CSIS | Center For Strategic Podcasts

A podcast unpacking critical issues underpinning China’s emergence as a global power.

North Korea is the Impossible State. Each week join the people who know the most about North Korea—The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Victor Cha, Mike Green, and Sue Mi Terry—for an insider's discussion with host H. Andrew Schwartz about the United States’ top national security priority. Email your questions to ImpossibleState@csis.org.

Fearless music activists. Savvy tech entrepreneurs. Social disrupters. Into Africa shatters the narratives that dominate U.S. perceptions of Africa. Host Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, Africa program director and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C., sits down with policymakers, journalists, academics and other trailblazers in African affairs to shine a spotlight on the faces spearheading cultural, political, and economic change on the continent.

A weekly analysis of the complex policy issues driving the news.

CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power is a speaker series on women in international business and global affairs. The biweekly podcast features leading women from the corporate, government, and national security worlds discussing top international issues.

Trade experts Scott Miller and Bill Reinsch break down the buzz around trade, how it affects policy, and how it impacts your day-to-day. The Trade Guys is hosted every week by H. Andrew Schwartz at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Email your questions to TradeGuys@csis.org.

Hosted by Max Bergmann, director of the CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, “NATO’s Road to Madrid” explores how the United States’ most important alliance is approaching a critical process it has not undertaken since 2010: updating its Strategic Concept. The last time NATO endorsed a formal strategy, Russia had not invaded Ukraine, China was not yet thought to be a challenge meriting NATO attention, and defense planners were only beginning to look at the military implications of clima ...

Energy 360 examines the energy landscape from the intersection of policy, markets, technologies, and geopolitics. With commentary from leading energy and CSIS experts, we provide context and perspective on the most critical issues shaping energy today. Hosted by the CSIS Energy and National Security Program.

Greg Poling, Elina Noor, and Simon Tran Hudes highlight the most important news from Southeast Asia and dive into candid conversations with leading voices on the region and U.S. foreign policy. We’ll cover everything you want to know about Southeast Asia. Geopolitics in the region? Recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic? Democracy and human rights? Nothing is off limits! So join us for “Southeast Asia Radio” every other Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.

The battle for democracy will be fought one human rights issue at a time. In this biweekly podcast from the CSIS Human Rights Initiative, host Marti Flacks tackles current events with activists and policymakers at the center of global efforts to promote human rights and build stronger, more sustainable democracies. Share your feedback at humanrights@csis.org.

Russian Roulette takes a look at the politics, economics, and culture of Russia and Eurasia through both interviews and lively discussion with experts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and around the world. Hosted by CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program experts Olga Oliker and Jeffrey Mankoff.

The world's top leaders and thinkers come to CSIS to discuss pressing global challenges. Each week, “Curated Conversations” culls the most critical of these discussions. For more on CSIS events, visit csis.org/events.

The CSIS Americas Program podcast looks at the politics and policies of the 35 countries in the Western Hemisphere. It especially focuses on U.S. engagement with the region, whether on trade, diplomacy, or security issues like drugs and terrorism. Guests include top policymakers from the U.S. and other countries.

Hosted by Dan Runde, William A. Schreyer Chair and Director, Project on Prosperity and Development, Building the Future explores topics at the intersection of global development, foreign policy, and national security. In each episode, Dan sits down for a discussion with a leading expert from government, the private sector, and international organizations to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the world today.

The “Asia Chessboard” features in-depth conversations with the most prominent strategic thinkers on Asia. Co-hosts Jude Blanchette, Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, and Michael Green, Henry A. Kissinger Chair at CSIS and CEO of the United States Studies Centre, take the debate beyond the headlines of the day to explore the historical context and inside decision-making process on major geopolitical developments from the Himalayas to the South China Sea. Experience the hard calls and co ...

Shannon N. Green, former director and senior fellow of the CSIS Human Rights Initiative and former managing director of CSIS’s Commission on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), explored the violent extremism phenomenon – its causes, manifestations, and responses. In each episode, Shannon sat down with a different expert or practitioner, building a mosaic of voices and perspectives on CVE from all around the world.

The AMTI Podcast covers developments in the Asia-Pacific maritime domain, from land reclamation, to fisheries disputes.

