The January 6 commission is a reminder that a peaceful transfer of power is not guaranteed and that democracy is in trouble. But do many understand what democracy really is? In his book Democracy Rules , German historian and political scientist argues three things are crucial for its survival: political parties over populism, a free media and a healthy level of uncertainty. QUOTES: “I think what's paradoxical about the situation in the U.S., but to some degree it's also true of other democracies...
Jul 26, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 88
Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members-only podcast focuses on Europe’s looming energy crisis and how the debate over Canada’s return of a critical piece of mac...
Jul 22, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 31
The demand for electricity in the world is increasing rapidly and nuclear power is seen by many as a great option to meet those needs sustainably and safely. Building nuclear reactors is capital-intensive but a large project provides jobs for thousands of people and the reactors can last for more than 30 years. Many argue nuclear energy is safe, efficient and reliable and it will be much harder to fight climate change without it. Still, nuclear energy accounts for only 10 percent of global elect...
Jul 21, 2022•39 min•Season 2Ep. 87
Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Member’s podcast focuses on two stories in the news this week. First, what did the nation-wide Rogers blackout tell us about the ...
Jul 15, 2022•19 min•Season 2Ep. 30
The economic powerhouses in today’s economy are middlemen like Amazon and Walmart, a reality that has been exacerbated in the pandemic. So argues Kathryn Judge, author of the new book, DIRECT: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of going to the Source. In it, Judge says that we are trading convenience for long (and fragile) supply chains with often unethical sources. She argues a more just and fair economy is within our grasp, if we take small actions to be conscious consumers and go...
Jul 13, 2022•42 min•Season 2Ep. 86
Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This edition of the Munk Members Podcast features Janice and Rudyard’s recommendations for great summer reads. What are the books you should be in...
Jul 08, 2022•18 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Life is full of decisions, big and small. What to eat for breakfast, what to wear to work, who to ask for advice, where to send your kids to school. But are any of these decisions truly our own? A growing movement of psychologists, philosophers, and neuroscientists believe that these decisions may feel like a tossup, but in reality are predetermined, merely the firing of neural pathways forged over time that lead to predictable conclusions. Despite how we feel, free will is an illusion. Supporte...
Jul 05, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 85
Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This edition of the Munk members podcast marks the half way point of the 2022 calendar year with Janice and Rudyard making their predictions on th...
Jul 01, 2022•17 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Episode summary Joseph Nye has been listed as the most influential scholar on American foreign policy and is widely thought of as one of the leading global thinkers of our time. Extremely well-versed in nuclear weapons and nonproliferation, Nye, a former deputy Undersecretary of State and National Security Council Chair, will join us to talk about what role the threat of nuclear weapons has played in the war in Ukraine and what this war might tell us about future conflicts. QUOTES: “ That Putin ...
Jun 29, 2022•54 min•Season 2Ep. 84
Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This edition of the Munk members podcast features two stories in the news. First, with Russian troops set to capture the strategic city of Severod...
Jun 24, 2022•18 min•Season 2Ep. 27
Should billionaires exist? On this episode of the Munk Debates Podcast, the editor of Jacobin Magazine, Bhaskar Sunkara, debates American Enterprise Institute's James Pethokoukis on the motion Be it resolved, a society that allows billionaires to exist is immoral. SOURCES: NBC, CNBC, SXSW, CBS NEWS
Jun 21, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 83
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members podcast explores a wild week in financial markets brought on by central banks around the world aggressively raising interest ra...
Jun 17, 2022•21 min•Season 2Ep. 26
In 2016, the UK stunned the rest of Europe by voting to leave the European Union. The split was close, 48 per cent of people voted to stay but 52 per cent voted to leave the geopolitical and trade alliance. In his book, Geography is Destiny , Ian Morris argues Brexit should not have come as a surprise. Instead he says, this has been playing out for 10,000 years, when the landmass now known as Britain first became an island. Morris argues that Britain is uniquely positioned due to its proximity t...
Jun 16, 2022•30 min•Season 2Ep. 82
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members podcast focuses on two stories in the news. First, what should we take away from the public debut of the findings of the U.S. c...
Jun 10, 2022•15 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Is university a waste of time and money? On this episode of the Munk Debates Podcast, Bryan Caplan, author of The Case Against Education, debates Professor Nicholas Dirks, the former Chancellor of UC Berkeley, on the motion Be it resolved, cut public spending for universities. It's a waste of time and money. SOURCES: CNN, Newsweek, EWTN, Global News.
