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Ronald Deibert is fighting back against digital predators to protect citizens and civil society. We live in an always on, hyperconnected, digital society. Almost every aspect of our lives now has a virtual element, which means we leave endless trails of data to be hoovered up for good and for evil. Unfortunately, some of the results include cybercrime, illegal spying, harassment, cyber intimidation and identity theft. It’s bad enough when these activities are aimed at you or me; much worse when they target dissidents, crusading journalists, citizens who are pushing back against government oppression. That’s where Ronald Deibert and the Citizen Lab at Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto come in. Ron and his colleagues are in the business of fighting back, using cutting-edge technologies to protect citizens and civil society from digital predators. Listen as Ron, a finalist for the 2021 Tallberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize, explains how Citizen Lab does the voodoo they do so well.

Listen to Tero Mustonen, one of 2021 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize winners. Rapidly accelerating climate change is uniquely modern — but climate change is not. The planet has warmed and cooled in the past, even during mankind’s time. What can we learn from those events that might help us cope with the extremes that are our present and future? Can indigenous people who understand nature differently than most of us teach us how to cope with today’s terrifying challenges? Our guest on this week’s New Thinking for a New World podcast, Tero Mustonen, is a climate scholar who combines indigenous knowledge with academic research. He is also a leader of the SnowChange Cooperative that works with indigenous people and climate issues throughout the Arctic, and currently the head of his town of Selkie in North Karelia, Finland. Listen to his insights on how to promote positive change on a damaged planet.

Is China’s leadership acting out of strength or weakness? Is war possible? Is war avoidable? Under President Xi Jinping, China has shown a growing willingness to act outside the accepted geopolitical, economic and even diplomatic global framework and practices. Indeed, Beijing’s actions suggest a rejection of the post war system in favor of one that is not just rejiggered to accommodate China’s growing superpowers, but that is dominated by it. The latest data points? President Xi did not show up at COP 26; reports from Glasgow suggest the Chinese have been playing a spoiling role in the climate talks; tensions over Taiwan continue to rise; Chinese rhetoric aimed at the United States, Australia, and Europe is increasingly harsh. Not a day goes by without new reports of China asserting what it sees as its prerogatives as the soon-to-be largest economy in the world. What’s going on? Is China’s leadership acting out of strength or weakness? Is Xi merely probing the West’s weaknesses or has he decided the time is ripe to push hard? Is war possible? Is war avoidable? Australian Kevin Rudd has spent a considerable part of his life thinking about, working on, and negotiating with China — as a diplomat, twice as his country's prime minister, and currently as president of the Asia Society. Arguably no other western leader knows China better. Listen as he assesses where China is today, and where it wants to be tomorrow.

Do we have the technologies in hand to decarbonize economies in ways that are compatible with how people want to live? Politicians from around the world are in Glasgow for the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change. That the disastrous impacts of climate change are increasingly evident is testimony to many things, not least the practical shortcomings of the first 25 UN meetings. Why are we where we are? The science is clear; politics, much less so. But do we know what to do? Do we have the technologies in hand to decarbonize economies in ways that are compatible with how people want to live? Can we do this? Saul Griffith, Australian inventor and engineer—and a past winner of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize—insists that the answer is emphatically yes. We don’t need technological miracles, he says; we have all the technology we need to transform the United States from laggard to leader in the effort to change the arc of the warming climate. And, if the United States can do it, everyone can.

What is actually being done about climate change? Searching for "Climate change" on Google produces 1.1 billion results in less than a second. It seems almost everyone everywhere is talking about it, including the great and the good who are gathered in Glasgow at the UN's 26th Climate Change Conference. But what is actually being done? The gap between rhetoric and action is critical. Action comes in two flavors: top-down policies that aim to decarbonize and bottom-up behaviors of ordinary people, communities, and companies. In many ways, it’s the latter where real change occurs. Santiago Gowland, CEO of the Rainforest Alliance has spent years working with businesses, NGOs and citizens around the world to mitigate some of the biggest impacts of climate change. Listen as he discusses urgent efforts to reverse the degradation of rainforests and to create truly sustainable supply chains that are good for people as well as for the planet.

