The Global Citizen: a podcast by Katoikos.world

🌎 Our modern multilateral system is based on a political concept that was born more than 300 years ago and underlies international relations to this day. During the negotiations of the peace of Westphalia, new rules defining the nature and rights of states, notably the principle of non-interference, were established in Europe. This came to be known as the Westphalian world order, an international system emphasizing the role of the sovereign state as the basic unit in the global political arena.

🗺️ Over the centuries, with humanity advancing into new paradigms of coexistence, the Westphalian world order seems to be transforming. Supranational power structures such as regional unions (EU, African Union) and the UN have embedded themselves into the international system, introducing new spaces for multilateral interaction.

🤝 With the need to cooperate more imperative than ever, and with multiple planetary crises brewing, we are at an injunction where in order to tackle the challenges ahead, we will have to change the way we relate to each other on all levels.

🗣️ Rebecca Shoot from the US-based world federalist organization Citizens for Global Solutions joined me on the show to shed some light into this subject. Citizens for global solutions is a US-based NGO advocating for a democratic world federation predicated upon peace, human rights, and the rule of law, active in coalition building and advocacy in order to promote its vision. We went over her organization's ideas for UN reform, how world federalism might inform the development of a post-Westphalian order, what being a world federalist is like in the US, and much more.

I hope you enjoy the full interview. Thanks so much for tuning in!

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🪙 The end of the second world war ushered in a new era of change for humanity. Having tested out all of their new, shiny weapons on each other, the nation states of Europe decided to tone things down for a while, and to focus on rebuilding their war-ravaged continent. A key factor for the success of this was, of course, the US. American financial aid was a major helping hand for Europe, especially in the years right after the end of the hostilities of WW2. Along with the US' money, however, came also their influence. Europe, holding the United States' hand, entered into an period of liberalism, urbanization, opening up of markets, systemic integration (🇪🇺), and increased laissez-faire in its economies and industries - a period often called by 20th century historians "the Golden Age".

🏙️ This changed Europe's demographic, sociopolitical and cultural characteristics to an incredible degree, and with great speed. A mostly agrarian and industrial collage of societies, Europe was being transformed - to its core - into a land of opportunity, bustling market economies and capitalist models of economic planning. Today, the situation remains the same, but even more intensified. This is the case not only in Europe anymore, but, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union, in the majority of the world's economies. Fukuyama said this was the end of history - however, the corrosive elements of our system are starting to bear their teeth. Scholars believe that late capitalism does not actually require democracy to function. Systems with healthy democratic elements hinder private enterprises' ability to make more profit by keeping them on an "institutional leash", regulating their activities in the name of public interest. Therefore, one could say that giving people power to decide for themselves isn't the greatest business decision. And this has started to become obvious.

🗣️ Today I was joined by Stefanos Loukopoulos, co-founder and director of Vouliwatch, a parliamentary watchdog NGO based in Athens. Greece is a prime example of the process I explained above, and Stefanos was kind enough to come on the show to help explain the situation better. We discussed a lot about Greece, the decline of its democratic institutions, and the disillusionment and apathy of people towards their political system. We also talked about his organization, Vouliwatch, and what kind of action it takes to tackle this phenomenon. Finally, we tied the local to the global aspect, touching on the phenomenon of democratic decline on a worldwide scale. I am so grateful to Stefanos for sharing his amazing insights on these topics, and I'm happy we got to dive deeper into the goings-on of my home country, Greece. I'm excited to share this episode so that all of you can also get a bit of a clearer picture about what's going on in my little sun-washed corner of the globe :)

Thanks for tuning in!

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🌍 The planet is metaphorically (and unfortunately, quite often literally) on fire. Being a young human in their mid 20s, I've slowly and painfully learnt, as I'm transitioning into adulthood, that the world on which I'm living, and one day maybe my children, is on a downhill spiral of environmental degradation, and that increasingly tougher times are ahead.

🏭 The causes of this might be simple to point our fingers to - namely, destruction of the environment, exploitation of natural resources past their breaking point, and radical disruption of very fragile planetary and biological systems. However, if we want to get out of this mess and stay out of it, it is important that we understand exactly why we have brought ourselves to this point of environmental breakdown in the first place.

🏛️ My guest, Finnur, thinks - and in my opinion, very rightly so - that the core of the climate crisis is related to our values as a society. It might be the case that the pillars upon which we base our human existence on this planet in this point in time, which are predominantly values like growth, expansion, individualism and consumption, are fundamentally incompatible with a planet that has finite resources and extremely delicate ecosystems. Maybe the solution for climate change doesn’t only lie in our technological capacities, but might also require that we rethink our relationship with life and nature in general.

🗣️ Finnur Ricart is Chairperson of the Icelandic Young Environmentalist Association, and Icelandic UN Youth Delegate on Climate Change. He’s in his early twenties but he’s already achieved so much, and from what I can tell he’s just getting started. Our conversation covered a range of topics, like the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, which he attended as youth delegate for Iceland, as well as in the role of representative of his organization, the Icelandic Young Environmentalist Association. Finnur gave me a comprehensive, first hand account of what it’s really like to attend the conference of the parties, that absolutely massive political forum, and especially what it’s like to be there as a youth delegate, so we talked a lot about what kind of impact the youth has on the diplomatic procedures of the conference. Of course, as I mentioned above, we also talked a lot about climate change being, at its core, a crisis of values. I'm very grateful that I got to hear his perspective on all of these things, and even more grateful that I get to share them on the podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in!

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🤝 Since the beginning of our species, the one key factor that has allowed us to survive and thrive is the ability to communicate. With advanced communication comes advanced cooperation - enabling us to achieve feats much greater than any single human would be able to pull off alone. This critical skill has helped us with everything from surviving in prehistoric jungles, to repairing the ozone layer - and it is now more important than ever. 

💼 Today, our ability to communicate and cooperate is being put to the ultimate test, as we’re facing arguably the biggest challenge we’ve had to deal with so far: catastrophic climate change. Surviving this cataclysmic event requires effective teamwork. To figure out a collective solution, the international community has created the UNFCCC - the flagship UN agency for dealing with climate change. In the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC, the nations of the world confer with each other and make cooperative pledges to reduce emissions and transition to a sustainable future. But is that enough?

🗣️ My guest for today is Richard Kinley, a retired senior official of the UNFCCC with more than 25 years of experience. He kindly joined me on the show to give me an insider view of this quintessential global forum. We talked about his experience in the UNFCCC and the COPs, the biggest challenges he and his colleagues faced during their active years, and how multilateralism itself has evolved since the beginning of the COPs in the mid 90s. We also discussed whether the international community is doing enough to address climate change, the unfortunate lack of political will in national politics, and outlooks for the future of climate diplomacy.

🎙️ I’m super happy to share this episode, I had so much fun recording it! As a climate nerd and political scientist, this was right up my alley so I hope it’s as engaging and interesting to you as it was to me.

Thank you for tuning in!

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🌍 The world is in one of the most critical periods that it's ever been in. Tensions are rising, conflicts are higher and deadlier by the year and the pandemic's scars are visible and painful. The war in Ukraine has dimmed the spirit of international cooperation in a time when it is most needed. Things are looking pretty gloomy - so where do we go from here?

🗣️ To help me cope with my existential dread (and also provide incredible value to you, our listeners), Kerstin Leitner joined me on the podcast. Kerstin has 30 years of experience as a UN official, and she has lived in numerous places around the world, like Africa, China and the United States. Today she lives in Berlin and teaches at Potsdam University. 

📖 In our talk, we went over a series of topics. We covered major areas of international politics, like the situations of China-Taiwan and Ukraine-Russia, as well as developing countries and their role in the international stage. We also discussed the potential of the UN to be a key actor in the development of global geopolitics in the coming decades, especially given the monumental importance of climate change and the need for serious cooperation in order to tackle it. We also talked about feminist foreign policy as an alternative to the paradigms that currently exist in governance systems worldwide.

