Worldview (Engelsberg Ideas)

Niall Ferguson, Helen Thompson and Rana Mitter join Iain Martin to explore what happened to China in the nineties, and what created the conditions for China's spectacular rise in the new millennium.

Image description: Chinese president Jiang Zemin opens trading on the New York Stock Exchange, October 1993. Credit: Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images.

Iain Martin is joined by Adrian Wooldridge and Daniel Markovits to discuss the crisis of opportunity and self-reinforcing elites.

Image description: The quads at Princeton University, New Jersey, USA. Credit: Bloomberg / Getty Images.

Iain Martin is joined by leading security and international relations experts to discuss the legacy of 9/11, the future of Western-led interventions and the meaning of the NATO exit from Afghanistan. Can the West continue to shape world order or is it being replaced? This episode was recorded on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of 9/11.

Image description: Standing atop rubble with retired New York City firefighter Bob Beckwith, President George W Bush rallies firefighters and rescue workers during an impromptu speech at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center. Image courtesy National Archives. Credit: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images.

For the Worldview podcast, Iain Martin is joined by Hal Brands, the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Together, they discuss the theories of Halford Mackinder and how in 1904, he charted out a map of the tumultuous century to follow.

Image Description: Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt meet at the Yalta conference in 1945. Credit: Wikipedia Commons.

Our new series of Worldview, presented by Adam Boulton is considering the future of warfare and geopolitics in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

In this week's episode, Adam Boulton is in conversation with Beatrice Heuser, Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones and Frank Gavin discussing the roles of NATO, the EU and the UN today. How can these twentieth-century institutions tackle the challenges of the twenty-first century? 

Image description: The flags of the NATO member states are hoisted during the ceremonial handover of the new NATO headquarters in Brussels. Credit: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo.

Our new series of Worldview, presented by Adam Boulton is considering the future of warfare and geopolitics in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

In this week's episode, Adam Boulton is in conversation with Vladislav Zubok and Sir Roderic Lyne, the former British Ambassador to Moscow. While both were horrified by the invasion of Ukraine last February, they offer varying views on how this new age of hostility came about. 

Image description: The Kremlin, in Moscow. Credit: Manuele Cecconi / Alamy Stock Photo.

How does the war in Ukraine look on the ground? What does the future of the battlefield hold? In this week's episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton speaks to Professor Hew Strachan and Dr Rob Johnson to discuss these issues and more. 

Image description: A drone operator from field medicine division, Ukraine. Credit: Mykhailo Palinchak / Alamy Stock Photo.

In our latest episode of Worldview hosted by Adam Boulton we consider the role outer space will play in the future of conflict. How soon will conflicts on Earth spill out into space? What form might these conflicts take and how can we regulate them? Adam speaks to Jacob Geer, Dr Stuart Eves and Professor von der Dunk to find out.  

Image description: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Credit: UPI / Alamy Stock Photo.

What's a war without its leaders? In this week's Worldview, Adam Boulton speaks to leading historians Margaret MacMillan and Andrew Roberts on how leadership shapes both conflicts and their resolutions.

Image description: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stands for a moment of silence during a ceremony to award medals to service members to celebrate the Day of Defenders of Ukraine in the courtyard of the Mariinskyi Palace, October 14, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Credit: Ukraine Presidents Office / Alamy Stock Photo.

In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Professor Helen Thompson, Tim Marshall and Dr Daniel Yergin to discuss the global energy market. 

The fallout of Putin's invasion of Ukraine has overthrown energy norms in Europe. However, over the past decade the energy market has been far from stable. With concerns surrounding climate change and the discovery of new resources, we are on the brink of an energy revolution which will overhaul the geopolitical map as we know it. 

Image description: Oil pumps and refinery in oil field. Credit: Cultural RM / Alamy Stock Photo.

When the pioneers of computer engineering created the first integrated circuits in the 1950s they could not have envisaged how this technology would infiltrate all elements of our daily lives.

The production of microchips is now rapidly becoming the defining force in geopolitics and will play a fundamental role in the conflicts of the future. 

In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Chris Miller, author of Chip Wars, and historian of computing, Thomas Haigh. Together, they discuss the development of the computer chip and how it fits into the coming struggle between the US and China. 

Image description: A retro circuit board with germanium transistors and diodes, electrolytic and ceramic capacitors, carbon resistors, aluminium coils. Credit: KPixMining / Alamy Stock Photo.

There are currently around 13,000 nuclear warheads worldwide, with Russia possessing the largest nuclear arsenal. 

And yet, nuclear weapons have not been deployed in combat since the US bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima seventy-seven years ago. 

So, how and why has the nuclear taboo remained intact and what may jeopardise it in the future? 

In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman and Professor Wyn Bowen to discuss the history of nuclear deterrence, the likelihood of nuclear weapons being deployed in Ukraine, and China's growing nuclear arsenal.

Image description: Mock-up of the air defence system around Moscow, in the Patriot Park In Moscow Region, Russia. Credit: Nikolay Vinokurov / Alamy Stock Photo.

The West must have an adaptable power grid to meet the challenges of this geopolitical energy crisis. 

In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Margarita Balmaceda, Magnus Henrekson, Olamide Oguntoye and Ariana Kiran Singh to discuss generating and transmitting power in the face of growing geopolitical and environmental concerns. 

