Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters
The longest running independent international affairs podcast features in-depth interviews with policymakers, journalists and experts around the world who discuss global news, international relations, global development and key trends driving world affairs.
Named by The Guardian as "a podcast to make you smarter," Global Dispatches is a podcast for people who crave a deeper understanding of international news.
- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 31 minutes
- Episodes
- 1080
- Years Active
- 2013 - 2025
The UN Charter Turns 70 Years Old. Here is How it Came to Life
The UN Charter turns 70 years old on June 26. This is the founding treaty that created the United Nations and in this episode you will learn the fascinating and legitimately entertaining history of t…
Episode 70: Paula Dobriansky
Paula Dobriansky served as Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs for pretty much the entire George W Bush administration. Prior to that she served in the Bush 41, Reagan and Carter…
A Fugitive from the International Criminal Court Escapes from South Africa
Earlier this month, the African Union held a summit in South Africa. Among the attendees was Omar al Bashir, the president of Sudan. This was somewhat surprising because Bashir is wanted on charges o…
Can ISIS Be Contained? The White House is Betting On It
It was a year ago this week that the Iraqi city of Mosul--the second largest city in country--fell to ISIS. The loss of Mosul sparked a re-examination of US policy toward Iraq and ISIS. And just this…
Episode 68: Olivier Bancoult and Chagossian Exile
What Air Conditioners Can Teach Us About International Development
Episode 67: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is a journalist and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who in April published the book Ashley's War, which tells the story of a group of female soldiers who accompanied s…
Why Most Foreign Aid Does Not Go To the Poorest Countries
Here's a statistic that may surprise you: most foreign aid does not go to the poorest countries on earth. In fact, only about 30% of official development assistance from donor governments goes to the…
The Rohingya Refugee Crisis
A dangerous game of human pingpong is underway in the Adaman Sea between Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim minority primarily from Myanmar, are adrift at sea.…
Episode 65: Jean-Marie Guéhenno
Jean-Marie Guéhenno is the president of the International Crisis Group and long serving head of UN Peacekeeping. He comes from an interesting background--his father was a well known French intellect…
Burundi on a Knife's Edge
Burundi is in the midst of a deepening political crisis that has many observers extremely worried about the prospects of mass violence. Dozens of people have been killed and tens of thousands of peop…
Epsiode 64: Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan is arguably the most influential scholar of religion in America today. He's best known for mixing it up with the likes of Bill Maher and explaining the basics of the academic study of reli…
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Means Business
The advent of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, sometimes called a Chinese-led rival to the World Bank, is one of the most genuinely interesting developments in global affairs. Thought not ye…
Episode 63: Albina du Boisrouvray
Albina du Boisrouvray is a French countess who sold her family heirlooms to start an anti poverty NGO. She was born into one of the wealthiest families in the world and was a successful film producer…
Nepal Dodges a Bullet
Two years ago, I asked a top UN expert in disaster to describe the one scenario that keeps him up at night. Without hesitation he said that an intense earthquake in Kathamndu would be a monumental ca…
Episode 62: Fareed Zakaria
Fareed Zakaria shares stories about his upbringing in India and the influence of his die-hard pro-American mother and Indian nationalist father. He discusses his intellectual journey from a middle cl…
Earthquake in Nepal: "Our Nightmare Scenario," says UN Official
An earthquake in Katmandu may become one of the terrible natural disasters of our era.
In 2013, I spoke with Jo Scheuer of the United Nations Development Program. He is an expert in disaster risk re…
Inside the Fight Against Malaria
Humanity is winning the fight against Malaria, but we still have a long way to go. Since the advent of the Global Fund, the Millennium Development Goals and the President's Malaria Initiative, death …
Episode 61: Juliette Kayyem
Juliette Kayyem is a practitioner and scholar of security studies. She's a former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, civil right attorney, Harvard Professor and self described "security mom." …
Palestinians in Syria: Stuck in "The Deepest Circle of Hell"
When the Yarmouk refugee camp outside Damascus was overrun by ISIS, a bad situation got much worse. Ban Ki moon called it "the deepest circle of hell" and UN humanitarian agencies are struggling to h…