Archives for July 2020

Mali is in the Midst of its Worst Political Crisis in Years

Photo : MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko

Mali is in the midst of its worst political crisis in years. Since June, protesters have gathered in the streets of the capital city of Bamako demanding the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. On top of this, a conflict in the northern part of the country, to which the UN has deployed a large peacekeeping mission, is continuing to drive instability throughout the country. 

My guest, Dr. Amadou Bocoum, is the Mali Director for the NGO Search for Common Ground and I caught up with him from Bamako, the capital city which is in the South. 

In our conversation, Amadou Bocoum describes how these protests were sparked by a court decision to annul the results of parliamentary elections. But as he explains, the discontent that is driving these protests runs much deeper. 

This is a useful conversation about a crisis that is very much unfolding at the present time — and is one that is of profound regional and international significance. 

Get the podcast to listen later

Apple Podcasts  | Google Podcasts |  Spotify  |  Stitcher  | Radio Public

Today’s episode is supported in part from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to showcase African voices in peace and security issues.

Why Aid Agencies Should Be More Transparent

Publish What You Fund is a global campaign for aid and development transparency. The group’s goal is to ensure that every donor is open and transparent about what they are funding. In our conversation, Gary Forster explains why transparency in aid is so important and identifies some of entities that rank highest and lowest on the aid transparency index.  The data compiled by Publish What You Fund also offers a very good birds-eye view of aid and development spending, so we also discuss some of the broad trends that he has seen in recent years among donors. This includes the impact of COVID-19 on foreign aid and development assistance.

Get the podcast to listen later

Apple Podcasts  | Google Podcasts |  Spotify  |  Stitcher  | Radio Public

The Impact of COVID-19 and Slumping Oil Prices on the Geopolitics of the Middle East

Credit: wongaboo flickr cc license

As the Coronavirus Pandemic tore through the world this spring, it resulted in sharply lower demand for oil, driving down prices. Added to this, Russia and Saudi Arabia got into an oil price war that brought the price of oil to near historic low levels.

Needless to say, the low price of oil has deeply impacted countries in the region who rely on oil wealth. This includes not only oil-rich gulf countries, but also governments and other groups that rely on aid derived from oil largesse.

My guest today, Mohammed Soliman is a Non-Resident Scholar with the Middle East Institute and a member of the McLarty Associates MENA Practice. We kick off discussing how wealthy Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar used their oil wealth in the wake of the Arab Spring to shore up domestic stability and pursue their regional foreign policy goals. We then have an extended conversation about the ways in which COVID-19 and slumping oil prices are shaking up the foundations of the geopolitics of the Middle East.

This episode was recorded as a live taping of the podcast, produced in partnership with Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, YPFP.

Get the podcast to listen later

Apple Podcasts  | Google Podcasts |  Spotify  |  Stitcher  | Radio Public

Why Does Chile Have Such Bad Air Pollution?

Chile has some of the worst air pollution in the Western Hemisphere. It is partly a matter of geography  — many cities are in valleys that trap pollution. But it is also the consequence of how many Chileans heat their homes. Wood burning home heat stoves are very common in much of Chile, and these stoves burn dirty and emit harmful pollution.  

My guest today, Carlos Chavez, is a professor of economics at the School of Business and Economics at Universidad de Talca in Central Chile. His research has focused on the use of wood-burning heating stoves in Chile and government policies that could reduce the prevalence of wood-burning stoves and improve air quality.   In our conversation, we discuss why so many people in Chile heat their homes this way and how he was able to create a research project that suggests some effective policy remedies.   

Chile is a higher income country, yet the way that many households create energy by burning wood is something far more common in poorer countries — it is generally not associated with countries at Chile’s level of wealth.  This makes Chile an interesting case study that I am glad to bring you today.   

Today’s episode is part of a series of episodes that will be published over the next few months that showcase the research and work of the Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative. SETI is an interdisciplinary global collaborative that aims to foster research on energy access and energy transitions in low and middle-income countries. Currently, SETI is housed at Duke University, where it is led by Professors Subhrendu Pattanayak and Marc Jeuland. To learn more about SETI, follow them on Twitter @SETIenergy

The Situation in Hong Kong

As China has become more powerful on the world stage, the Chinese Communist Party has sought to erode Hong Kong’s political independence. On June 30th, the Chinese government passed a so-called National Security Law that criminalized free speech and political activity in Hong Kong.

“This law,” says my guest Victoria Tin-Bor Hui, “means the One China, Two Systems model is dead.” 

Victoria Tin-Bor Hui is an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. We discuss the content of the new National Security Law before having a broader conversation about its political and social implications of this new era for Hong Kong.

Get the podcast to listen later

Apple Podcasts  | Google Podcasts |  Spotify  |  Stitcher  | Radio Public

https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches

Sustainable Finance for Peace and Climate Security | Climate Security Series – Taped Live

Single Tyne Plough Hawzen, Ethiopia Credit: Rod Waddington – Flickr CC License

This episode is part three of a six-part series examining the relationship between climate and security, produced in partnership with CGIAR, the world’s largest global agricultural innovation network. The episode was taped live in front of a virtual audience and featured five panelists discussing how sustainable finance can support peace and climate security.

In the context of our conversation, sustainable finance is something of an umbrella term for harnessing private sector capital in the service of social and environmental goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals. The conversation that unfolds over the course of about 50 minutes includes examples of innovative financial products, a discussion of the role of traditional development aid, and a broad conversation about what else needs to be done to scale up private sector investment in climate security.

Panelists:

Adhiti Gupta, Manager, Market Acceleration & Design Funding, at Convergence Blended Finance 

Serena Guarnaschelli , (is  Partner and Innovative Finance Advisory KOIS

Giovanni Grandi, Senior Officer, Private Partnerships and Finance for Development Italian Agency for Development Cooperation

Ania Maria Wanda Grobick, Deputy Director Adaptation at the Green Climate Fund (GCF)

Alberto Millan, Sustainable Finance Advisor CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)

Get the Global Dispatches podcast

Apple Podcasts  | Google Podcasts |  Spotify  |  Stitcher  | Radio Public

The Death of Pierre Nkurunziza and What Comes Next for Burundi

Burundi’s longtime ruler Pierre Nkurunziza died suddenly on June 8th, quite possibly from COVID-19. Nkurunziza has been president of Burundi since 2005, and in recent years his rule became firmly authoritarian.  His death sent shockwaves across Africa and the world

On the line with me today is Yolande Bouka, a professor of political studies at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. We discuss the legacy of Pierre Nkurunziza and what this chaotic moment means for Burundi and the surrounding region. 

We kick off discussing the circumstances surrounding Nkurunziza’s death. We then discuss his fraught time in power, including a key moment in 2015, when he engineered for himself a constitutionally dubious third term in office and survived a coup attempt. The conflict surrounding that episode lead to the displacement of 400,000 people — the impact of which is being felt across the region today. We also discuss the background of the new president of Burundi, Évariste Ndayishimiye and what his rule may bring for the country. 

Get the podcast to listen later

Apple Podcasts  | Google Podcasts |  Spotify  |  Stitcher  | Radio Public