China has emerged as one of the 21st century’s most consequential nations, making it more important than ever to understand how the country is governed. True to the name Pekingology, or the study of the political behavior of the People’s Republic of China, this podcast aims to unpack the behavior of the Chinese Communist Party and implications these actions have within China and for U.S.-China relations. Jude Blanchette, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, is joined by various expert ...

The CSIS Proliferation Prevention Program talks to experts about transparency and nuclear weapons.

Hosted by CBS News’ Bob Schieffer with H. Andrew Schwartz, “About the News” is series of conversations with the top people reporting the news, about the news, and its impact on politics and policy. A collaboration between the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) and the Bob Schieffer College of Communication at TCU, Schieffer and Schwartz host a weekly discussion with the most interesting people working in legacy media, digitally native platforms, social media companies, and t ...

In 2016, a rival foreign power, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, launched an attack on the United States of America. What we now know is that American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia planned and executed a campaign to undermine our democracy and to affect our Presidential election. For President Trump, Russia is a complicated subject. But this podcast isn't about Donald Trump's complications with Russia, nor is it about Republicans and Democrats. One of the dangers in the hyper part ...

Today’s food insecurity requires new solutions. Have policymakers kept up, or are they relying on yesterday’s answers? On the Reset the Table podcast, CSIS Global Food Security Program director Caitlin Welsh makes room at the table for fresh ideas for solving food insecurity around the world—and right here at home.

CSIS is renowned as the leading center of Arctic research in Washington. Through research projects and analyses, it has produced countless reports and hosted senior level discussions with Canadian, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, and U.S. officials on political, economic, and social development trends in the Arctic and their importance for the United States, Europe, and the transatlantic relationship. Its efforts have increased public debate on and awareness of Arctic issues among policymakers a ...

What is the past, present, and future of U.S. policy towards sub-Saharan Africa? Judd Devermont, Director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Nicole Wilett, Chief of Staff at the Open Society Foundations, sit down with diplomats, journalists, civil society activists, and academics to discuss policy recommendations for the Biden Administration. In 15 minutes or less, these episodes deliver the goods on U.S. relations with African countries, ...

Through a series of expert interviews, this podcast mini-series explores some of the most pressing questions raised by the CSIS Middle East Program report, “Citizens in Training: Conscription and Nation-building in the United Arab Emirates.” Hear from leading experts on the Gulf, the UAE, and modern militaries in general what the UAE’s bold experiment in military conscription as a nationbuilding tool reveals about the leadership’s diagnosis of its key challenges at a pivotal moment in its na ...

CSIS looks at how rapidly changing technology and cybersecurity are affecting the world in the twenty-first century. Issues covered include intelligence, surveillance, encryption, privacy, military technology, space, and more. Programs leading the research on this topic include the Strategic Technologies Program and the International Security Program. Find the latest research from our scholars and CSIS events on this topic below.

CSIS is a leader in researching, analyzing and identifying defense and security threats around the globe. CSIS programs study a wide range of Defense and Security issues as well as the evolution of past, present, and future defense and security policy worldwide. This research is led by the International Security Program (ISP), which houses Defense Budget Analysis, the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group (DIIG), the Missile Defense Project, the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI), Civil-Militar ...

CSIS human rights research is led by the Human Rights Initiative (HRI). Launched in 2014, HRI promotes a proactive global human rights agenda that reinforces democratic values as a central component of a comprehensive foreign policy. It seeks to generate innovative solutions for government, civil society, and the private sector and works to integrate human rights priorities across U.S. foreign policy interests. In conjunction with the HRI program, CSIS experts from across programs also exami ...

The CSIS Americas Program anchors the center’s work on this region with the objective to elevate the discussion to the strategic level. CSIS’s programming primarily focuses on the effect of impunity and abuse of power on defense and security sector priorities, the impact that the erosion of democratic practices and institutions has on vulnerable populations, and the consequences of forced displacement and involuntary migration. The Americas Program collaborates closely with other CSIS Progra ...

CSIS is renowned as the leading center of Arctic research in Washington. Through research projects and analyses, it has produced countless reports and hosted senior level discussions with Canadian, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, and U.S. officials on political, economic, and social development trends in the Arctic and their importance for the United States, Europe, and the transatlantic relationship. Its efforts have increased public debate on and awareness of Arctic issues among policymakers a ...