Independent Thinking
Episodes
Is Alexei Navalny's death a watershed moment for Russia?
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Bill Browder – who for years has worked as a human rights and anti-corruption campaigner against the Putin r...
What does Prabowo Subianto's election mean for Indonesia?
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week from Jakarta by Professor Burhanuddin Muhtadi, executive director of the Indonesian polling organization Indikator...
Can the UN's first cybercrime treaty protect us?
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Ciaran Martin, the former Chief Executive of the National Cyber Security Centre; Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, Vice Cha...
Is Pakistan's democracy on the brink?
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Madiha Afzal, an author and Research Fellow at Brookings in Washington DC. Joining them are Dr Farzana Shaikh,...
Why is Orbán blocking EU aid for Ukraine?
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by journalist Olga Tokariuk, an Academy Fellow in our Ukraine Forum, and Natalie Sabanadze, a Senior Research Fell...
Can Western airstrikes stop the Houthis?
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Roxanne Escobales, Editor of The World Today, is joined this week by Tom Sharpe, a former commander in the Royal Navy and defence columnist with The T...
What are the stakes in Taiwan's election?
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by journalist Jojje Olsson and Dr Chun-Yi Lee from the University of Nottingham's Taiwan Research Hub to discuss Ta...
What can we expect from 2024?
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times to discuss the elections and geopolit...
Bonus episode: How will the Hamas-Israel war end?
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At the Doha Conference, Bronwen Maddox speaks with Dr Majed Al Ansari, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr Al Ansari sha...
What do India's state elections mean for Narendra Modi?
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by writer and academic Nishtha Gautam to discuss what India's state elections mean ahead of the 2024 general elect...
What do India's state elections mean for Narendra Modi?
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by writer and academic Nishtha Gautam to discuss what India's state elections mean ahead of the 2024 general elect...
What can the world expect from COP28?
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Ana Yang, Bernice Lee and Ruth Townend from our Environment and Society Centre to discuss the COP28 summit in th...
Does a slowing economy mean a more assertive China?
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Professor Kerry Brown and journalist Latika Bourke to discuss China's economic slowdown, amid signs of a more as...
What will US foreign policy look like in 2024?
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by journalist Jon Sopel, the host of the News Agents podcast, to discuss the 2024 US presidential election. Joinin...
Will Iran escalate the Hamas-Israel war?
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Shashank Joshi, the Defence Editor at The Economist, to discuss Iran's role in the Hamas-Israel War. Joining the...
Can world leaders regulate AI before it’s too late?
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Roxanne Escobales is joined by Lucy Fisher, the FT's Whitehall Editor and host of the Political Fix podcast, to discuss Rishi Sunak's AI summit. Joini...
Is Argentina about to elect a far-right President?
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Roxanne Escobales speaks with experts from our US and Americas programme, Dr Christopher Sabatini and Vanessa Rubio-Márquez, about Argentina's on-g...
Is Gaza on the brink of disaster?
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox speaks with New York Times journalist Steven Erlanger about President Biden's trip to Israel and the prospects of an Israeli ground i...
Will the war between Israel and Hamas escalate?
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox speaks with Reuters journalist Steve Farrell about the attacks by Hamas on Israel and the Israeli military response now underway in Gaz...
Is Rory Stewart right about Britain?
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox speaks with Rory Stewart about the state of British politics in a world of populist leaders. Journalist Robert Peston meanwhile joins u...
Should we talk to the Taliban?
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronwen Maddox speaks with Ambassador Roya Rahmani, Shaharzad Akbar and Tobias Ellwood MP about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and whether ...
Is the United Nations now irrelevant?
22 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
World leaders met in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). All the P5 leaders bar America's Joe Biden stayed away howeve...
Was the G20 India's 'coming out' party?
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
G20 leaders met in New Delhi this week to discuss economic cooperation. Underlying the summit however were wider international tensions and a sense o...
How has Iran changed after Mahsa Amini’s death?
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
September 16 marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman killed in police custody. Since her death Iran has bee...
Has Ukraine's counter-offensive failed?
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Independent Thinking is back after a short summer break for the start of Season 2 of the podcast. This week, for our first episode, we’re returning...
How China views Ukraine
28 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the final episode of our first season, we return to the topic we started Season 1 of the podcast with: China and how Beijing sees the world post-Fe...
Artificial intelligence – A threat to democracy?
21 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the show this week we discuss artificial intelligence, the hopes, and opportunities the technology may bring, as well as the challenges and even th...
NATO membership for Ukraine delayed
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the podcast this week we discuss the fallout from the NATO Summit in Vilnius. Turkey cleared the way for Sweden to join the alliance this week, and...
Can Vladimir Putin survive?
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the show this week, we ask how long Russia’s Vladimir Putin can survive. Two weeks on from the mutiny by the Wagner Group and Yevgeny Prigozhin’...
London Conference special with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are live this week from our London Conference, where we discuss the war in Ukraine, the recent events in Russia with the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhi...
Securing NATO's northern flank
23 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the podcast this week we look at the UK’s role in the defence of the Nordic region. Since the annexation of Crimea, the UK has taken a keen inter...
China’s challenge to India
16 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the podcast this week, we look at the growing tensions between India and China. This week marks three years since Indian and Chinese troops were ki...