Search a title or topic

Over 20 million podcasts, powered by 

Player FM logo
show episodes
 
Presented by Andy Smith, we bring you all the action from the 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards in London, featuring exclusive interviews with a host of sporting and Hollywood stars. Brought to you by Mercedes Benz, IWC Schaffhausen and Vodafone, the ceremony was hosted by BAFTA and Golden Globe winner,actor Clive Owen. We hear exclusively from Novak Djokovic, Vivian Cheruiyot, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Pep Guardiola as the nights big awards are handed out. Plus we hear about some of th ...
  continue reading
 
Loading …
show series
 
RERUN EPISODE – Originally released Oct 18, 2021 We’re bringing back this powerful episode because the message still hits home. If you’ve ever struggled with self-doubt or felt like you’re just not good enough, this one’s for you. In this rerun, I explore: Why simply visualizing or manifesting isn’t enough How to start recognizing your own potentia…
  continue reading
 
In our conversation about The Battle of Manila (Oxford University Press, 2025), Nicholas Evan Sarantakes explains how U.S. forces under General Douglas MacArthur won a climactic battle in the Pacific during World War II, but at a terrible cost. In 1945 the United States and Japan fought the largest and most devastating land battle of their war in t…
  continue reading
 
Spies deep behind enemy lines; double agents; a Chinese American James Bond; black propaganda radio broadcasters; guerrilla fighters; pirates; smugglers; prostitutes and dancers as spies; and Asian Americans collaborating with Axis Powers. All these colorful individuals form the story of Asian Americans in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), th…
  continue reading
 
Though Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh remains well known today for his role in shaping the post-Napoleonic peace settlement in Europe, his half-brother Sir Charles Stewart has received far less attention despite his own prominent part in the politics and diplomacy of those years. In War and Diplomacy in the Napoleonic Era: Sir Charles Stewart…
  continue reading
 
People of various political stripes in many countries (particularly those countries where various political stripes are allowed) have been arguing about the Vietnam War for a long time. The participants in these debates were (and are) always quick to assign blame in what seems to be an endless attempt to justify “their side” and vilify “the other s…
  continue reading
 
The starting point of this book is the 'civil war' of ideas that broke out during the early 2010s about the purpose and even the desirability of the European Union as a polity, with a number of right-wing populist formations openly advocating for exiting the Union. The sovereign debt crisis triggered a spiral of ideological decommunalization: natio…
  continue reading
 
Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States, and India's Secret Cold War (Cambridge UP, 2024) is the first comprehensive history of India's secret Cold War. It examines interventions made by the intelligence and security services of Britain and the United States in post-colonial India and their strategic, political, and socio-cultural impact o…
  continue reading
 
How do separatist conflicts arise and spread? When does separatism become a cover for a foreign aggression? How do local communities respond when state institutions collapse, and militants take over? The armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine, which started eight years before Russia's full-scale invasion, contains unique evidence to address each of thes…
  continue reading
 
Originally aired: December 15, 2022 In this special rerun episode, I revisit one of my favorite conversations with none other than Mark Levy, renowned positioning expert and marketing legend. Mark has been instrumental in helping me clarify my own message, and in this insightful and energizing chat, we explore how to uncover what he calls your “Big…
  continue reading
 
In this episode of Changing Minds, I’m joined by the incredible Tamsen Webster, author of Find Your Red Thread, to dive deep into the psychology and structure of messages that truly stick. We really nerd out here, which was a lot of fun. We explore why some ideas catch fire and others fade, how story shapes belief, and what it really takes to make …
  continue reading
 
Of all interstate conflicts across the last two centuries, two-thirds have ended through negotiated agreement. Wartime diplomacy is thus commonly seen as a costless and mechanical process solely designed to end fighting. But as Dr. Eric Min argues in Words of War: Negotiation as a Tool of Conflict (Cornell University Press, 2025), that wartime nego…
  continue reading
 
