Why It Matters CFR

West Africa is losing many of its best and brightest. Across the region, doctors, lawyers, and engineers are leaving, depriving some of the world’s youngest countries of the minds they need to develop sustainably. At the same time, coups have rocked the nearby Sahel, threatening to create a corrosive cycle of instability. Can West Africa quell the tide of emigration?
 
Featured Guests:
Aanu Adeoye (West Africa correspondent, Financial Times)
Ebenezer Obadare (Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies, CFR)
 
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/can-west-africa-curb-its-brain-drain 

In the past thirty years, sixty countries have expanded access to abortion care as an underpinning of maternal health. The 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade made the United States the fourth country ever to decrease access to abortion—and the world took notice. Some countries have since reinforced protections for abortion care, while others have moved to further restrict it.
 
Featured Guests:
Onikepe Owolabi (Director of International Research, Guttmacher Institute)
Patty Skuster (Reproductive Health Law Policy Researcher and Consultant, University of Pennsylvania)
 
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/global-abortion-access-after-roe

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular man in India. On track to be elected for a third term, he has boosted the country’s global standing and propelled strong economic growth while consolidating power and galvanizing majoritarian support for his Hindu nationalist agenda—all while growing closer to the United States. How could Hindu nationalism reshape India?
 
Ashok Swain (Head of Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University)
Hartosh Singh Bal (Executive Editor, The Caravan)
 
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/india-modi-and-hindu-nationalism 
 

A free and independent press is at the core of many democracies. But threats to the safety of journalists abound worldwide, and the rise of generative artificial intelligence has raised concerns about the future of media. At the same time, more people have access to high quality news now than perhaps ever before. Where does all this leave the state of the current media climate?
In this episode, Host Gabrielle Sierra and Foreign Affairs Editor Daniel Kurtz-Phelan talk about the future of journalism, and whether political polarization presents a challenge to nonpartisan publishing.
 
Dan Kurtz-Phelan (Executive Editor, Foreign Affairs)
 
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/publishing-polarized-world 
 

A little over a week ago, Iran directly attacked Israel from its own territory for the first time in history. And while the United States and Israel shot down almost all of the missiles and drones, the attack remains unprecedented. Since the release of this episode, Israel has launched a relatively moderate counter strike, and tensions appear to be cooling. But the Middle East might still be on the brink of a wider war. Host Dan Kurtz-Phelan and guests Suzanne Maloney and Ali Vaez discuss the consequences of deteriorating Iran-Israel dynamics and more in this Foreign Affairs Interview episode.
 
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit Foreign Affairs at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/can-israel-and-iran-step-back-brink 

Thirty years ago, Rwanda’s government began a campaign to eradicate the country’s largest minority group. In just one hundred days in 1994, roving militias killed around eight hundred thousand people. Would-be killers were incited to violence by the radio, which encouraged extremists to take to the streets with machetes. The United Nations stood by amid the bloodshed, and many foreign governments, including the United States, declined to intervene before it was too late. What got in the way of humanitarian intervention? And as violent conflict now rages at a clip unseen since then, can the international community learn from the mistakes of its past?
 
Featured Guests:
Claude Gatebuke (Executive Director, African Great Lakes Action Network)
David Scheffer (Senior Fellow for International Law and Criminal Justice, CFR)
 
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/remembering-rwandan-genocide