Thank you for tuning in!

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🔥Hatred, suspicion and prejudice is easier to spread than love, compassion and understanding. Fear is a strong driver for human beings and, in times of uncertainty and turmoil (such as our own), it takes hold of us. In the digital age, expressions of hatred and fear can interact with each other, connecting and forming ideological networks based on these root emotions. A prime example of this is the rise of the alt-right (alternative right), an online (initially) far-right, white nationalist movement, originating in the US. 

🗣️  Today's guest is Ipsita Chatterjee, a human geographer interested in the economic, cultural and geopolitical impacts of globalization. Ipsita is also a prolific author, and her latest book "The Alt-Right Movement: Dissecting Racism, Patriarchy and Anti-immigrant Xenophobia" served as the basis of our discussion. To help me better understand this phenomenon, she took me through how the alt-right came to be, its rise, and its ideological basis. We also talked about the role of the internet as a driver of alt-right ideology, but also as a potential remedy against it. Overall a super interesting discussion that I really feel gave me a much better understanding of the subject, as well as new perspectives on it.

🎙️Our conversation was actually so interesting that we ended up talking for quite a while, so I split this recording up into 2 episodes. Please enjoy part 1 and stay tuned for part 2!

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🌍 Climate change is a global crisis that knows no borders. In consequence of that, climate activism is (thankfully) becoming a global storm that transcends borders, in order to collectively imagine and create a livable, sustainable future for our species, no matter which part of the world we're from. Today, I had the privilege of learning about climate activism specifically in the Middle East and North Africa region by one of the most important players in that space: Neeshad Shafi!

🗣️ Neeshad is an environmentalist, speaker and social change advocate from Qatar. He has over 5 years of experience in analyzing Global Environmental Politics and Climate Policies with a special focus on the Middle East. He's an active member of several global environmental youth groups and contributed actively in international summits, notably the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, the UN Youth Climate Summit, and more. He is also the co-founder of the Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar, which is the first, registered, Independent, youth led, grassroots, non-profit association in the State of Qatar.

🌳 In our conversation today, we went over the youth climate movement in the MENA region, namely how it functions, what its prospects are and what its future (and the future of global youth climate activism) might look like. Additionally, we explored topics around climate policy in the MENA region in general, touching on various subjects, from oil geopolitics to climate justice. Tune in for more!

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Policy is not (or better, should not be) a one-way process; effective policymaking requires feedback and adjustment, so that the ground reality actually corresponds to the policymakers' intentions. Unfortunately, the more layered and complex a governance system is, the harder it gets to make sure that policy is being implemented correctly and addresses the issues it set out to fulfill. This leads to laws not achieving their purpose, and problematic situations remaining as they are, even after being "mended" by legal means. Often, grassroots organizations and NGOs are implicitly tasked with picking up the slack, as governmental measures fall short of the task.

On this episode of the Global Citizen podcast I had the pleasure of interviewing Srishti Sharma, serial entrepreneur and social activist from India. Srishti has been extremely active not only in the world of business, but also in social activism through start-ups and non-profit organizations that aim to tackle problems ranging from protecting women and compromised workers, to getting children back into school. 

Our conversation revolved around her own experience in setting up and running these social projects, as well as what role the government plays in supporting (or obstructing!) the work of such initiatives. I was super happy to have her on, and I felt like I left the conversation much more knowledgeable about the interplay between grassroots organizations and the government, especially in the multi-layered and complex environment of India. Tune in to hear all about it!

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Today’s show is about one of my favorite topics around politics, one that fascinated me ever since I was a student of political science. That topic is federalism, more specifically world federalism, the idea of uniting the entire world under a federal system of governance.

My guest for the day was Eston McKeague, the president of the Young World Federalists and a member of the Board of Citizens for Global Solutions. Eston is a passionate world federalist and advocates for a youth-led movement to unite the world. We had a great conversation around his organization, the Young World Federalists, how that initiative came to be and what it’s all about, and some of its notable work. We also covered federalism in general, examining its history, its current state and how it might work as a globalized system, which is the ideological basis of the world federalist movement. Many thanks to Eston and the YWF!

