With reports that Ukraine is surrounded by some 140,000 Russian troops, the possibility of a major military conflict in Europe is closer than ever since the end of World War II. There’s been no lack of speculation about whether President Vladim

Is time running out for American democracy?

Jan 24th, 2022 30m 49s

With vital voting rights legislation stalled in the Senate and Republican politicians continuing to cast doubt on President Biden’s election, the United States is heading into pivotal midterm elections later this year. Liz Hempowicz and Bruce S

There's a new democracy playbook. Will anyone use it?

Dec 6th, 2021 35m 11s

President Joe Biden is set to host the first-ever Summit for Democracy, part of his promise to reassert democratic values around the world. But with Russia and China panning the very idea of values-based diplomacy, can the event’s more than 110

Lithuania is punching above its weight. Will it matter at Biden’s Summit for Democracy?

Nov 15th, 2021 36m 15s

Lithuania shares a border with two hostile autocratic neighbors, Belarus and Russia. If that weren’t enough, the small Baltic democracy is taking on China, too. It’s a role model for confident, democratic leadership in the 21st century, and wan

We have the Pandora Papers…Now what?

Nov 1st, 2021 31m 18s

The Pandora Papers leak exposed some of the shadowy offshore finances the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people use to hide vast fortunes. But it only scratched the surface of an entrenched global financial system rife with loopholes. So

Fiona Hill: "We're dealing with our own authoritarians"

Oct 4th, 2021 43m 10s

Fiona Hill made global headlines when she testified during an impeachment inquiry against then-President Donald Trump in 2019. Now the former senior director for European and Russian affairs on Trump's National Security Council has published a

Why Leonid Volkov is optimistic about Russia's future

Sep 14th, 2021 27m 54s

When Russians vote in parliamentary elections later this week, the results are expected to be a foregone conclusion. Still, opposition groups are campaigning across the country despite the Kremlin’s unprecedented crackdown on civil society, ind

Transatlantic Trends

Jun 10th, 2021 46m 12s

Joe Biden is seeking to renew the transatlantic relationship during a number of major summit meetings in Europe on his first foreign trip as US president. But after four years of Donald Trump’s assault on Washington’s closest alliances, what do

Can the transatlantic alliance recover?

May 27th, 2021 41m 32s

President Joe Biden has been busy with his overarching foreign policy aim of mending ties with America’s closest allies. Progress has been made during a series of summit meetings in Europe, but what are the underlying challenges ahead? We recor

Russian-Czech relations blow up, but for how long?

May 13th, 2021 30m 31s

When the Czech Republic accused Russia last month of staging an explosion at an ammunition depot in the country that killed two people in 2014, it provided shocking new evidence of the Kremlin’s secret war against its perceived rivals in the We

Domestic extremism spreads its wings

Apr 29th, 2021 32m 23s

“The most lethal and persistent terrorism-related threat to the homeland today.” That’s how US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has described domestic extremism. It’s a mounting threat to democracy and security in Europe, too, and

Repression in Russia

Apr 19th, 2021 48m 23s

The last few months have seen unprecedented repression in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, with a wave of arrests and disappearances among Kremlin critics and international alarm over the deteriorating health of the imprisoned opposition leader Alexei

Congress and advancing democracy at home and abroad

Mar 19th, 2021 33m 23s

With the Biden administration promising to advance democracy at home and abroad after four years of backsliding, what’s Congress’s role? Congressman David Price and Ambassador Norm Eisen join moderator Reta Jo Lewis in an important conversation

Crisis in Georgia

Mar 11th, 2021 37m 50s

The US and European Union are struggling to respond to a mounting political crisis in Georgia that boiled over in the former Soviet republic with the arrest of the opposition leader Nika Melia last month. Leading former diplomats, including The

Who's afraid of Alexei Navalny?

Feb 3rd, 2021 28m 21s

A Russian court has sentenced the country’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny to two-and-a-half years in prison on bogus charges after he threw down an unprecedented gauntlet to President Vladimir Putin. Olga Shorina, Kiryl Sukhotski and Pa

The future of the transatlantic alliance

Jan 21st, 2021 28m 22s

With the inauguration of Joe Biden as US president on Wednesday, work to restore America’s battered democratic institutions and its international role is beginning in earnest. The new co-directors of the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group Jo

Kleptocracy and its discontents

Dec 14th, 2020 32m 40s

The rise of authoritarian kleptocrats around the world may be the main geopolitical issue of our time, and the threat to liberal democracy can’t be overstated. But although the assault on democratic institutions in the United States, Europe and

We need to talk about Russia

Oct 15th, 2020 22m 4s

With the possibility of a new US administration taking office next year, the question of how to approach Russia is looming increasingly larger in Washington. Opposition politician Vladimir Milov and national security expert Evelyn Farkas join S

Belarus protests: Art and innovation

Oct 8th, 2020 27m 9s

Belarus has been in the spotlight for the past two months as protesters continue to battle Alexander Lukakshenka’s 26-year-old regime. But dissent isn’t new in the country. It’s had a vibrant, if small, civil society and a cultural scene that’s

Revolution in Belarus

Aug 20th, 2020 33m 59s

Belarus is at a tipping point as the authoritarian President Alexandr Lukashenka’s regime crumbles under the weight of mass popular protests. The European Union has pledged support for the opposition, which is preparing for a transition, but Lu

Digital transatlantic alliance

Aug 7th, 2020 24m 19s

The internet has changed how democracy functions. With digital platforms fueling divisiveness and enabling manipulation by individual bad actors and states alike, liberal democracies are struggling to keep up. Marietje Schaake and Tomicah Tille

What do Europeans think of America now?

Jul 16th, 2020 27m 22s

Europeans have looked on in disbelief and dismay as America’s alliances with its most important transatlantic allies have come under attack by an isolationist president who sees personal political gain in undermining common liberal democratic

Russia under Putin's constitution

Jul 9th, 2020 22m 46s

Vladimir Putin has done virtually everything to ensure he’ll be able to remain Russian president for life after a referendum last week, when officials said a majority of voters approved a series of changes to the constitution. The veteran human

Covid-19, disinformation and transatlantic democracy

May 28th, 2020 25m 43s

With the coronavirus pandemic raising serious challenges for voting and other vital democratic functions, the threat from disinformation is becoming especially acute—not least in the United States ahead of the November election. Leading experts

Poland's ghost election

May 14th, 2020 31m 4s

Poland is wrestling with a political crisis after its ruling Law and Justice party agreed to postpone Europe’s first presidential election since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The 11th-hour decision stopped the party’s chaotic drive to hold a