Four decades of Japanese colonialism in Korea ended abruptly in August 1945. It took three weeks for U.S. troops to arrive, which started almost three years of U.S. military occupation. By the end of the occupation, Korea was permanently divided into North and South, with Seoul set on an authoritarian path that would persist for decades. Kornel Cha…
  continue reading
 
In 1842, the Qing Empire signed a watershed commercial treaty with Great Britain, beginning a century-long period in which geopolitical and global economic entanglements intruded on Qing territory and governance. Previously understood as an era of “semi-colonialism,” Stacie A. Kent reframes this century of intervention by shedding light on the gene…
  continue reading
 
When the Safavid dynasty, founded in 1501, built a state that championed Iranian identity and Twelver Shi’ism, it prompted the more established Ottoman Empire to align itself definitively with Sunni legalism. The political, religious, and military conflicts that arose have since been widely studied, but little attention has been paid to their diplo…
  continue reading
 
In this episode of International Horizons, Peter Andreas, John Hay Professor of International Studies at Brown University and author of Border Games: The Politics of Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide, 3rd edition (Cornell UP, 2022) and The Illicit Global Economy (Oxford UP, 2025), joins RBI Director John Torpey to unpack the myths and realities of bo…
  continue reading
 
In this episode of Changing Minds, I explore one of my favorite topics: persuasion—how to ethically and effectively influence others. I break down the difference between persuasion and manipulation, examine psychological roadblocks like confirmation bias and reactance, and unpack Aristotle’s classic ethos, logos, and pathos with a modern addition: …
  continue reading
 
Although Indigenous peoples are often perceived as standing outside political modernity, Savages and Citizens: How Indigeneity Shapes the State (University of Arizona Press, 2025) by Dr. Andrew Canessa & Dr. Manuela Lavinas Picq takes the provocative view that Indigenous people have been fundamental to how contemporary state sovereignty was imagine…
  continue reading
 
The former border enclaves of Bangladesh and India existed as extra-territorial spaces since 1947. They were finally exchanged and merged as host state territories in 2015. Sovereign Atonement: Citizenship, Territory, and the State at the Bangladesh-India Border (Cambridge UP, 2024) focuses on the protracted territorial exchange and experiences of …
  continue reading
 
In this episode of the Changing Minds Podcast, I dive into 10 of the most powerful books on influence and persuasion that have transformed the way I think about helping others change their minds. From Robert Cialdini’s classic principles to Jonah Berger’s insights on contagious ideas, I break down the key lessons, strategies, and how you can apply …
  continue reading
 
Even before its rebirth as a nation in the 1990s, Serbia had acquired a reputation abroad as Russia’s stalwart Slavic ally in the Western Balkans. Yet, as Vuk Vuksanović argues in Serbia’s Balancing Act: Between Russia and the West (Bloomsbury, 2025), two centuries of history and the 25 years since the fall of Slobodan Milošević tell a more nuanced…
  continue reading
 
The untold history of Czechoslovakia's complex relations with Middle Eastern terrorists and revolutionaries during the closing decades of the Cold War In the 1970s and 1980s, Prague became a favorite destination for the world's most prominent terrorists and revolutionaries. They arrived here to seek refuge, enjoy recreation, or hold secret meetings…
  continue reading
 
Investigative reporter Bob Woodward once noted that assassination was the Scarlett letter of American politics because targeted killings challenge the image of the United States as a liberal democracy and the driving force behind a rules-based international order. In his new book, Luca Trenta documents how assassination and assassination attempts h…
  continue reading
 
What if the wisdom of a philosopher from over 2,000 years ago could change your life today? In this episode of Changing Minds, I explore how Aristotle's revolutionary ideas on persuasion, storytelling, and personal growth still hold the key to living a fulfilling life. From Nicomachean Ethics to Rhetoric and Poetics, we dive into his insights on in…
  continue reading
 
