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Updated 10/07/2025

11/09/2025

Back to basics: Africa’s bid for two permanent UNSC seats (with Amb. Martin Kimani)

Since this episode aired last year, we’re still dreaming of a just and representative global order. Catherine Nzuki was joined by Ambassador Martin Kimani, PhD, the Executive Director of New York University’s Center on International Cooperation. He was previously the Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations (UN). In this episode, we take a deep dive into Africa’s bid for two permanent seats on the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the long road to get there. We discuss how long Africa has been pushing for these seats (3:40); the procedure to create the two permanent seats (7:00); why the process of selecting which African state will occupy those seats could cause infighting (15:20); and two scenarios for how these seats could be distributed (19:40). We zoom out to discuss the deficit of visionary contemporary leaders (30:18); the types of reforms that the African Union needs (34:42); Africa’s demographic dividend (36:00); Africa in the G20 (42:30); and finally, reordering global geography in line with Africa’s own interests (45:00).

11/09/2025

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1 hr
19/12/2024

The War in Ukraine in 2025 with Michael Kofman

Max and Maria were joined by Russian military expert Michael Kofman to discuss where the war in Ukraine may be headed in the year to come. With a new administration in Washington and political turmoil across Europe, Russia continuing to make grinding gains on the battlefield, and calls for some sort of negotiated settlement rising, the next six months could prove critical to the future direction of the conflict. This conversation was recorded live in the CSIS Brack Studio on December 12, 2024. The full video from this conversation is available on the CSIS website. This is the last episode of Russian Roulette for 2024. After a brief break for the holidays, we will return with new episodes in January 2025.

19/12/2024

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1h 3m
02/11/2022

Hong Kong Two Years Later with Olivia Enos

In this episode of Building the Future, Dan Runde is joined by Olivia Enos, the new Washington Director of The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK). In this podcast, they discuss the CFHK’s work, the ongoing effects of the Chinese-imposed National Security Law (introduced to Hong Kong in 2020), the U.S.-Hong Kong relationship, and how listeners can help political prisoners in Hong Kong.

02/11/2022

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17 min
23/06/2021

Gender Equity and Global Financial Inclusion

CSIS Americas Deputy Director, Maggie Seminario, guest hosts this week's Building the Future episode on Gender Equity and Financial Inclusion. In this episode, we talk with Mia Mitchell (from the U.S. Department of State) and Sonja Kelly (from the Women's World Banking) to understand the barriers we face to enabling inclusive access to finance to women around the world while discussing the various opportunities that the U.S. government has in overcoming such hurdles. This is the second part of the two-part series on Digital ID-enabled Financial Inclusion and has been produced thanks to the generous support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

23/06/2021

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27 min
02/09/2020

Brazil, Bolsonaro and Bossa Nova: A Conversation with Ambassador Nestor Forster Jr.

Ambassador Nestor Forster Jr., Ambassador of Brazil to the U.S., sits down with Dan Runde to discuss the history of the U.S.-Brazil relationship and avenues for potential future collaboration. They address environmental conservation and protection, space collaboration, and the budding Brazilian creative economy. The Ambassador and Dan also discuss Covid-19 and how the pandemic has affected trade patterns in the region.

02/09/2020

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31 min
11/02/2019

Surveying Global Progress on Climate

Jonathan Pershing (William and Flora Hewlett Foundation) and Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) review the previous year's efforts to address climate change, both in the U.S. and globally, and discuss the climate action outlook for 2019.

11/02/2019

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39 min
15/04/2019

Algeria: Energy & Geopolitics

Frank Verrastro (CSIS Energy Program) and Haim Malka (Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, CSIS Middle East Program) discuss the current political developments in Algeria. Their discussion includes the challenges of creating a legitimate transitionary process, ongoing protests, and uncertainty for energy production and oil markets.

15/04/2019

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15 min
03/09/2019

Energy Outlooks: No Crystal Ball Here

Sam Brannen (CSIS) chats with Sarah Ladislaw and Nikos Tsafos about the role of forecasts and outlooks in the energy sector, examining why the energy policymakers and business leaders use forecasts in strategic planning. They also discuss forecasts vs. outlooks, the goal of creating an outlook, and how forecasters look at outlooks.

03/09/2019

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34 min
04/06/2019

Spurring Innovation and Fighting Climate Change: A Discussion with Gina McCarthy

Join Gina McCarthy (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment) and Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS Energy Program) as they discuss the need for breakthrough innovations to create more efficient residential air cooling systems. The two also discuss the importance of emphasizing the public health benefits of addressing climate change and how best to direct the immense energy younger generations have for addressing climate change and issues of inequality. Click to watch Gina McCarthy’s recent keynote address at CSIS.

04/06/2019

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20 min
06/05/2019

Modeling Climate Change’s Physical Impacts

Trevor Houser (Partner, Rhodium Group) talks with Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) about modeling the physical risks and impacts of climate change at the Climate Impact Lab. The Climate Impact Lab’s models are providing companies with better tools to see these potential impacts and risks in their portfolios, allowing them to begin taking precautionary steps to increase resilience.

06/05/2019

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24 min

CSIS podcasts feature experts & scholars on a range of critical issues surrounding geopolitics, national security, defense, & international affairs topics.