If art is a window on the soul of a nation, what does ours look like? Who do we think we are in the sense of identity? We live in a time of profound change. For anyone who doubted how fundamentally our world is changing, the global pandemic was a catastrophic proof point. Even as we in the West become more conscious of inequalities that have been part of our societal fabric for a long time, we're becoming less sure of our identities. Even as technology breaks down borders and barriers, many of us are retreating to our tribes, becoming ever more local and isolated rather than global and engaged. If art is a window on the soul of a nation, what does ours look like? Who do we, defined loosely as the West, think we are in the sense of identity? What's our mood? Of course, these are questions without answers or, at least, unique answers. In this episode of New Thinking for a New World, Shirin Neshat, an acclaimed Iranian visual artist who has lived and worked in the United States for decades and Jonathan Burnham, president and publisher of the Harper Division at HarperCollins, discuss our evolving zeitgeist.

Listen as Thomas Anker Christensen and Daniel Martinez-Valle talk about the need and opportunity for urgent, positive creative climate activism in the wake of the pandemic. For the first time in 75 years, the whole world is focused on the same problem and, in the process, mobilizing unprecedented political will, state authority and fiscal resources as well as relying on scientists to build evidence-based policies. How do we transfer all of that energy to addressing even the larger, more deadly challenge of climate change? We invited Tomas Anker Christensen, Denmark’s Climate Ambassador, and Daniel Martinez-Valle, Chief Executive Officer of Orbia, a Mexico based global company, to discuss both the need and opportunity for urgent, positive creative climate activism in the wake of the pandemic. Listen as they discuss the need to develop effective partnerships between government and corporations, to find a better balance between globalism and nationalism, and to innovate solutions that assure the transformation to a low carbon economy creates, rather than destroys, jobs, growth and economic opportunity.

Listen as Jamila Afghani talks about escaping the Taliban, and what she expects for her country. The Taliban's surge to power in Afghanistan is one of those events that will have repercussions for years to come. Geopolitical, strategic, military, perhaps religious, but most importantly, humanitarian. We all watched in horror as hundreds of thousands of women, men, and children tried to flee what seems likely to be a re-imposition of the Taliban's brutal pre-modern style of ruling. Jamila Afghani, our guest this week, succeeded in getting out with her family. Jamila is an educator, a leader, and an activist. Her work to elevate the rights and improve the education of women and girls is based on her studies of Islamic law, which she believes is typically misinterpreted to give them second-class status. Jamila is also a past winner of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. Listen as Jamila talks about escaping the Taliban, and what she expects for her country.

Tero Mustonen is a climate scholar who combines indigenous knowledge with academic research. Listen to his insights on how to promote positive change on a damaged planet. Rapidly accelerating climate change is uniquely modern — but climate change is not. The planet has warmed and cooled in the past, even during mankind’s time. What can we learn from those events that might help us cope with the extremes that are our present and future? Can indigenous people who understand nature differently than most of us teach us how to cope with today’s terrifying challenges? Our guest on this week’s New Thinking for a New World podcast, Tero Mustonen, is a climate scholar who combines indigenous knowledge with academic research. He is also a leader of the SnowChange Cooperative that works with indigenous people and climate issues throughout the Arctic, and currently the head of his town of Selkie in North Karelia, Finland. Listen to his insights on how to promote positive change on a damaged planet.

Why do many Latins seemingly embrace “strong man” rather than democratic solutions to their social, economic, and political problems? Over the years Latin America has seen more than its share of coups, dictators, autocrats, and stolen elections. Even today, well-functioning democracies—meaning free and fair elections, independent media, strong and independent institutions, and active civil society—are the exceptions rather than the rule for too much of the region. Why hasn't liberal democracy developed deeper roots in Latin America? Why are institutions under pressure in so many places? Why do many Latins seemingly embrace “strong man” rather than democratic solutions to their social, economic, and political problems? Brian Winter, editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly and a journalist who has covered the region for twenty years, has some answers—but also lots of worries.