North Korea was an important player in the decolonisation of Africa. Freedom fighters across the continent received vital assistance from Pyongyang, and almost all southern African independence leaders travelled to the North Korean capital at some point, in search of support. This alliance has continued into the twenty-first century, with African p…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, RBI director John Torpey speaks with Estonian parliamentarian and defense expert Kalev Stoicescu about the recent tensions between the United States and Ukraine following a contentious meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelensky. Stoicescu critiques Trump's transactional diplomacy, emphasizing the critical role of alliances such …
  continue reading
 
How does nuclear technology influence international relations? While many books focus on countries armed with nuclear weapons, this volume puts the spotlight on those who have the technology to build nuclear bombs but choose not to. These weapons-capable countries, such as Brazil, Germany, and Japan, have what is known as nuclear latency, and they …
  continue reading
 
What if the way you see reality isn’t real at all? In this episode of Changing Minds, I explore the profound wisdom of Plato—one of history’s greatest philosophers. We’ll dive into his Allegory of the Cave, the Theory of Forms, and his vision of Philosopher Kings to uncover how his ideas still shape our thinking today. Whether you're looking to imp…
  continue reading
 
On this episode, rural sociologist Dr. Irna Hofman explores how Tajikistan’s cotton fields illuminate shifting power dynamics in Central Asia, historically and in the present. She discusses how the Soviet Union once showcased cotton production to visiting delegations—particularly from Muslim-majority countries—as evidence of its development model. …
  continue reading
 
East Central Europe Since 1989 (Routledge, 2025) examines politics, economics, media, religious institutions, transitional justice, gender inequality, and literature, highlighting the overt functions, latent functions, and side effects associated with each sphere. Communism in East Central Europe had cracks from the beginning, as uprisings in East …
  continue reading
 
In this episode of Changing Minds, I go into how Socrates changed the world—not by writing books but by asking better questions. His Socratic questioning has influenced philosophy, psychology, and even modern-day leadership. But how can his insights help you live a more meaningful, intelligent life today? In this episode, I explore: - Socrates’ lif…
  continue reading
 
Kishore Mahbubani, longtime Singaporean diplomat and academic, opens his new memoir with a provocative line: “Blame it on the damn British.” Kishore, who later served as Singapore’s ambassador to the UN and founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, was born to poor migrants in Singapore, studied philosophy on a government scholarsh…
  continue reading
 
The decades following World War I were a period of political, social, and economic transformation for Central and Eastern Europe. Foreign Aid and State Building in Interwar Romania (Stanford UP, 2025) considers the role of foreign aid in Romania between 1918 and 1940, offering a new history of the interrelation between state building and nongovernm…
  continue reading
 
Impartiality is a guiding principle in United Nations peace operations that has helped legitimize multilateral intervention in dozens of armed conflicts around the world. In practice, it has long been associated with passive monitoring of cease-fires and peace agreements. In the twenty-first century, however, its meaning has been stretched to allow…
  continue reading
 
In this episode of Changing Minds, I explore the transformative power of Stoicism, a 2,000-year-old philosophy that remains as relevant today as ever. From its historical roots with Zeno of Citium to modern interpretations by Ryan Holiday, Stoicism offers timeless wisdom to handle challenges, improve resilience, and cultivate inner peace. Discover …
  continue reading
 
Elsa Stamatopoulou’s Indigenous Peoples in the International Arena: The Global Movement for Self-Determination (Routledge 2025) provides a definitive account of the creation and rise of the international Indigenous Peoples’ movement. In the late 1970s, motivated by their dire situation and local struggles, and inspired by worldwide movements for so…
  continue reading
 
In this episode of International Horizons, John Torpey talks with Heribert Adam, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, to unpack the global ripple effects of Donald Trump's return to power. From his startling proposal to make Canada the 51st state to his controversial foreign aid cuts targeting South Afric…
  continue reading
 
