories from Bolivia's Challenge to Globalization"

A talk by Antonia Juhasz, author, policy expert, and activist. Antonia Juhasz is an associate fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies, a fellow with Oil Change International, and a senior analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus. The author of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time (2006), Juhasz has also written extensively on various aspects of globalization. Her articles and commentary on politics and policy have appeared in New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Petroleum Review Magazine, In These Times, and Washington Post, among other sources. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry, and What We Must Do to Stop It"

Writer, film-maker, and leading figure of the international left Tariq Ali speaks about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the future of U.S. involvement in the region. Ali's new book, "The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power", weighs the prospects of those contending for power in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, and demonstrates Pakistan's unique influence on the emergence of a secure world or global conflagration.

"The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power"

A talk by Arvind Panagariya.Arvind Panagariya discusses his new book, "India: The Emerging Giant", a history of the economic development of India since independence and the "definitive book on the Indian economy" according to Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria. Panagariya is Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy, International and Public Affairs, and Economics at Columbia University. He is also a former chief economist at the Asian Development Bank and an adviser to several multilateral financial institutions including the IMF and the WTO. The author or editor of several books and numerous scholarly articles, Panagariya also writes a monthly column in the Economic Times, India's top financial daily, and contributes to multiple media outlets including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, India Today, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and CNN (Asia).From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

A talk by Arvind Panagariya. Arvind Panagariya discusses his new book, "India: The Emerging Giant", a history of the economic development of India since independence and the "definitive book on the Indian economy" according to Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria. Panagariya is Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy, International and Public Affairs, and Economics at Columbia University. He is also a former chief economist at the Asian Development Bank and an adviser to several multilateral financial institutions including the IMF and the WTO. The author or editor of several books and numerous scholarly articles, Panagariya also writes a monthly column in the Economic Times, India's top financial daily, and contributes to multiple media outlets including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, India Today, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and CNN (Asia). From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"India: The Emerging Giant"

A talk by Marda Dunsky, former Arab affairs reporter for the Jerusalem Post and editor on the national/foreign desk of the Chicago Tribune. As world attention is renewed and refocused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the sixtieth anniversary of its seminal year of 1948, Marda Dunsky takes a close look at how more than two dozen major American print and broadcast outlets have reported the conflict in recent years. Marda Dunsky has developed and taught a unique media literacy course on American mainstream reporting of the Arab and Muslim worlds at Northwestern University and DePaul University. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"Pens and Swords: How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict"

A talk by Parag Khanna, Director of the Global Governance Initiative of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. In "The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order", Parag Khanna examines the intersection of geopolitics and globalization to argue that America's dominant moment has been suddenly replaced by a geopolitical marketplace wherein the European Union and China compete with the United States to shape world order on their own terms.  Mr. Khanna has worked previously at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, where he specialized in scenario and risk planning, and at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he conducted research on terrorism and conflict resolution. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

"The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order"

This panel explores how the impending closing of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will affect justice and accountability in the Balkans including: the integration of international human rights standards on a national level, the challenges and opportunities confronting the domestic courts and the role of the media/civil society.Distinguished panelists included: M. Cherif Bassiouni, Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law and President Emeritus of the International Human Rights Law Institute; Gordana Igric, Regional Network Director of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN); Judge Shireen Avis Fisher, International Judge to the War Crimes Chamber of Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina.From the World Beyond the Headlines series. Co-Sponsored by the Center for Eastern European and Russian/Eurasian Studies and the Human Rights Program in partnership with Amnesty International USA Program for International Justice and Accountability.

This panel explores how the impending closing of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will affect justice and accountability in the Balkans including: the integration of international human rights standards on a national level, the challenges and opportunities confronting the domestic courts and the role of the media/civil society. Distinguished panelists included: M. Cherif Bassiouni, Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law and President Emeritus of the International Human Rights Law Institute; Gordana Igric, Regional Network Director of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN); Judge Shireen Avis Fisher, International Judge to the War Crimes Chamber of Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina. From the World Beyond the Headlines series. Co-Sponsored by the Center for Eastern European and Russian/Eurasian Studies and the Human Rights Program in partnership with Amnesty International USA Program for International Justice and Accountability.

"The Closing of the ICTY and its Effect on Justice and Accountability in the Former Yugoslavia"

A talk by Ayesha Siddiqa, Islamabad-based independent political and defence analyst and author. Pakistan has emerged as a strategic ally of the US in the 'war on terror'. It is the third largest receiver of US aid in the world, but it also serves as a breeding ground for fundamentalist groups. How long can the relationship between the US and Pakistan continue? This book shows how Pakistan is an unusual ally for the US in that it is a military state, controlled by its army. The Pakistan military not only defines policy - it is entrenched in the corporate sector and controls the country's largest companies. So Pakistan's economic base, its companies and its main assets, are in the hands of a tiny minority of senior army officials. This merging of the military and corporate sectors has powerful consequences. Ayesha Siddiqa's book, "Military Inc." analyses the internal and external dynamics of this gradual power-building and its larger impact that it is having on Pakistan's relationship with the United States and the wider world. From the World Beyond the Headlines Series. Co-Sponsored by the South Asia Language and Area Center and the Committee on Southern Asian Studies.

"Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy"

The best podcast episodes on non-current politics. Covering topics such as universal basic income, democracy, poverty & justice and more. For anyone interested in learning more about politics that affect that world, not just now, but in the longer term. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best Non-Current Politics Podcasts

The best podcast episodes of anyone with an interesting story. With famous guests like Obama, LeBron James, Drake, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Michelle Obama, Serena Williams, to anyone who has a unique and interesting story to tell. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!