State of Power

State of Power
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Let us introduce you to some of the fascinating people we work with to help you make sense of the world’s most complex challenges. In this podcast we share our research, explore alternatives to the status quo and give a platform to scholars and activists who are at the forefront of the fight against the current neoliberal order. We believe there are alternatives to this world and hope you do too.

  1. A Fractured World: Reflections on Power, Polarity and Polycrisis (Nick Buxton in Conversation with Adam Tooze and Walden Bello)

    02/06/2025

    A Fractured World: Reflections on Power, Polarity and Polycrisis (Nick Buxton in Conversation with Adam Tooze and Walden Bello)

    We live in an age of empire and resistance - a shifting geography of global power. The military, political and financial support of one country, the US, above all others has allowed a small country - Israel - to commit genocide in Gaza, to the horror of the vast majority of people worldwide. The US military, its corporations, its digital giants, its banks, and its culture continue to dominate globally.Yet at the same time, US-led imperialism has never felt more fractured and resisted. The heavily-resourced US army has been forced out of Afghanistan and was recently expelled from Niger. Nations such as Nicaragua and South Africa are taking powerful former colonial countries to court. Other international institutions, long seen as vehicles for exporting or enforcing US-led neoliberalism, such as the World Trade Organisation have seemingly run out of steam. The US is also increasingly isolated globally: Brazil, China, India, Russia and other nations are directly challenging its hegemony, and the US' dysfunctional democracy is less and less cited as a model by other countries. There is a growing popular sense that the post-Cold War neoliberal globalised order is in crisis.Is US hegemony really fading? Does any other nation, including China, pose any real challenge to US power, let alone offer a political or economic alternative?  Has the heralded hope of a BRICS bloc collapsed amidst its contradictions?  What would it take to build a more equitable and just new international political and economic order?In this episode, to properly examine where geopolitical or geoeconomic power lies today – and how it is being exercised and how that might be changing, TNI's Nick Buxton speaks to  Adam Tooze, and Walden Bello.  Adam Tooze holds the Shelby Cullom Davis chair of History at Columbia University and serves as Director of the European Institute. In 2019, Foreign Policy Magazine named him one of the top Global Thinkers of the decade. Walden Bello is a TNI associate and author of more that 20 books,  a human rights and peace campaigner, academic, environmentalist and journalist who has made a major contribution to the international case against corporate-driven globalization.

    1h 15m
  2. History in Action Part 1: 1970-1990 - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    12/12/2024

    History in Action Part 1: 1970-1990 - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    History in Action Part 1 delves into the founding of the Transnational Institute (TNI) and its origins with the Institute for Policy Studies. We look at the roots of TNI in opposition to the Vietnam War and other global liberation movements. We explore TNI's evolution and its sustained resistance against neoliberal ideologies, its tragedy with the assassination of Orlando Letelier, and its early work on debt, food and alternatives. Narrator: Shaun Matsheza Interviews conducted by: Denis Burke, Daria Gorshenina and Shaun Matsheza Music: Aleksey ChistilinInterviews with: Susan George, Cora and Peter Weiss, John Cavanagh, Achin Vanaik, Anthony Barnett, Susan Buck-Morss, Ariane van Buren, Manuel Pérez-RochaArchival audio with: John Berger, Isabel Letelier, Orlando Letelier, Eqbal Ahmad, Basker Vashee, Fred HallidayFind out more about TNI at tni.orgPlease consider making a contribution to support our vital work at tni.org/donateWith thanks to the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam

    1h 13m
  3. History in Action Part 5: 2020-onward! - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    12/12/2024

    History in Action Part 5: 2020-onward! - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    History in Action Part 5 guides us through the multifaceted impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, underscored by increasing corporate power and social injustices—from healthcare privatization and vaccine disparities to the militarization of borders. We talk about green colonialism and the people hijacking the transition to renewable energy for their own profits. We talk about Gaza. Insights from diverse activists and scholars emphasize the need for a collective, just transition and highlight the historical and ongoing struggles for social justice, for international solidarity and for systemic change.Narrator: Shaun Matsheza Interviews conducted by: Denis Burke, Daria Gorshenina and Shaun Matsheza Music: Aleksey ChistilinInterviews with: Arun Kundnani, Niamh Ni Bhriain, Katie Sandwell, Lucía Bárcena, Walden Bello, Sol Trumbo Vila , Achin Vanaik, Dorothy Guerrero, John Cavanagh, Achin Vanaik, Lyda Fernanda Forero, Manuel Pérez-Rocha, Fiona DoveArchival audio with: Abir Kopty, Hamza Hamouchene, Susan GeorgeFind out more about TNI at tni.orgPlease consider making a contribution to support our vital work at tni.org/donateWith thanks to the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam

    1h 11m
  4. History in Action Part 4: 2008-2020 - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    12/12/2024

    History in Action Part 4: 2008-2020 - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    History in Action Part 4 talks about the fallout of the financial crises, the rise of new forms of authoritarianism, the new movements that shook the world, and the work against transnational corporate impunity.  Narrator: Shaun Matsheza Interviews conducted by: Denis Burke, Daria Gorshenina and Shaun Matsheza Music: Aleksey Chistilin Interviews with: Walden Bello, Sol Trumbo Vila , Niamh Ni Bhriain, Achin Vanaik, Dorothy Guerrero, Lucía Bárcena, Martin Jelsma Archival audio with: Susan George, Howard Wachtel,  Brid Brennan Find out more about TNI at tni.org Please consider making a contribution to support our vital work at tni.org/donate With thanks to the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam

