Shows / The EI Podcast
The EI Podcast
The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations with leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn, Jack Dickens and Paul Lay. Produced by Max Mitchell.
Episodes
The EI PodcastWorldview — People power: dealing with demography
Is demography destiny? Shifting patterns in population have marked history, drive political change and sharpen cultural divides. In our latest episode of…
The EI PodcastThe City of God: on Augustine’s vision of Empire
Augustine’s seminal book was written in the context of the Roman Empire, but it remains ever-relevant. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image description: St Augustine /…
The EI PodcastWorldview — The risks and the rewards of AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the worlds of art, manufacturing, medicine, even the language we use, at a bewildering speed. Should we fear or…
The EI PodcastGeopolitics never went away for the United States
For the United States, geopolitics has always been about national identity, even in an era of globalisation. Perhaps it always will be. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastOn Civility by Erica Benner
Navigating politico-religious disagreements in a spirit of civility is nigh-on impossible in eras in which the meaning of civility itself is contested. How do…
The EI PodcastInformation war does not exist by Peter Pomerantsev
In the Cold War the Kremlin tried to convince foreign audiences its disinformation campaigns were real, today the aim seems to be different. Read by Leighton…
The EI PodcastThe ancient roots of the modern holy war by Tom Holland
The crusades, jihad, and wars in defence of intangible ideals all have their origins in a short-lived conflict in the 6th century BC. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastFrom the Silk Road to the information superhighway by Peter Frankopan
Globalisation may appear to be a cornerstone of modernity but humans have always both craved and feared connection, be it social, commercial, spiritual or…
The EI PodcastFinding Garibaldi by Lucy Riall
Garibaldi’s retreat to his home in Caprera spawned a liberal-nationalist ideal of statesmanship that would live long in the European imagination. Read by…
The EI PodcastWhat did it mean to belong to the Holy Roman Empire? by Peter Wilson
The Holy Roman Empire was neither a nation state nor indeed a conventional empire. Instead, its inhabitants were unified through a web of legal rights. Read by…
The EI PodcastTowards a Westphalia for the Middle East by Brendan Simms
Westphalia’s legacy of compromise and conditional sovereignty shows the way to peace in the Middle East. Read by Leighton Pugh. The Ratification of the Treaty…
The EI PodcastWhat is mistake theory and can it save the humanities? By Claire Lehmann
While critical theory is not without its uses, it is time that we take a more constructive approach to social issues. ‘Mistake theory’ can offer a useful lens…
The EI PodcastWorldview — Genome, the dangers and potential of gene editing
It is now clear that genetically editing human beings is not only possible, but increasingly simple. The ethical considerations of this development on the…
The EI PodcastThe Case of East Asia by Jonathan Fenby
East Asia, especially China's, economic rise in the latter half of the twentieth century was sudden and impressive but now, growth is stalling. This, combined…
The EI PodcastWorldview — China and India: a new struggle for dominance
For thousands of years, India and China had relatively little contact, but following China's annexation of Tibet and the end of European colonialism, the two…
The EI PodcastHow to fix the future, Estonian style by Andrew Keen
Rather than protecting individual data privacy, the fate of democracy in our networked age might depend on establishing a new, radically transparent contract…
The EI PodcastWorldview — Revolution and evolution: the history of the book
In around 1440 AD, a goldsmith called Johannes Gutenberg began assembling the apparatus that would eventually become known as the first Western printing press…
The EI PodcastWhy the nation beat the empire in the battle of nineteenth century ideas by Jeremy Jennings
A history of the nineteenth century tells not just of newly-formed nations, but of newly-developing nationalism. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Carving Up The…
The EI PodcastWorldview — Pressure on the power network
The West must have an adaptable power grid to meet the challenges of this geopolitical energy crisis. In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by…
The EI PodcastThe joy of suffering by Candida Moss
The crucifixion lodged suffering at the heart of Christianity: to suffer was to be like Christ. This reframing of suffering had far-reaching consequences for…
The EI PodcastWorldview — The nuclear threat today
There are currently around 13,000 nuclear warheads worldwide, with Russia possessing the largest nuclear arsenal. And yet, nuclear weapons have not been…
The EI PodcastThe Revolt of the European Masses: the disintegration of accountability in supra-national politics by Janne Haaland Matlary
With forces such as identity politics and supra-national bodies gaining traction across Europe, the concept of the nation state has never been more important…
The EI PodcastWorldview — The global struggle for microchip supremacy
When the pioneers of computer engineering created the first integrated circuits in the 1950s they could not have envisaged how this technology would infiltrate…
The EI PodcastRethinking geopolitics by Jeremy Black
Geography and politics are closely intertwined, although that no more means that all geography is political than that all politics is geographical. Read by…
The EI PodcastWhy the idea of Carthage survived Roman conquest by Richard Miles
The Romans burnt Carthage’s books and buildings – but ‘Punic’ identity remained influential throughout Antiquity. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Print of…
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen — The end of history ends by Walter Russell Mead
The era in world history that began with the fall of the Soviet Union is drawing to its close. The post-Cold War Eurasian settlement that the United States and…
The EI PodcastThe restless search for the fun wars by David J Betz
The West, more specifically the United States, with its major allies alongside it, has been chasing the 'fun wars' for forty years and serially coming up…
The EI PodcastThe impact of the First World War on strategy by Hew Strachan
The First World War fundamentally altered our understanding of strategy — we should heed the insights of the era's leading thinkers and generals. Read by…
The EI PodcastThe polymath in the age of specialisation by Peter Burke
Crises of knowledge precipitate drives towards specialisation. In our digital age we still need polymaths. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: This chart is taken…
The EI PodcastAuthority without knowledge by Erica Benner