What kind of Middle East do Iran’s leaders, including president Ebrahim Raisi, want and what are they prepared to do to get it? The recent Taliban victory in Afghanistan and the abrupt American withdrawal are only the most dramatic evidence of a profound realignment in the politics of the Middle East.For months, former enemies have been talking to each other; the Israelis are no longer pariahs in at least some of the region; military confrontation seems to have taken a back seat—in rhetoric and, to an extent, in fact—to economic cooperation. Iran sits at the center of this emerging new reality. Rapprochement among Arabs and peace with Israel is one thing if it is aimed at a united front against Iran, but quite another if it is about finding new ways to work with Iran on common objectives. That really would be New Thinking for a New World. How are these developments seen in Iran? What kind of Middle East do the leaders of that country, including the newly elected president Ebrahim Raisi, want and what are they prepared to do to get it? Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University and former chief of Iran's National Security Foreign Relations Committee, is as well positioned as anyone to answer those questions. Listen to this week's New Thinking for a New World podcast as he describes his view of what happens when the United States loses a war.

Or will he damage the democratic institutions so badly that Brazil’s future stability could be at risk? Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro recently said, “I have three alternatives for my future: being arrested, killed, or victory.” To say that is an unusual approach for someone seeking re-election is an understatement, but Bolsonaro is a member in good standing of the Would-Be Autocrats Club who achieved power through the ballot box. Members include Donald Trump, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Daniel Ortega, maybe Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico. Brazil’s elections are in October 2022, and Bolsonaro has already indicated he would try to use the military to stay in power, insisted that the vote will be rigged against him, and is leaning heavily on the courts to give him what he wants. Can Bolsonaro bully his way into reelection? Will the country’s democratic institutions be so badly damaged by him that Brazil’s future stability could be at risk? Most importantly, what do the Brazilian people actually want? Sergio Amaral has a long career as a top Brazilian diplomat, presidential policy advisor, and consultant to some of São Paulo’s global companies. He has worked closely with presidents and other politicians and has an insider's perspective on how his country actually works. Listen as he discusses the future of Brazilian democracy on this week's New Thinking for a New World podcast.

Who makes the rules of cyber warfare? Who are the cyber powers? Cyber insecurity is a reality of life in the digital age. We all worry about being hacked, about losing personal or corporate secrets to online bandits. But what happens when nations do it? Is that war? If a government uses digital tools to disrupt another state's power grid or destroy nuclear research facilities, are those acts of war? What if a government allows a digital raid on another country's corporations or sensitive personal data? Who makes the rules of cyber warfare? Which countries are already cyber powers? Marcus Willet has spent decades thinking about such questions at the UK Government Communications Headquarters, his country's signals intelligence and cybersecurity agency, and more recently at London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies. Listen as he discusses the risks and challenges facing us in the digital age.

Are we smart enough to translate discoveries into tangible benefits for people? 2021 may go down in history as the year of the Great Awakening. Relentless disease, floods, fires, droughts, food insecurity, dramatic social and political unrest signal that deep structural changes in how our world works are underway. But amid the seemingly pervasive doom and gloom, the good news is that there are intensifying efforts to put people, countries and, indeed, humanity on a better path. One of the most promising antidotes to what ails us is the enormous surge of scientific discovery and technological innovation that is also a hallmark of our age. Can we really innovate our way out of the mess? Are we smart enough to translate fantastic discoveries into tangible benefits for people? And, can we do so faster than pathogens mutate or accumulated emissions change weather or draughts destroy arable crop land? Of course, no one knows for sure, but this week’s guest on the New Thinking for a New World podcast is working hard on answers, one challenge at a time. Livio Valenti sits exactly at the intersection of cutting-edge science and the demand for innovative solutions in healthcare, biotech, and material sciences. Listen as he discusses why he thinks we can do this.

Where do they go and who will take them? Who worries about them in a world that is focused on coping with Covid? The world is a mess: climate change in real time, the lingering and sometimes resurgent pandemic, widespread social and political unrest, high pitch geopolitical tensions. In the midst of this firestorm, people are suffering. Climate migrants need to escape fires, hurricanes and floods. Economic migrants want better lives. Families flee wars and oppression. Where do they go and who will take them? What rights do migrants seeking safety have? Who worries about them in a world that is focused on coping with Covid? Lawyers Becca Heller and Kristine Rembach are in the business of finding answers, one refugee or migrant at a time. Listen as they discuss the state of global migration today.