Image description: Electricity pylon. Credit: David Leadbitter / Alamy Stock Photo.

In around 1440 AD, a goldsmith called Johannes Gutenberg began assembling the apparatus that would eventually become known as the first Western printing press. Thirty years later, this invention had transformed Europe, spiritually, economically and politically. In this episode of Worldview Adam Boulton is joined by Professor Alexander Lee and Professor Emma Smith to chart the history of the book, from its revolutionary beginnings to the present day.

Image description: Nineteenth century typesetter and printers working with Stanhope cast iron printing press in print shop. Credit: Arterra Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo.

For thousands of years, India and China had relatively little contact, but following China's annexation of Tibet and the end of European colonialism, the two Asian Giants became neighbours. Today, their relationship is increasingly tense. In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Peter Frankopan, Tanvi Madan and Rana Mitter to put Sino-Indian relations under the microscope.

Image description: The old Silk Route between India and China. Credit: Dinodia Photos / Alamy Stock Photo.

It is now clear that genetically editing human beings is not only possible, but increasingly simple. The ethical considerations of this development on the other hand remain complex. To discuss the mapping and editing of the human genome, Adam Boulton is joined by Dr George Church, the 'father of genomics', and Kevin Davies, science author, journalist and the executive editor of the CRISPR journal.

Image description: Genetic editing and gene research in vitro. Credit: Brain light / Alamy Stock Photo.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the worlds of art, manufacturing, medicine, even the language we use, at a bewildering speed. Should we fear or welcome it? What are its risks and rewards? And could it ever come to outpace the human mind? 

In our latest episode of Worldview, host Adam Boulton is joined by Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis of New York University, and Susan Schneider, Director of the Centre for Future Mind, to discuss the profound cultural, philosophical and ethical implications of AI. Meanwhile, journalists Hugo Rifkind and Gaby Wood consider how AI will revolutionise the media and publishing industries. 

Image description: An auction at Sotheby's, London, selling AI art created by Mario Klingemann, March 2019. Credit: Malcolm Park/Alamy Live News.

Is demography destiny? Shifting patterns in population have marked history, drive political change and sharpen cultural divides.

In our latest episode of Worldview, host Adam Boulton is joined by Paul Morland, the UK's leading demographer, Bill Emmott, former editor of the Economist and author of Japan's Far More Female Future, and Richard Assheton, the Times' and Sunday Times' West Africa correspondent.

Image description: A group of elderly women in Kyoto, Japan. Credit: Trevor Mogg / Alamy Stock Photo.

Where does war end and peace begin? And what role does diplomacy play in that transition?

In our latest episode of Worldview, host Adam Boulton is joined by historians Margaret MacMillan, Andrew Ehrhardt and Frank Gavin, as well as former European Commission High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton. 

Image: Satirical cartoon of the Congress of Vienna. Credit: The Granger Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

How does an institution in the business of preserving the past prepare itself for the interests and sensibilities of the future? Where do museums fit in the national psyche?

In our latest episode of Worldview, host Adam Boulton is joined by director of the V&A Tristram Hunt, Professor Armand D'Angour and Dr. Tiffany Jenkins to discuss what the future might hold for museums.

Image: Renaissance and Medieval sculptures at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Credit: Bjanka Kadic / Alamy Stock Photo.

How can the lessons of history be applied to the present? What are the benefits of taking the long view?

In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by the scholars Robert Crowcroft, editor of Applied History and Contemporary Policymaking: School of Statecraft, Phillip Bobbitt of the University of Texas, Iskander Rehman, an Ax:son Johnson Fellow at the Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and Gill Bennett, former Chief Historian of the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Image: The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull. Credit: Artimages / Alamy Stock Photo.

Central banks have held the financial world in their grip for much of the twentieth century, but is their reign coming to an end?

In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by the former governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, along with journalist and author Merryn Somerset Webb, Iain Martin, Editor-in-Chief of Engelsberg Ideas, and economic historian, Samuel Gregg.

Image: Currencies from around the world. Credit: Jochen Tak / Alamy Stock Photo  

Adam Boulton is joined by Paul Lay, Senior Editor of Engelsberg Ideas, Agnès Poirier, journalist and author, and Royal biographer Hugo Vickers, to reflect on the deep meaning and symbolism of Britain's Coronation.

Image: King Charles III views a wooden carving at St. Laurence's Church in Ludlow, Shropshire. Credit: Michelle Jones / Alamy Stock Photo.

Two years on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a solution, military or diplomatic, seems as far away as ever.

On Worldview, leading historians and commentators reflect on a conflict that has altered the state of global geopolitics.

Jade McGlynn, author of Russia’s War, calls in from Kyiv (00:56).

Shashank Joshi, defence editor of the Economist and Hew Strachan, military historian, illuminate the battlefield picture (24:18). 

The possible outcomes are considered by Sergey Radchenko, expert on Russian foreign policy, and Tim Marshall, best-selling author, whose most recent book is The Future of Geography (1:00:45).

Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Worldview is produced by Alastair Benn and Marie Jessel. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.

Image: The national flag of Ukraine above the Kyiv skyline. Credit: Mykhailo Prysiazhnyi / Alamy Stock Photo