Archives for November 2018

What Cultural Norms Around Rule Breaking and Rule Following Can Teach Us About International Relations

Michelle Gelfand is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland and author of the new book Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire our World. The book, which is written for a popular audience, is based on a scientific study conducted by Gelfand in 33 countries in which she examines cultural norms around rule following.

As she explains, certain countries have a higher tolerance for norm and rules breaking than others–and these differences can have important consequences for international relations.

Dr. Gelfand’s study is a groundbreaking way to look at key cultural differences between countries. In this conversation we discuss what accounts for cultural proclivities for following rules, and what accounts for certain cultures to be more tolerant of deviance.

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What You Need To Know About Slums Around the World

My guest today, Diana Mitlin, is a professor of global urbanism at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester.

Much of her work focuses on issues surrounding informal urban settlements, commonly known as slums. In this episode we discuss why slums present such a profound challenge for global development–and how getting policies around slums right can lead to big progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

We kick off this discuss talking more broadly about the scope of the challenges surrounding the nearly 1 billion people around the world who live in what might be considered a slum. We then discuss what policies work to uplift people who live in these informal urban settlements and how successful policy is being implemented by some cities and local governments around the world.

Download this episode to listen later. You can subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify

This episode is part of a content partnership between the podcast and the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. For the next several months we will be featuring from, time to time, experts from the Global Development Institute who will discuss their research and also the pressing news of the day as it relates to global inequalities and development. If you’d like to learn more about the Global Development Institute you can go to GDI.Manchester.ac.uk or click on the add on globaldispatchespodcast.com

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In Donald Trump V. International Law, Who is Winning?

Harold Hongju Koh is one of the America’s leading scholars of international law. He is the Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, where he formerly served as the dean. He’s also served as the Legal Advisor in the State Department and was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Professor Koh is the author of the new book that examines the Trump administration’s relationship with international law. His book, called “The Trump Administration and International Law” surveys issues in which the Trump administration has clashed with international law, including immigration and refugees, human rights, and climate change. Professor Koh concludes that forces of international law are far more resilient than we might expect, and in fact, Trump’s power has been constrained by international law.

Professor Koh explains the process through which international law has so far been able to blunt some of Trump’s more aggressive impulses.

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South Sudan’s High Risk, High Reward Peace Process

On October 31, South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar entered the capitol city of Juba for the first time in two years to attend a peace ceremony. This was a significant moment in South Sudan’s civil war, which is among the deadliest and most destructive in the world.

The ceremony in Juba was intended as a confidence building measure toward the implementation of the peace deal to end this conflict.  Earlier this summer, Machar and South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir signed that peace deal, formally ending a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced over a million more. But the extent to which this deal will succeed where others have failed is still very much uncertain.

On the line with me to discuss the peace deal is Alan Boswell. He is a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group who has been following events in South Sudan for years. We discuss the roots of the conflict, what lead to this peace agreement, and what can make this new peace agreement take hold.

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Thousands of Refugees Are Languishing in Libyan Detention Centers

In mid September, I was sitting next to the journalist Sally Hayden while attending a press briefing near the United Nations when phone started buzzing with WhatsApp messages.  Refugees and migrants stranded in a prison in Libya had gotten her number and were sending her messages describing awful details of their confinement.

These refugees were stranded in prison because of a deal worked out between the Libyan Coast Guard and Italian government. Thousands of refugees and migrants, mostly from Eastern and Sub-saharan Africa, are languishing indefinitely in confinement in Libya after having been captured by Libyan coast guard units as they tried to make their way to Italy. This has resulted in an ongoing human rights catastrophe as prisoners are left alone in jail cells, often without food or water.

As Sally Hayden explains, this has resulted in an unbelievably awful human rights calamity that is not getting the attention it deserves.  In this episode, Sally Hayden explains this unfolding crisis.

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These are the Foreign Policy Implications of the US Midterm Elections

So what does a divided United States government mean for foreign policy and global affairs? On the line with me to talk through some of the international implications of the US Midterm elections is Heather Hurlburt. She is the director of the New Models of Policy Change project at the New America Foundation and is a longtime player and analyst of US foreign policy.

And in this conversation, which was recorded a day after the midterms, we talk though some of the fallout from the elections as it pertains to foreign policy. We discuss the some of the new personalities that will lead key committees of the US Congress, like the new chairs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. We also discuss how some newly elected members of the House of Representatives may put their stamp on US foreign policy.

If you have 20 minutes and want to understand some of the foreign policy implications of the US midterm election results, have a listen.

The UN’s Top Humanitarian Official Discusses the Crisis in Yemen and the Challenge of Funding Crisis Responses

Under Secretary General Mark Lowcock UN Photo/Elma Okic

Mark Lowcock is the top humanitarian official at the United Nations, serving as the Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator.

When a manmade or natural disaster strikes, his UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which is known by its acronym OCHA, is the focal point for managing and coordinating the international humanitarian response, including getting food, shelter, medicines and other life saving needs to people affected by the crisis.

As Mark Lowcock explains, the UN and the constellation of NGOs that coordinate their actions through his office are very good at responding to crises. Keeping people alive who have been displaced or affected by manmade or natural disaster is something the UN excels at. The challenge is that there are a multitude of crises competing for a finite amount of resources and much of our conversation focuses on the challenge of funding these humanitarian operations, including some interesting new funding models that are emerging.

We kick off, though, discussing the situation in Yemen. We recorded this conversation on November 1st. The week prior Mark Lowcock briefed the Security Council on the deteriorating situation in Yemen and issued an extremely dire warning about a famine that looms over the country. Lowcock explains what compelled him to issue this warning about famine and we also discuss recent moves by the United States government to call for a ceasefire in Yemen.

READ: Lowcock’s speech at the School of Advanced International Studies

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After Decades of Crisis, the “Macedonia” Name Dispute is Close to Being Resolved

For 27 years, the question of what to formally call the country informally known as “Macedonia” has been a diplomatic thorn in the side of Europe and the Balkans.  The UN backed negotiations between Macedonia and Greece since the 1990s, but to little avail. Then, this summer there was a major breakthrough.

At issue is a dispute between Greece and Macedonia over historic and cultural claims to a region once ruled by Alexander the Great.

Macedonia became independent upon the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Immediately, though, the question of what to call this new country became a diplomatic and political crisis. Macedonia borders Greece, and the region of Greece that borders Macedonia is called…”Macedonia.” So, for decades Greece has systematically blocked Macedonia from calling itself “Macedonia.” In fact, at the United Nations, of which Macedonia is a member state, it is known as FYROM, which stands for “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.”

This name dispute has had some real and profound international implications, including preventing Macedonia from joining the European Union and NATO.

On the line to discuss the name dispute and the recent diplomatic breakthrough is Damon Wilson, who is the executive vice president of the Atlantic Council. He also served for a time at the White House and at NATO where he helped oversee negotiations between Macedonia and its neighbors. As he explains the inability of Greece and Macedonia to resolve the name dispute has left Macedonia unable to join the EU and NATO, as many of its neighbors have.

But now, negotiations over the summer between the Prime Ministers of Greece and Macedonia lead to a big breakthrough. The issue now is with the Parliaments of both countries, where ratification of this agreement is in a precarious state.

If you have 20 minutes and you want to understand the origins of a dispute between Macedonia and Greece that has beguiled international diplomats for nearly 30 years, have a listen.

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