The 20th century ended when the Berlin Wall fell and the collapse of the Soviet Union. If you've come of age since then, the struggles of The Cold War are the stuff of history books. For all practical purposes, the 20th century ended when the Berlin Wall fell, followed by, rather quickly and relatively quietly, the collapse of the Soviet Union. If you've come of age since then, the struggles of The Cold War, including the very real possibility of nuclear Armageddon, are the stuff of history books, not memory. That is particularly true for Germany, which was transformed by reunification, and for German millennials who are starting to come to power in politics and in broader society. Inevitably, they look at the world differently than their predecessors, with different assumptions, different expectations. How will this change the country? What does it mean for Europe and more broadly, for Germany and Europe's role in the world? The guest in this episode of the New Thinking for a New World podcast is both German and a millennial, and she has thought about these questions. Ulrike Franke, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who recently published an article titled, “A Millennial Considers the New German Problem After 30 years of Peace.”

Neuroscientists know more about how the brain works than ever before; unlocking the brain's potential could transform our world. In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote, "Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so." In turn, that implies that to control someone’s thoughts would create the possibility of controlling their actions, for good or for evil. Until recently, such control was the stuff of science fiction. But, that is changing. Neuroscientists today know more about how the brain works than ever before; unlocking the brain's potential could transform our world. Achieving what from today's perspective would be superhuman cognition, could open whole new worlds of medicine, science, technology, and even humanity. But it could also be abused, with nightmarish consequences. Dr. Rafael Yuste works on the forefront of neuroscience, based at Columbia University in New York. His pioneering work has led him to recognize the potential for abuse of rapidly advancing knowledge about how the brain works; as a consequence, he has become a champion for protecting individual neuro-identity and neurorights. In that initiative, he is joined by Jared Genser, a leading international human rights lawyer. Rafael and Jared, both past winners of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize, recently shared ideas in the New Thinking for a New World podcast.

What does China want from the rest of the world? Jonathan Ward thinks they want victory. What does China—or, more particularly China’s leadership and the Chinese Communist Party— want from the rest of the world? Domination or collaboration? Allies or subjects? War or peace? Jonathan Ward, an American who is rapidly becoming one of that country's leading China experts, thinks they want victory. Dr. Ward, who has lived and worked in China and has a deep affinity for the Chinese people, recently published a new provocative book, China's Vision of Victory. Listen as he shares his perspective on the issue that could literally change the course of history.

If art is a window on the soul of a nation, what does ours look like? Who do we think we are in the sense of identity? We live in a time of profound change. For anyone who doubted how fundamentally our world is changing, the global pandemic was a catastrophic proof point. Even as we in the West become more conscious of inequalities that have been part of our societal fabric for a long time, we're becoming less sure of our identities. Even as technology breaks down borders and barriers, many of us are retreating to our tribes, becoming ever more local and isolated rather than global and engaged. If art is a window on the soul of a nation, what does ours look like? Who do we, defined loosely as the West, think we are in the sense of identity? What's our mood? Of course, these are questions without answers or, at least, unique answers. In this episode of New Thinking for a New World, Shirin Neshat, an acclaimed Iranian visual artist who has lived and worked in the United States for decades and Jonathan Burnham, president and publisher of the Harper Division at HarperCollins, discuss our evolving zeitgeist.

From Mexico to Argentina there has been an accelerating erosion of representative democracy. By any measure, Latin American democracy is in trouble. From Mexico to Argentina—and most of the countries in between—there has been an accelerating erosion of both the forms and realities of representative democracy. Is the witches’ brew of the pandemic, underperforming economies, weak rule of law, and structural inequalities more than democracy can bear? Will things get worse before they get better? Eduardo Amadeo, Argentine economist and politician; Sergio Guzman, Colombian political risk analyst and commentator; Patricio Navia, Chilean political scientist and academic have some answers. They think (and certainly hope) that democracy will survive in their countries and in their region.