Weekly podcast on the events, policies and ideas that will shape the world.World in 30 minutes is curated by Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), and features top-level speakers from across the EU and beyond to debate and discuss Europe’s role in the world. It was awarded “Best podcasts on EU politics” by PolicyLab in 2019.Member of the EuroPod network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Mark Leonards World In 30 Minutes Podcasts
The rising threat from Covid-19 has implications that reach far beyond national borders. ECFR’s experts explore issues ranging from governmental credibility and legitimacy to the importance of multilateralism, analysing the repercussions of the virus on the global stage. See all analyses here: www.ecfr.eu/coronavirus
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China’s rise has long fascinated policymakers, economists and technologists. But few observers have studied the country’s technological ambitions as closely as Dan Wang, research fellow at the Hoover History Lab at Stanford University and author of Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future. This week, Mark welcomes Dan to discuss the ideas be…
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ECFR at 18: Has European foreign policy come of age?
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The European Council on Foreign Relations turned 18 in November 2025. This milestone offers a unique moment to reflect on the world in which ECFR was founded—and how dramatically it has changed. In 2007, Europe had the world’s confidence: democracy seemed secure, globalisation was a force for opportunity, EU enlargement was reshaping the continent,…
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In this emergency podcast episode, Mark Leonard welcomes Jana Kobzova, co-director of ECFR’s European Security Programme, and Jim O’Brien, former US assistant secretary of state for Europe and ECFR distinguished policy fellow, to dissect the leaked 28-point US-Russia framework for ending the Ukraine war. Kyiv has rejected the proposal as a capitula…
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Europe’s most ambitious defence project is in deep trouble. Europe’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS), presented as the crown jewel of Franco-German cooperation, was meant to deliver a next-generation defence system ready to meet the demands of an increasingly dangerous world. Instead, the FCAS showcases diverging visions of European air power and r…
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The politics of migration and integration
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Across Europe, immigration and integration have become pressing political issues. The far right is surging in national polls, and debates over borders and national identity are reshaping party systems and public life. This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Sunder Katwala, director of the think-tank British Future and author of How to Be a Patriot, an…
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In recent years, military juntas have replaced democratically elected governments in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. These have expelled European forces and welcomed Russian mercenaries—yet stability in these countries remains elusive. This week, Mark is joined by Will Brown, senior policy fellow in ECFR’s Africa programme and author of the recent po…
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Venezuela and Trump’s hemispheric defence agenda
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This week, Mark Leonard returns to the World in 30 Minutes to unpack the latest development in US foreign policy: America’s military buildup off the coast of Venezuela. The US has deployed troops in the Caribbean and an aircraft strike group has joined the operation—but the Trump administration’s aims in the region remain unclear. Mark is joined by…
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Ukraine, Russia and Trump’s sanctions gamble
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Donald Trump’s efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine have largely taken a backseat to events in Gaza. But a recent call with Vladimir Putin, followed by a tense meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, has reignited America’s engagement. Washington has announced new sanctions against two Russian oil giants, Rosneft and Lukoil, just as European…
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This week, Mark Leonard welcomes Eran Etzion, former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council, and Jamal Nusseibeh, Palestinian legal scholar and political analyst, to discuss what comes next after a landmark ceasefire in Gaza. Two years after the attacks on October 7th, the agreement has brought hostages home and Israeli forces have pulle…
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The Neighbourhood: Europe’s enlargement moment
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EU enlargement is back at the top of the EU’s political agenda as Russia’s war against Ukraine has transformed it from a bureaucratic process into a matter of European security. This episode marks the launch of ECFR’s new RE-ENGAGE podcast series: The Neighbourhood, which will unpack how countries hoping to join the EU navigate political change and…
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This week Mark Leonard welcomes Célia Belin, senior policy fellow and head of ECFR’s Paris office, to discuss the unprecedented political turmoil in France. Just weeks after his appointment, Sébastien Lecornu became the fourth prime minister to resign in a year—leaving Macron to choose between naming yet another leader, dissolving the National Asse…
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Mark Leonard welcomes Hugh Lovatt to unpack Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza and what it means for Israel, Hamas, and Europe. This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Hugh Lovatt, Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR and expert on Israel–Palestine, to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of Trump’s proposed Gaza peace deal. What does the plan actually con…
