The Looking Glass The SAIS Review of International Affairs

The politics of disaster series continues with a dive into the devastating environmental and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Royal Dutch Shell oil company in the Niger Delta region. 

For decades, the local communities have suffered from massive oil spills, gas flaring, and deforestation, leading to loss of livelihoods, contaminated water, and severe health impacts.

Despite ongoing legal battles and international pressure, Shell continues to avoid accountability, highlighting the need for a global response to corporate environmental negligence.
Remember to leave 5-stars and share with a friend!

In a special series, The Looking Glass and The Politics of Disaster Podcast will explore powerful stories at the intersection of policy and climate disaster.

This episode explores the Lingering Impact of Deepwater Horizon.

On the mic are:

Jeffrey Gorham (MAIR ‘24/narrator), Rowan Humphries (MAIR ‘24/interviewed Ben Casselman), and Nathan Felmus (BA/MAIR ’24/interviewed Allen Lindsay Jr.)

This episode was produced by Kosi Ogbuli.



Remember to leave 5-stars and share with a friend!

Back in March, we had the pleasure of Speaking with Charles Dunst about his new book,  Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman.

In a world where democracy is in decline and autocracy is on the rise, Dunst argues autocracy is not the solution despite being an attractive alternative for those disillusioned with current democratic institutions. He argues that the only way to defeat dictators is to have better democracy. 

We cover his life, his book, and his fandom for New York sports teams on this episode of The Looking Glass.
Remember to leave 5-stars and share with a friend!

Digital authoritarianism is a wide-ranging and, at times, difficult-to-define area of international security analysis. To help us tease out some key terms and analytical frameworks in this ever-evolving domain, we brought on international security expert and analyst Mr. Erol Yayboke, Director of the Project on Fragility and Mobility and Senior Fellow for the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). 


In 2020, Mr. Yayboke and Deputy Assistant Samuel Brannen of the U.S. Department of Defense jointly published a CSIS brief, “Promote and Build: A Strategic Approach to Digital Authoritarianism.” The publication puts forth a useful analytical set of concepts to develop a deeper understanding of the modern landscape of digital authoritarianism as a threat to global democracies and the subversion of human rights while also highlighting some specific key actors, models, and methods of the practice, and other overlapping challenges in our rapidly digitizing world. 


You can read Mr. Yayboke and Deputy Assistant Brannen’s full CSIS brief here - 


“Promote and Build: A Strategic Approach to Digital Authoritarianism.”

Other work by Mr. Yayboke and his colleagues:


"The Real National Security Concerns over Data Localization."


"Technology as a Driver of Gender Equality and Peace."


This episode was hosted and produced by Noelle Boyd.
Remember to leave 5-stars and share with a friend!

At the posting of this episode —Nigeria’s tightest presidential election in a generation — Africa’s most significant democratic exercise —has yet to be decided.

However, Nigeria's political map will never be the same after this election. This phenomenon has been years in the making.

Joining us to discuss these dynamics is Ebenezer Obadare, Douglas Dillon senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Before joining CFR,  Obadare was a political reporter for The News and TEMPO magazines from 1993 to 1995, and a lecturer in international relations at the Obafemi Awolowo University from 1995 to 2001. His primary areas of interest are civil society and the state, and religion and politics in Africa.

Be on the lookout for pt. 2 of this conversation!



Remember to leave 5-stars and share with a friend!

Perhaps the most important critique of modern international law has been the charge that it is a Eurocentric regime, which has helped to erect and defend a world of deep injustice characterized by violence, exploitation, and inequality.

To reorient the discussion on international law, this episode of The Looking Glass explores International Law and the Global South with Professor Obiora Chinedu Okafor.

Professor Okafor is the Edward B. Burling Chair in International Law and Institutions at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Professor Okafor has served, since August 2017, as the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity (one of the principal groups of human rights experts who advise and report annually to the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly) and a former Chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (a Geneva-based committee of experts elected by the Human Rights Council to serve as its think tank and principal subsidiary organ).

This episode was produced by Kosi Ogbuli.

Articles/ Reports referenced:
Re-defining legitimate statehood: international law and state fragmentation in Africa

The third world and international order: Law, politics and globalization

Poverty, agency and resistance in the future of international law: An African perspective


Remember to leave 5-stars and share with a friend!