Best of the summer - 3 September 2021

Following a short break through August, BISA Director, Juliet Dryden, is back with a round up of the most relevant and interesting IR news from the past five weeks. Going forward, you can join her each week as she brings you the week's best readings and podcasts to keep you up to date with what's happening around the world.

Climate Change: Getting ready for COP26

• Countdown to the climate summit  with 1, 2, 3 and 4 podcast episodes from Reasons to be Cheerful with Ed Milliband and Geoff Lloyd
• Podcast: How did we get here? Author Alice Bell gives an overview of the climate crisis and the political response to it followed by reflections from climate lawyer Farhana Yamin and former negotiator Pete Betts on previous summits
• Podcast: What are the stakes? Scientist Emily Shuckburgh explains reasons for urgent action. Saleemul Huq from the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh and former president of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed show how the climate crisis is impacting countries around the world
• Podcast: What needs to happen? A look at the politics of the climate summit. Experts Pete Betts, Farhana Yamin and Saleemul Huq talk through the outcomes we need from COP 26 and the challenges in making them happen
• Podcast: What can we all do? How is the climate movement pushing world leaders to act? Listen to Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate talk about her journey into activism and Tommy Vickerstaff from 350.org explain how we can get involved in campaigning around the COP.

Europe

• The singular Chancellor. The Merkel model and its limits. Read Constanze Steizenmuller in Foreign Affairs
• At the next election Italians have two options:  Right or further right? Valerio Alfonso Bruno for Open Democracy  
• Wake-up call. After Afghanistan, Europe must step up. The view from the New York Times.

United States

• Liberal democracy is worth a fight. Anne Applebaum in the Atlantic
• From 9/11 to 1/6. The war on terror supercharged the far right. Cynthia Miller Idris for Foreign Affairs
• Defensive not aggressive. Khrushchev’s Cuban gambit. Read Andrew Cockburn in the London Review of Books
• Podcast: The foreign policy conversation America doesn’t want to have. The Ezra Klein Show/ New York Times.

The future of American power

• America’s credibility after Afghanistan. Joshua D Kertzer for Foreign Affairs
• Failure in Afghanistan won’t weaken America’s alliances. Robin Niblett in Foreign Affairs
• Out of Afghanistan. Joe Biden and the future of America’s foreign policy. Andrew Mumford in the Conversation
• Does China’s rise mean America’s fall? Paul Kennedy for the Economist
• Why the end of America’s empire won’t be peaceful. Niall Ferguson in the Economist.

China

• China’ very tricky situation. Timothy McLaughlin in the Atlantic
• Why China will not surpass the United States. Minxin Pei for the Economist.

Afghanistan

• Like ordering pizza. The war in Afghanistan, Read Thomas Meaney in the London Review of Books
• Afghanistan was lost long ago. James Dobbins in Foreign Affairs
• Afghanistan unravelled. Twenty years of building a civilised society ends in the return of these  brutes. Michael Semple in the Irish Times
• Western powers must accept defeat and deal realistically with the Taliban. Sten Rynning in the Conversation
• All in or all out? Biden saw no middle ground in Afghanistan. The New York Times
• ISIS-K violence could force the west into an unlikely alliance with the Taliban. Scott Lucas in Reaction
• Afghanistan’s growing humanitarian crisis. Briefing note from International Crisis Group.

Around the globe

• Podcast: Global white nationalism. From apartheid to Trump with Clive Gabay (QMUL), Camilla Schofield (UEA) and Bill Schwarz (QMUL)
• Iran’s capability is more likely bluff than bombs. Christoph Bluth in the Conversation
• The shattering of Yemen. Why ending the war is more difficult than ever. Michael Wahid Hanna and Peter Salisbury for Foreign Affairs
• One year on after Lebanese explosion, the failing state struggles amid poverty and sectarianism. John Nagle for the Conversation
• Nigeria’s secret programme to lure Boko Haram defectors. Obi Anyadike in the New Humanitarian
• Venezuela: Making the most of the Mexican breakthrough. Phil Gunson for International Crisis Group
• Mediocracy vs the people. An Englesberg Ideas essay by Adam Wooldridge.

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash