The Munk Debates Podcast

Munk Dialogue with Munk Dialogue with George Will, Ash Sarkar, Jacob Rees Mogg, and Sohrab Ahmari

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On November 3rd four debaters will take to the stage at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall to debate the crisis of liberalism. The motion is Be it Resolved,...

Be it Resolved, the US should call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Israel has launched intense strikes on Gaza and shut off water and electricity to the territory as they prepare for a ground invasion in response to H...

Munk Dialogue with Robert D. Kaplan: the challenge of urban warfare in Gaza

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Israel is facing a wartime challenge unlike anything we have witnessed in modern history. The IDF is planning to invade Gaza in order to - in the word...

Munk Dialogue with Bret Stephens: Israel under attack

11 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Saturday morning, Israelis woke up to their world forever changed. The numbers are staggering: over 1000 civilians killed by Hamas and 150 taken ho...

Be it Resolved, DEI workplace programs do more harm than good

04 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the protests that followed in the summer of 2020, offices across North America began introducing Diversity,...

Munk Dialogue with Fredrik DeBoer: How the Elites at the Social Justice Movement

26 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Author, journalist, and popular Substack writer Fredrik DeBoer is a self described marxist with a long standing commitment to left-wing activism. Howe...

Friday Focus: Canada-India Bust-up

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, traditional gender roles make for a happier marriage

20 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The women’s liberation movement of the 1970's has long been championed as breaking down the barriers for women in the workplace. As women began to e...

Big Israel / Big Iran – Progressivism

15 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with David Brooks: How to Know a Person

12 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

New York Times columnist and bestselling author David Brooks is a cultural commentator and astute observer of social trends and behaviour. He believes...

Friday Focus: G20 or G-zero?

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus.   On this edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janic...

Be it Resolved, Gen Z is unemployable

05 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bare-Minimum Mondays. Quiet Quitting. Lazy Girl Job. Ask a Boomer or Gen Xer about their younger employee, and they might point to these viral tik tok...

Housing: The Theory of Everything

01 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Graham Allison: the deteriorating relationship between the US and China

29 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s no secret that relations between China and the US are at an all time low. And at the centre of this fraught relationship is the question of Tai...

Friday Focus: Prigozhin - Trump

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, the British Empire did more harm than good

22 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1933, at the height of the British Empire, a small island off the north east coast of Europe controlled 25% of the world’s population and land ma...

Friday Focus: Taliban @ 2 – Asia Summit

18 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Stephen Walt: Surprising developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ukraine is in ruins. Casualties are piling up on both sides. And western sanctions don’t seem to be working. As the war between Russia and Ukraine e...

Friday Focus: Climate Anxiety – Niger Coup – LLMs

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, let’s engineer a better human being

08 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve come a long way since DNA was first discovered in the mid 19th century. Today’s scientists are using powerful engineering techniques to edi...

Friday Focus: Deterrence on a Dog Day in Summer

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, pornography is exploitative, harmful, and too easy to access. It’s time to ban porn.

01 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a $97 billion global industry that has made its way into mobile phones, video games and laptops. Never before has porn been more accessible, an...

Friday Focus: Israel in Crisis – Summer Reads

28 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Yossi Klein Halevi: Israel on the brink of civil war?

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Chaos is unfolding on the streets of Israel as protesters face off against riot police and water cannons. Millions of Israelis are expressing their an...

Friday Focus: It's Getting Hot – Trump’s Trials

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Jean Twenge: a clash of generations

18 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On this Munk Debate podcast, we're talking about the clash of generations: Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.  How are these age groups - with v...

Friday Focus: NATO Fallout – Google Thuggery

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, affirmative action should be based on class, not race

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In a landmark ruling, The United States Supreme Court rejected affirmative action at US colleges, determining that race should not be a factor in achi...

Friday Focus: Wither Europe? – Big Tech vs. Trudeau

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with AI Debaters Yann Lecun, Max Tegmark, Melanie Mitchell and Yoshua Bengio

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On June 22nd we gathered at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall for a live, sold out debate on Artificial Intelligence. We were joined on stage by four AI ex...

Friday Focus: Borat Coup – Affirmative Action

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, AI research and development poses an existential threat

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With the debut of ChatGPT, the AI once promised in some distant future seems to have suddenly arrived with the potential to reshape our working lives,...

Friday Focus: AI Debate Recap – Titanic Mistake

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with James Bessen: how AI will transform the labour market

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Some experts believe that over 300 million jobs worldwide will be automated by AI, with white collar professions in advanced economies being most affe...

Friday Focus: Dr K @ 100 – AI Debate Preview

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Bruce Schneier: AI and democracy

14 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past few months we’ve heard many warnings about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. But are there some positive aspects about this emer...

Friday Focus: Wild Fires – Ukraine Offensive

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, cats, not dogs, make better human companions

06 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a debate as old as time: when it comes to a household pet, which four legged furball makes the best companion? On one side, we have the indepen...

Friday Focus: David Johnston – Inflation Risks

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Matt Taibbi: mainstream media, the twitter files, and online censorshi

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In November 2022, substack journalist Matt Taibbi joined us on stage for our Munk Debate on Mainstream Media. Matt and his debate partner, political c...

Friday Focus: No Public Inquiry

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, the United States should publicly pledge to defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression

23 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s no secret that both China and the US are preparing for war. Some American military experts think that an armed conflict between the two superpo...

Friday Focus: Industrial Policy – Peace Pageant

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Francis Fukuyama: Liberalism in a state of crisis

16 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War marked a new era in world politics.  For many geopolitical experts, it was championed...

Friday Focus: Debating Artificial Intelligence

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, teaching gender identity has no place in the k-5 school curriculum

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a debate being argued across school boards, politics, and family dinner tables: whether educators should be including gender identity and sexua...

Friday Focus: China & Canada’s Parliament

05 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Nadine Strossen: Academic Freedom in Higher Education

02 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

60 years ago, university students were leading the protest in defense of free speech. The 1960’s Free Speech Movement at the University of Californi...

Friday Focus: Debt Ceiling – Netflix Gets CanCon

28 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Central Banks have not adequately represented the public interest

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Just when inflation seemed to finally be cooling, high interest rates claimed their first major victim: Silicon Valley Bank. And yet, central banks ar...

Friday Focus: Govt Strikes – Stephen Kotkin

21 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Trump’s prosecution is bad for American democracy

17 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The indictment of Donald Trump is an historic event. The 45th president of the United States now holds the unique distinction of being the first presi...

Friday Focus: U.S. Intel Leaks – Macron Blowback

14 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Mark Zandi: avoiding a recession with smart policy decisions

11 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With inflation remaining high despite rising interest rates, many economists are looking for new solutions to bring inflation down without triggering ...

Friday Focus: Holy Land – De-Dollarization

07 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Net Zero by 2050 is impossible

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century, there is no doubt that governments and businesses around the world have made tremendous progress...

Friday Focus: AI Anxiety – Trump Indictment

31 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Michael Oren: is Israel on the brink of civil war?

27 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over half a million people have taken to the streets in the biggest protest movement the country has ever seen in response to Prime Minister’s Benja...

Friday Focus: Putin-Xi Summit – Paris is Burning

24 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Chat GPT will cause more harm than good.

22 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Seemingly overnight, Chat GPT has exploded out of the deepest corners of the emerging tech space and into the mainstream, capturing the imaginations o...

Friday Focus: Banking Blowup – Iran & Saudi – Eminent Canadians

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Vivian Bercovici: Israel in crisis

13 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Israel is facing its biggest internal confrontation since its founding in 1948. Army reservists are refusing to be called in to serve. Former Mossad c...

Friday Focus: Israel in Crisis – Chinese Warnings

10 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Ron DeSantis, not Donald Trump, will be the GOP nominee in 2024.

07 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With Nikki Haley entering the fray, The GOP primary contest has officially begun.  Many more candidates are expected to announce here in the coming w...

Friday Focus: Election Interference – Nigeria & Israel

03 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Bjorn Lomborg: how to actually meet Sustainable Development Goals

28 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2015, the world’s leaders attempted to address the major problems facing mankind by setting the Sustainable Development Goals, a compilation of 1...

Friday Focus: Ukraine War Anniversary - Nigeria Election - Israel's Democracy

24 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, it’s time to abolish the British Monarchy

22 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With the death of Queen Elizabeth, one of the longest serving monarchs in world history, the commonwealth is adjusting to a new normal and a new face ...

Friday Focus: Balloons, UFOs and Jets – Musk Misogyny

17 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Gideon Rachman: The Age of the Strongman

14 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

2022 was not a great year for the world’s so-called “strong men”. The defeat of Bolsonaro in Brazil, the political isolation of Donald Trump, th...

Friday Focus: Germany – Japan

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Hybrid Work is here to stay

07 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time in almost three years, most white collar professionals are back in the office, at least some of the time.  The pandemic unleashed ...

Friday Focus: Inflation Fight – Israel

03 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Davos is back and more relevant than ever

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the annual event that no major businessman or policy-maker dares to miss. Among the famous attendees of the most recent World Economic Forum in...

Friday Focus: Tanks to Ukraine – Kids Today

27 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Biden is Democrats best hope in 2024

25 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

2023 is here, and with it come new year's resolutions, a new congress, and the unofficial start date for 2024 primary campaigning.  Joe Biden’s fir...

Friday Focus: Leopard Tanks – Healthcare – Davos Man

20 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue: Toby Muse on the golden age of cocaine

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One might assume, based on the film depictions of famous drug lords like Pablo Escobar and El Chapo, that the heyday of cocaine and its production in ...

Friday Focus: Rising Sun

13 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue: Mark Cuban on disrupting the American healthcare industry

10 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Cuban, one of America’s most famous and successful entrepreneurs, recently launched a new drug company - Cost Plus Drugs - that is disrupting t...

Friday Focus: Ask Me Anything

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Matti Friedman: Israel’s new political coalition and the return of Benjamin Netanyahu

03 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Israel - a country founded on secular, European principles - just voted into power the most right wing, religious government in its history. How does ...

Friday Focus: 2023 Predictions

30 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Graham Allison: the deteriorating relationship between the US and China

27 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s no secret that relations between China and the US are at an all time low. And at the centre of this fraught relationship is the question of Tai...

Friday Focus: Year in Review

23 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue: Why did FTX collapse?

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The bankruptcy of FTX upended the entire crypto industry and cast doubts over the stability and future of digital currencies. David Z. Morris, CoinDes...

Friday Focus: Patriots vs. Putin – Effective Altruism

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, The risk of a recession in 2023 is overblown

14 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The holiday season is just around the corner, which brings with it cheer, merriment, and a sense of good will towards all men and women.  But for man...

Friday Focus: ChatGPT

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, don’t trust mainstream media

05 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This is a special edition of the Munk Debates Podcast. On this episode, we feature the best moments from the Munk Debate on media bias, which took pla...

Friday Focus: China Protests – Federal Funk

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Elon Musk’s Twitter is a real threat to democracy

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Few people engender public debate like Elon Musk. When the world’s richest man purchased Twitter for a whopping $44 Billion, much of the media, the ...

Friday Focus: Ukraine Attack – Emergencies Act

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Munk Dialogue with Kyle Bass: Financial consequences of the conflict between the US and China over Taiwan

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As Xi Jinping enters an unprecedented third term as general secretary of China's Communist Party, many geopolitical experts believe his desire to stre...

Friday Focus: China Snub – Inflation Immiseration

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved, Putin deserves a dead end, not an off ramp, in Ukraine

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Putin invaded Ukraine in the Spring of 2022, the western world reacted in understandable horror.  The first major ground mobilization in Europe ...

Friday Focus: Chief Twit – Crypto Carnage

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it Resolved it's time we cancelled Winston Churchill

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 2002, Winston Churchill was voted the greatest Briton who ever lived, beating Darwin, Shakespeare and Elizabeth I to take the top spot. Just 18 yea...

Friday Focus: Autumn of Discontent – Rocket Man

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...

Be it resolved Let’s engineer a better human being

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve come a long way since DNA was first discovered in the mid 19th century. Today’s scientists are using powerful engineering techniques to edi...