Ordering Customs: Ethnographic Thought in Early Modern Venice (University of Delaware Press, 2023) explores how Renaissance Venetians sought to make sense of human difference in a period characterized by increasing global contact and a rapid acceleration of the circulation of information. Venice was at the center of both these developments. The boo…
  continue reading
 
Since Kenya's invasion of Somalia in 2011, the Kenyan state has been engaged in direct combat with the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab, conducting airstrikes in southern Somalia and deploying heavy-handed police tactics at home. As the hunt for suspects has expanded within Kenya, Kenyan Muslims have been subject to disappearances and extrajudicial…
  continue reading
 
The academic field of international relations presents its own history as largely a project of elite white men. And yet women played a prominent role in the creation of this new cross-disciplinary field. In Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men (Princeton University Press, 2025), Professor Patricia Owens shows that, since its begin…
  continue reading
 
At a moment when the nuclear nonproliferation regime is under duress, Rebecca Davis Gibbons provides a trenchant analysis of the international system that has, for more than fifty years, controlled the spread of these catastrophic weapons. The Hegemon's Tool Kit: US Leadership and the Politics of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime (Cornell UP, 202…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, host Andrea Talabér (CEU Press) sat down with Andrea Chandler to talk about her new book with CEU Press, Canada and Eastern Europe, 1945–1991: Meeting in the Middle. In the podcast we talked about why the relations between Canada and the countries of the Eastern bloc have so far been underreseached, about the large Central and East…
  continue reading
 
In this episode of Changing Minds, I sit down with my longtime friend Kev Fitzsimons, a digital marketing expert and musician, to challenge the "always be optimizing" mindset. We talk about: - The illusion of control & why trying too hard makes life harder. - The toxic positivity trap & why it's okay to feel bad sometimes. - The problem with social…
  continue reading
 
Finland, a minor player on the international arena and burdened with the tag of ‘Finlandization’ during much of the post-WWII period, has won surprisingly positive visibility and a strong nation brand in the far-off Japan in the 2000’s. How has such a transformation of a small state’s reputation been possible? In this episode, Dr. Laura Ipatti, Pos…
  continue reading
 
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 should not have taken the world by surprise. The attack escalated a war that began in 2014 with the Russian annexation of Crimea, but its origins are visible as far back as the aftermath of the Cold War, when newly independent Ukraine moved to the center of tense negotiations between Russia a…
  continue reading
 
When World War II ended, about one million people whom the Soviet Union claimed as its citizens were outside the borders of the USSR, mostly in the Western-occupied zones of Germany and Austria. These “displaced persons,” or DPs—Russians, prewar Soviet citizens, and people from West Ukraine and the Baltic states forcibly incorporated into the Sovie…
  continue reading
 
We often think of the modern era as the age of American power. In reality, we’re living in a long, violent Eurasian century. That giant, resource-rich landmass possesses the bulk of the global population, industrial might, and potential military power; it touches all four of the great oceans. Eurasia is a strategic prize without equal―which is why …
  continue reading
 
In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey interviews Nathalie Tocci, director of the Institute of International Affairs in Rome, about the implications of Donald Trump’s second administration for Europe. The discussion explores how Trump’s approach to foreign policy—characterized by protectionism, nationalism, and disdain …
  continue reading
 
In this episode of Changing Minds, I sit down with Neil Gordon, a master of persuasion and the inventor of the "Silver Bullet Method." Together, we explore the art of simplifying complex ideas, crafting compelling messages, and the secrets behind great TED Talks. Neil shares how surprise, storytelling, and contrast can make your communication unfor…
  continue reading
 
The definitive history of Canadian foreign policy since the 1930s, Canada First, Not Canada Alone: A History of Canadian Foreign Policy (Oxford UP, 2024) examines how successive prime ministers have promoted Canada's national interests in a world that has grown increasingly complex and interconnected. Eleven case studies focus on environmental refo…
  continue reading
 
Loading …
Listen to this show while you explore
Play