The International Risk Podcast Dominic Bowen

At the International Risk Podcast, we aim to highlight key risks and global issues from all over the world, particularly those that fall through the cracks of mainstream media; and today’s podcast is no different. Since 2010, earthquake, Haiti has been the site of an ongoing crisis. At various points, key moments have broken through into global media — such as the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the latest devastating earthquake, both of which took place within weeks of each other during the summer of 2021 — and more recent events about escalating gang violence in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
However, there is much more at stake beyond the headlines, and the burden of this protracted crisis is being felt by Haiti’s most vulnerable citizens, 5.5 million of whom require humanitarian assistance in 2024. Despite the increased needs, humanitarian funding has lagged for years, creating even more dire circumstances. To help us unpack this ongoing and enormously under reported crisis, we are privileged to be joined by Professor Rosa Freedman
Rosa Freedman is the inaugural Professor of Law, Conflict and Global Development at the University of Reading. She received her LLB, LLM and PhD from the University of London, and is a non-practising barrister and member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn. Her research focuses on the UN, human rights, and international law. She has published extensively on UN human rights bodies and systems, and on UN peacekeeping and accountability for human rights abuses.

We have spoken about Russia a lot so far on the international risk podcast, from its ongoing aggression in Ukraine, to the Presidential elections in March, to most recently discussing Russia’s current position within Europe, and the risks this poses to both state actors and businesses. Today, we will continue this discussion, extrapolating Russia's european positioning to a global one; and to join us in this discussion, it is a pleasure to welcome Oleg Ignatov onto the international risk podcast


As Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Russia, Oleg Ignatov focuses on the country’s domestic affairs as well as Moscow’s role in conflicts around the world. Oleg has previously worked as a leading expert at the Center for Current Policy in Moscow, as a political consultant, and in various roles at the United Russia party. He also holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Moscow State University. He specialises in Russia’s foreign and domestic policy, Russian elites, Russian policy and conflicts in the post-Soviet space, and Russian-Ukrainian relations.

Over the last few months, we have spoken a great deal about Russia, both its current illegal invasion of Ukraine, as well as the recent elections in Russia.
For a huge part of modern history, Russia’s actions, both domestic and internationally, have had a huge ripple effect over the rest of the world, particularly within Europe; and this is what we are going to be discussing today. We are thrilled to be joined by Mathieu Boulegue to help us explore Russia and the international risks and opportunities this presents to Europe.

Mathieu Boulegue is a freelance researcher and consultant in international conflict and security affairs, with a focus on the Former Soviet Union. He is a Consulting Fellow with the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. His research focuses on Russian defense policy and military affairs, Ukraine, Russia-NATO relations, Transatlantic security, and military-security issues in the Arctic and the Antarctic.

The way in which we find information has changed over the last few decades, and with this change, we have foregone much of the reliability of the information we immerse ourselves in.  
Misinformation, often referred to as false or inaccurate information, has become a prevalent issue in the digital age. With the rapid growth of social media platforms and the easy access to information online, misinformation can spread quickly and widely, influencing public opinion, shaping beliefs, and even impacting important societal decisions. Misinformation can take various forms, including fabricated news stories, manipulated images or videos, misleading statistics, and deceptive narratives. It can originate from various sources, including individuals, organisations, or even state actors with specific agendas. The consequences of misinformation can be far-reaching, leading to confusion, mistrust, polarisation, and sometimes even harm to individuals or communities. As such, combating misinformation has become a significant challenge for governments, tech companies, media organisations, and individuals alike, requiring a multi-faceted approach that involves fact-checking, media literacy education, and responsible online behaviour.  
 
Misinformation is not just an issue for the here and now; in its current form, the actions taken as a result of trust in misinformation, or public disinformation campaigns can pose significant risks to society and the political landscape as we know it. To help us unpack these risks, we are privileged to be joined by Professor Stephan Lewandowsky. 
Professor Stephan Lewandowsky is a cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol whose main interest is in the pressure points between the architecture of online information technologies and human cognition, and the consequences for democracy that arise from those pressure points. 
His research examines the consequences of the clash between social media architectures and human cognition, for example by researching countermeasures to the persistence of misinformation and spread of “fake news” in society, including conspiracy theories, and how platform algorithms may contribute to the prevalence of misinformation.  
He is also interested in the variables that determine whether or not people accept scientific evidence, for example surrounding vaccinations or climate science.His research is currently funded by the European Research Council, the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, the UK research agency (UKRI, through Centre of Excellence REPHRAIN), the Volkswagen Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation (via Wake Forest University’s “Honesty Project”), Google’s Jigsaw, and by the Social Sciences Research Council (SSRC) Mercury Project. 

As of June 2023, the UN estimated there to be around 110 million displaced people worldwide; among these are around 36.4 million refugees. We are currently in the midst of a refugee crisis, spurred on by a rising number of people fleeing persecution, violence, and human rights violations caused by the negative effects of climate change and disasters need international protection. In 2022, 84% of refugees and asylum seekers fled nations particularly vulnerable to climate change, compared to only 61% in 2010. According to the UNHCR, 76 per cent of the world's refugees and others in need of international protection are housed by low- and middle-income countries, particularly countries that neighbour those where the refugees are from. The risks facing refugees are vast, from being displaced in some cases for years at a time, to facing rampant discrimination when seeking safety in another country; and yet we do not get the full picture through the news. In order to help us unpack this vast topic, we are thrilled to be joined by Lori Wilkison. 
Lori Wilkinson is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Manitoba. Her research centres on the economic and social outcomes of immigrants and refugees, with a special focus on women and youth. Her current projects include a national study of the pandemic arrival experiences of Afghan refugees, gender-based violence and newcomer women in Canada, international students and their perceptions of university and life in Canada, and the pandemic outcomes of Indigenous peoples and newcomers in Canada, USA and Mexico. She currently holds a Canada Research Chair in Migration Futures. In 2023, she was awarded Distinguished Professor at the University of Manitoba. For over a decade, she has served as the director of Immigration Research West, a multidisciplinary group of over 100 members who work together to educate Canadians about the contributions of newcomers. She volunteers with several international, national and local community organizations who are working toward the successful resettlement of newcomers. 
Our conversation with Lori will focus largely on Canada, which is experiencing a massive influx of refugees, and lays the basis for Lori’s specialism.

At the international risk podcast we strive to uncover the different facets of the world of risk we find ourselves in. But these risks do not occur in a vacuum. Today we are in a permicrisis, and year after year we hear about how the climate crisis is tightening its grip on the earth’s natural resources, and threatens the balance of the natural world. Similarly, both new and long-existing conflicts all over the world negatively affect geopolitics, and all over the world, both governments and civilians find themselves more and more at risk of economic decline.
The interconnectedness of the modern world means that these crisis are again not isolated. Some of these factors have contributed to an increasing number of people seeking refuge in other countries. According to the UNHCR, More than 114 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations. We are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. To discuss the international risks associated with the refugee crisis, we are thrilled to be joined by Petra Molnar.

Petra Molnar is a lawyer and anthropologist specialising in migration and human rights. Petra has worked all over the world including Jordan, Turkey, Philippines, Kenya, Colombia, US/Mexico, Canada, Palestine, and various parts of Europe. She is the co-creator of the Migration and Technology Monitor, a collective of civil society, journalists, academics, and filmmakers interrogating technological experiments on people crossing borders. She co-directs the Refugee Law Lab at York University and is a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Petra’s first book, The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in The Age of Artificial Intelligence, is published with The New Press in 2024.