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Today, I had the pleasure of exploring one of the most ancient ways we’ve bonded with each other since the beginnings of our species: stories.

🗣️ The function of storytelling for humans has been quintessential, especially for our transition from life as hunter gatherers to the new social environment of civilization. The stories we tell ourselves and the others around us shape the reality we live in, and ultimately work as the catalyst for our mutual understanding of the world. Stories show what’s real, what isn’t real, and where we fit in all of it.

⭐ In virtually all folklore, one can find stories shared by cultural communities over hundreds of years. These tales serve as a unifying force in the culture, keeping it coherent by offering a common explanation for the world and whatever happens in it. In time, as cultures merge and interact, stories are blended together into narratives that inhabit our collective mind. Especially with the hyperconnectivity of the internet, this process has accelerated massively. What’s for sure is that even in a globalized, post-national world, stories will continue to have the same function, but on a larger scale.

🧔🏻‍♂️ My guest for today was Jamie Oliviero, a storyteller from Canada. Jamie started telling stories early in his life and has been doing so for more than 45 years. His love of storytelling has led him to many places around the world, from Africa to Australia, in search of indigenous stories that contain fundamental lessons about the human experience. In our conversation, he was kind enough to share some of them, sharing their origins and offering beautiful insights into each of them. We also talked about the pacifying power of stories, how they promote and nurture understanding and compassion, and how the digital age is shaped by the power of sharing them with each other.

Thank you for tuning in, and I hope you enjoy!

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Sri Lanka is going through one of its worst crises since its independence. Years of ineffective governance under the Rajapaksa family have led to the country defaulting on its external debt, leaving the economy in shambles and sparking massive protests. Inflation is at record highs, prices have hiked, there's been power cuts, a lack of medicine, and other hardships.

Rizvina de Alwis joined me on the podcast to give us an inside view of the situation. Rizvina is a writer, a storyteller, and an advocate, and she’s worked with the UN in areas like gender equality, gender based violence, and more. 

We talked about the recent history of Sri Lanka, how things got to the point they are now, what the political and economic factors were that led to the current situation, and what potential ways out of this crisis might exist. Tune in for the full interview!

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In this episode, Jason is joined by Dr Georgios Kostakos, executive director of FOGGS, this podcast's parent organization!

Georgios is co-founder and Executive Director of FOGGS with almost thirty years of work experience in international affairs, both as a practitioner and as a researcher. His experience includes fourteen years with the United Nations, with a wide range of assignments in many different parts of the world, from Haiti to South Africa, working on numerous issues including climate change, observing post-apartheid elections, and human rights. Additionally, he has previously held numerous senior positions at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), has organized postgraduate courses in international affairs at the University of Athens, and has taught Global Governance and International Organisations to postgraduate students at the Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent.

Georgios and Jason went into FOGGS and its history, including how it came to be, what its mission is and what work it's undertaken so far. Afterward, the conversation shifted to the war in Ukraine, more specifically how it has affected global geopolitics, how it relates to the state of the world in general, and what the UN's involvement in the conflict has looked like so far. Tune in for the full conversation!

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Welcome to the first episode of the Global Citizen, a podcast by the journal Katoikos.world and the Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS). We're starting off with an amazing interview with Yoriko Yasukawa, vice-president of FOGGS!

Yoriko has worked for over 35 years in efforts to advance inclusive and sustainable development, human rights, and cultures of peace, within and outside the United Nations system. She has also participated in the facilitation of negotiations that led to a national agreement on a new Constitution in Bolivia, the development of a citizens’ movement around universal basic education in Ecuador, and the advancement of the rights of indigenous peoples and Afrodescendants in Costa Rica.

Yoriko and Jason go deep into topics such as the role of narratives in politics, especially in today's digital age, how the stories that humans tell themselves shape their direction, their priorities, and subsequently their actions, as well as how the conflict in Ukraine is interpreted and conveyed in different parts of the world. Tune in to hear more!

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