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The rise of a worker friendly Republican Party
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In the United States, the political right is undergoing a significant transformation. Once dominated by Reagan economics—characterised by free trade and deregulation—the movement has increasingly adopted policies focusing on the working class, opposing globalisation, pursuing protectionism and imposing tariffs on foreign trade. At the heart of this…
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Hedging diplomacy: New Delhi’s foreign policy in Trump’s world
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Mark Leonard welcomes James Crabtree and Suhasini Haidar to explore India’s foreign policy and its emerging relations with Europe. For decades, India-Europe relations did not fulfil their potential. Now transactional American foreign policy has seen Donald Trump impose severe tariffs on India and push New Delhi to adopt a strategy of multi-alignmen…
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Drones over Denmark: Russia tests NATO’s defences
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Mark Leonard is joined by Ulrike Franke, ECFR senior policy fellow, for an Emergency Room podcast. Together, they unpack the recent wave of drone incursions across European airspace in Poland, Romania and Denmark, and discuss what these hybrid threats reveal about Russian tactics and NATO’s readiness. How serious are these drone sightings and what …
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The dog days of summer: Ukraine battles and diplomacy
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Mark Leonard welcomes Jana Kobzova to break down the summer’s key developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. This week, ECFR’s director Mark Leonard returns to our regular programming after an eventful summer over Ukraine that saw Donald Trump meet Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss the war—a meeting that stunned global observers. Also over the summ…
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This week, ECFR director Mark Leonard concludes his deep-dive podcast series into the political universe of the “post-liberal revolution”. Throughout the series, Mark has interviewed prominent individuals across national conservative movements and “new right” politics, aiming to unpack the values behind its roots and ideas. The last episode, which …
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This week Mark Leonard is joined by Balázs Orbán, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s (no relation) political director since 2021. He is also chairman of the board at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium. Previously, Balázs was minister of state in the prime minister’s office and director general of the Migration Research Institute in Budapest. Toget…
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This week Mark Leonard is joined by Hélène De Lauzun, Paris correspondent for the European Conservative and author of L'histoire de l'Autriche (The History of Austria), to discuss the historical roots and modern expressions of conservatism in France. Together, Mark and Hélène explore her intellectual journey as a historian emphasising France’s pre-…
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In the second episode of ECFR’s summer mini-series on the “New Right”, Mark Leonard is joined by Gladden Pappin, president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, co-founder and deputy editor of American Affairs Journal and co-founder of the online magazine Post-Liberal Order. Gladden's intellectual journey illustrates the transnationa…
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This week Mark Leonard is joined by Rod Dreher, a visiting fellow and Network Project director at the Danube Institute in Budapest, and former senior editor at The American Conservative. Draher is also a writer—his latest book, “Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents” is based on the experiences of Christians persecuted in Soviet Russi…
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In the second episode of ECFR’s summer mini-series on the “New Right”, Mark Leonard is joined by Yoram Hazony, Israeli political scientist, president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem and chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, to explore the emergence of national conservatism as a response to the perceived crisis of liberalism. In their convers…
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The re-election of President Donald Trump and the recent successes of right-wing parties across the world are posing a challenge to the established political order. With overwhelming evidence that we are living through a political Zeitenwende, this summer ECFR is taking a deep dive into the “post-liberal revolution”—starting with a new podcast seri…
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This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Vessela Tcherneva, deputy director of ECFR, and Maria Simeonova, head of ECFR’s Sofia office, to discuss the deteriorating political situation in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is set to join the euro zone in 2026—but the country faces severe internal challenges. In a sign of mounting political instability, Bulgarians have …
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Live from the Aspen Security Forum: America’s inward turn
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This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Jeremy Shapiro, ECFR’s research director and head of its US programme, and Tom Wright, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Strobe Talbott Centre and former Biden administration official, for an episode recorded live at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. Mark, Jeremy and Tom discuss the forum’s tense …
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