The worst form of ignorance in politics is an inflated opinion of one’s own wisdom. In matters of moral judgement, authority-dependence carries grave risks…
The EI PodcastGeopolitics and the Mongol Empire by Morris Rossabi
Political and economic concerns were as critical as environmental and geographic factors in forging the unity of the Mongol Empire. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastFairy Tales of Statehood: the politics of sacred land and divine-kings by Jessica Frazier
Land is the silent, steady, partner in the messy realm of politics and national divides between monarchs. Read by Leighton Pugh. You can find the essay…
The EI PodcastWhy War Again? by Lilia Shevtsova
As hostilities with Russia increase, we must again ask ourselves what drives human beings to conflict, especially after an era of peace. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastJihadist Media Strategies by Elisabeth Kendall
While the Islamic State’s savvy media presence may have overshadowed that of al-Qaeda over the past decade, the efforts of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula…
The EI PodcastThe Joint Intelligence Committee: Reading the Russian mindset by Michael Goodman
During the Cold War, the British Joint Intelligence Committee was charged with forecasting the actions of states behind the Iron Curtain and the rest of the…
The EI PodcastDemocracy in crisis: Lessons from Ancient Athens by Erica Benner
Demagogues thrive if moderate politicians flatter citizens into an unrealistic sense of their own greatness. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastTribal bias from the wild to the laboratory by Cory J Clark
It is not just politics that is beset by tribalism. The social sciences are also vulnerable to in-group bias. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastLove as Religion by Simon May
Love has become widely seen as a democracy of salvation open to all. The reality is more complex. Is our religion of love doing more harm than good? Read by…
The EI PodcastThe Gospel of Thomas: casting a new light on Early Christianity by Elaine Pagels
While there may have been striking similarities between the Gospel of Thomas and those of the four Evangelists, closer examination reveals a subtle yet…
The EI PodcastWorldview — The battle for energy resources
In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Professor Helen Thompson, Tim Marshall and Daniel Yergin to discuss the global energy market. The…
The EI PodcastWhy 16 billion cortical neurons are not enough by Suzana Herculano-Houzel
Humanity has come quite some way in the past 200,000 years but are we really anything more than primates with a few million more neurons than our closest…
The EI PodcastWorldview — Leadership in war
What's a war without its leaders? In this week's Worldview, Adam Boulton speaks to leading historians Margaret MacMillan and Andrew Roberts on how leadership…
The EI PodcastModern France and the ghosts of the past by Peter Ricketts
France, like all countries, is haunted by events and mistakes of times past. These ghosts will guide modern policy until they are overridden and laid to rest…
The EI PodcastLawrence of Arabia on war: How the past haunts the present by Rob Johnson
The Lawrence legend continues to win new devotees while his pragmatic contribution to warfare is neglected. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastThe importance of the individual in history by Vernon Bogdanor
Throughout the ages, oracles, journalists and political scientists have attempted to guess the course fate may take. But should they fail to take the…
The EI PodcastWorldview — Conflict in space
In our latest episode of Worldview hosted by Adam Boulton we consider the role outer space will play in the future of conflict. How soon will conflicts on…
The EI PodcastGeopolitics, geoeconomics and Russian revisionism by Mikael Wigell
Traditional geopolitical solutions (accommodation or military containment) are unlikely to work with Putin’s Russia. Instead the West should pursue a unified…
The EI PodcastWorldview — The Battlefield
How does the war in Ukraine look on the ground? What does the future of the battlefield hold? In this week's episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton speaks to…
The EI PodcastWorldview — The Russia Problem
Our new series of Worldview, presented by Adam Boulton is considering the future of warfare and geopolitics in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In…
The EI PodcastContaining and deterring Russia: can Europe act strategically? by Janne Haaland Matlary
The condemnation of the annexation of the Crimea was unified and strong, but the sanctions that followed lacked any real bite. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastWorldview — The World Remade
Our new series of Worldview, presented by Adam Boulton is considering the future of warfare and geopolitics in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In…
The EI PodcastThe long peace and nuclear deterrence by Lawrence Freedman
For the past sixty years, the use of nuclear weapons has become unthinkable. But with every conflict there comes a point where the unthinkable becomes…
The EI PodcastVariety in Judaism by Martin Goodman
In a religious system which presupposed a covenant not just between God and the individual Jew, but between God and Israel as a nation, the sense of communal…
The EI PodcastAmerica's problem with unconventional warfare by Frederick Kagan
For more than thirty years, the US has sought to avoid deploying ground forces into protracted conflict. It has nevertheless done so in almost every single one…
The EI PodcastSuffering, the price of being alive: an Islamic perspective by Mona Siddiqui
Islam — unlike Christianity — may not have a central motif of pain, sin and suffering, but it reveals so much about what it means to live with adversity. Read…
The EI PodcastReassessing Christian history by Diarmaid Macculloch
While Christianity may strive to sing in a single voice, no one modern denomination ought to claim a monopoly on the truth. The region's history is in fact far…
The EI PodcastThe gods in love by Jessica Frazier
The Hindu tradition of Radha and Krishna calls us to see passion as the kernel of all religion. Read by Leighton Pugh…
The EI PodcastThe story of the Jesuits: how the Society of Jesus charted the world by M.Antoni J. Ucerler, S.J.
As Jesuit missionaries spread further across the globe, the order’s founder wanted to ensure that its members remained connected. The result of this was an…
The EI PodcastThe Portuguese: Pioneers of globalisation by Roger Crowley
Portugal’s commercial dominance of large swathes of the world lasted little more than a century but the images, transmissions, and trades that it engendered…
The EI PodcastElements of seapower, past and present by Lincoln Paine
Sea power derives from resources, a direct interest in sea-based trade, and pressure exerted by enemies. In the modern age, the importance of these factors in…