Jun 07, 2022•42 min•Season 2Ep. 81
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein , the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths , Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members only podcast focuses on two stories in the news. First, the Russia-Ukraine War marks its 100th day of fighting. Where is...
Jun 03, 2022•12 min•Season 2Ep. 24
While many people are now happily returning to restaurants and concert halls after two years of COVID isolation, most workers are not as eager to return to the office. Office occupancy rates in the US are only at 40%, with as many as 15% of people say they plan never to return. Some economists argue that workers must be at the office for at least part of the week to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and innovation. Specifically, young workers have a lot to learn from their senior colleagues,...
May 31, 2022•43 min•Season 2Ep. 80
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein , the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths , Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members podcast analyses two stories in the news. First, something feels different about the latest school shooting incident in Ameri...
May 27, 2022•17 min•Season 2Ep. 23
By any measure, the Russian invasion of Ukraine represents a profound security risk for the world. It raises fundamental issues about the basic principles that underwrite the current international order and it threatens the specter of an entrenched, high-risk Great Power conflict. How is this fast-evolving crisis best addressed? Does it demand a resolute and relentless push by the West to punish, isolate and degrade Putin’s Russia economically, politically and militarily? Or is a solution ...
May 26, 2022•2 hr 41 min•Season 2Ep. 79
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein , the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths , Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members podcast focus on two stories in the news this week. First, there is a growing food shortage in the world. It looks likely to ...
May 20, 2022•10 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Unions are making a comeback. Frustrated with pay, benefits, job security, and working conditions, Amazon workers in Staten Island and Starbucks employees across New York have opted to join unions and initiate collective bargaining with their employers, inspiring a wave of pro-union discussions and meetings among big retail workers across Canada and the US. Many believe that America’s dwindling union membership – down to 11.2% of the workforce compared a near 30% high in the 1950&rsq...
May 17, 2022•44 min•Season 2Ep. 78
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein , the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths , Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This special episode of the Munk Members podcast provides a recap of the live and in person Munk Debate on the Russia-Ukraine war that took place in Toronto...
May 13, 2022•15 min•Season 2Ep. 21
The end of the Cold War marked the beginning of a new, interdependent world. Growing global consensus around trade rules, technology transfers, mass migration and investment ushered in a wave of globalization that was championed as the most effective means of bringing prosperity and stability to big and small countries. Yet lately, a slew of anti-globalization movements have led to a marked decrease in world trade. Some economists predict that the war between Russia and Ukraine will only acceler...
May 11, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 77
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein , the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths , Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members only podcast focuses on the upcoming May 12 Munk Debate on the Ukraine War. Janice and Rudyard discuss how the two teams of d...
May 06, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Ayaan Hirsi Ali joins us for an enlightening discussion on how many of our longstanding beliefs about reasoning and rationality are coming under attack at a time when they are needed most. “Feelings and sentiments have been elevated to a place that makes discussion of anything almost impossible… it's just not conducive to intelligent and rational debate and discussion” The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg . Tweet your comments about this e...
May 05, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 76
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein , the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths , Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members’ podcast explores three topics in the news. First, what should we take away from a week of increasingly tense public ex...
Apr 29, 2022•15 min•Season 2Ep. 19
“You can have Rogan or Young. Not both” So threatened Neil Young to Spotify in protest to the vaccine and COVID misinformation being spread on Joe Rogan’s incredibly popular and lucrative podcast. As more artists began to pull out from the platform, and users deleted their accounts, many decried what they viewed as the latest episode in an ongoing battle over control of the information landscape. Those claiming censorship argue that the Joe Rogan/Spotify episode, following in t...
Apr 28, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 75
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein , the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths , Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members only podcast focuses on two stories in the news this week. First, what can we take away from last week of the war in terms of...
Apr 22, 2022•19 min•Season 2Ep. 18
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 years later, a statue of the former British Prime Minister was defaced in London, spray painted with the words “Churchill was a racist”. As the west reckons with the misdeeds of history’s heroes, Winston Churchill’s long-time critics are eager to shine a spotlight on his dark past. To them, he was a racist, imperialist warmonge...
Apr 19, 2022•46 min•Season 2Ep. 74
This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein , the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths , Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members podcast explores three stories in the news. First, Russia suffered a series of setbacks in its war aims this week from the si...
Apr 15, 2022•14 min•Season 2Ep. 17