    1h 11m
  5. History in Action Part 3: 2000-2008 - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    12/12/2024

    History in Action Part 3: 2000-2008 - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    History in Action Part 3 discusses the disastrous war on terror, the rise of China, and the convergence of social movements around the climate crisis, land, and essential public services. Narrator: Shaun Matsheza Interviews conducted by: Denis Burke, Daria Gorshenina and Shaun Matsheza Music: Aleksey Chistilin Interviews with: Arun Kundnani,  Lyda Fernanda Forero, Jun Borras, Walden Bello, Dorothy Guerrero, Fiona Dove Archival audio with: Howard Wachtel, Brid Brennan, Satoko Kishimoto, Fred Halliday Find out more about TNI at tni.org Please consider making a contribution to support our vital work at tni.org/donate With thanks to the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam

    54 min
  6. History in Action Part 2: 1990-2000 - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    12/12/2024

    History in Action Part 2: 1990-2000 - A counter history by the Transnational Institute

    History in Action Part 2 dives into the 1990s, focusing on the impact of the Cold War's end, the rise of neoliberalism, the emergence of the Alter-Globalization Movement, and the history of TNI's drugs and democracy programme. Key figures and activists explore significant shifts in global politics, the consolidation of U.S. imperial power, and the resistance of social movements: from the rise of progressive alternatives to the struggle against corporate power and neoliberal trade regimes. Narrator: Shaun Matsheza Interviews conducted by: Denis Burke, Daria Gorshenina and Shaun Matsheza Music: Aleksey Chistilin Interviews with: Susan George, Hilary Wainwright, Walden Bello, Martin Jelsma, Gonzalo Berrón, John Cavanagh, Achin Vanaik, Lyda Fernanda Forero, Manuel Pérez-Rocha, Jun Borras, Fiona Dove Archival audio with: John Berger, Isabel Letelier, Orlando Letelier, Eqbal Ahmad, Basker Vashee, Fred Halliday Find out more about TNI at tni.org Please consider making a contribution to support our vital work at tni.org/donate With thanks to the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam

    1h 9m
  7. "The Divine Leaf of Immortality": A conversation on Coca, with Wade Davis.

    07/09/2024

    "The Divine Leaf of Immortality": A conversation on Coca, with Wade Davis.

    Nearly 75 years after the United Nations called for the abolition of  coca leaf chewing, the world will have an opportunity to correct this grave historic error. The World Health Organization (WHO), at  the Plurinational State of Bolivia’s request,  and supported by Colombia, will conduct a ‘critical review’ of the coca leaf over the next year. Based on its findings, the WHO may recommend changes in coca’s classification under the UN drug control treaties. The WHO recommendations would be submitted for approval by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), with voting likely in 2026.  The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Transnational Institute (TNI) will be monitoring the coca review process closely and examining key aspects of the debate. As part of this we are producing a series called “Coca Chronicles”. The first issue of the Coca Chronicles discussed the current classification of the coca leaf in Schedule I of the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (or its effective ban) and Bolivia’s initiation of the WHO critical review process. The second issue highlighted three developments during the March 2024 CND session: (1) support for the coca review from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; (2) Bolivia’s call to protect the coca leaf as a genetic resource; and (3) an update on the WHO’s preparations for the review. In this third issue, Anthropologist Wade Davis gives us a deep dive into the history and significance of the coca leaf in the Andean Amazon region. Wade Davis is a Canadian cultural anthropologist, ethnobotanist, photographer, and writer. He is professor of anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. He is a multiple award-winning author of more than 25 books, and has done extensive research into coca leaf, among many other ethnobotanic explorations.

    59 min

  8. 02/21/2024

    Building a Just Energy Transition in an Age of Corporate and Imperial Power (Nick Buxton in Conversation with Thea Riofrancos, Ozzi Warwick, and Timothy Mitchell)

    The fossil fuel based energy system has shaped capitalism and our geopolitical order. On the 50th year of TNI's existence, the State of Power report unveils the corporate and financial actors that underpin this order, the dangers of an unjust energy transition, lessons for movements of resistance, and the possibilities for transformative change.How can we build a Just energy transition in the age of corporate and imperial power? In today’s episode, a special accompaniment to the 12th Annual State of Power Report on energy, Nick Buxton speaks to three interesting people who have unique perspectives on this question. Timothy Mitchell is a political theorist, historian and professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia University. In 2012, his book Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil retold the history of energy in the Middle East, showing how oil weakened democracy, fuelled militarism and empire and created a dangerous myth of infinite growth. Thea Riofrancos is an associate professor of political science at Providence College and a member of the Climate and Community Project, a left-wing think tank. She works primarily on the politics of extraction, particularly in Latin America and the US. Her upcoming book is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. Ozzi Warwick is the chief education and research officer of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union of Trinidad and Tobago and the General Secretary of the national Joint Trade Union Movement. He is also a founding member of the Trade Unions for Energy Democracy South (TUED South), a new South-led trade union platform dedicated to a public approach to a just energy transition. Nick Buxton is  TNI’s Knowledge Hub Coordinator and founding editor of the State of Power report.

    1h 20m
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Ratings & Reviews

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About

Let us introduce you to some of the fascinating people we work with to help you make sense of the world’s most complex challenges. In this podcast we share our research, explore alternatives to the status quo and give a platform to scholars and activists who are at the forefront of the fight against the current neoliberal order. We believe there are alternatives to this world and hope you do too.

Information

  • Creator
    State of Power
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    80
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
  • Show Website
    State of Power