Season Five Trailer

Why It Matters is back for a fifth season, asking the important questions about the global issues, problems, and trends that will affect the future. What role does American music play in international relations? Will the global supply chain put the path to clean energy at risk? What the heck is quantum computing? 

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Host
  • Gabrielle Sierra
    Director, Podcasting
Credits

Asher Ross - Supervising Producer

Markus Zakaria - Audio Producer and Sound Designer

Rafaela Siewert - Associate Podcast Producer

Show Notes

Get caught up on the first four seasons: 

 

Season four: 

 

Hyperventilating Over Hypersonics

 

The Climate for Nuclear Energy

 

Mexico

 

Sexual Assault in the U.S. Military

 

Spying 101

 

Perspective on Afghanistan, With Richard N. Haass

 

Japan’s Population Problem

 

Water Scarcity

 

When the Microchips Are Down

 

Season three:

 

Gone Fishing

 

A Global Shot in the Arm, With Anthony Fauci

 

The Dollar Privilege

 

The Most Persistent and Lethal Threat

 

Russia

 

China’s Starring Role in Hollywood

 

The Future Is African

 

A Climate Bomb in the Amazon

 

Let’s Talk About Toilets

 

Make America Vote Again

 

Season Three Trailer

 

Season two:

 

Treasures Looted in War

 

Why We Need International Students

 

Pricing Our Climate

 

Hey, Remember the Olympics?

 

Living in History

 

The World Is Watching Us

 

The Human Cost of Labor Trafficking

 

Exporting Authoritarianism

 

WhatsApp With India?

 

Wearing the World Out

 

Bonus Episode: ‘A Medically Induced Economic Coma’

 

Season Two Trailer

 

Season one:

 

The Big Red Button

 

China Doesn’t Want Your Trash

 

STEMinism

 

Space Jam

 

Prescription for Disaster

 

New Years Special: 2020 Hindsight

 

Robots That Kill

 

Voter, You’ve Been Hacked

 

Dimming the Sky

 

The One Where We Talk About NATO at a Party

 

Coronavirus

 

India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular man in India. On track to be elected for a third term, he has transformed the country’s economy and global standing while silencing dissent and galvanizing majoritarian support for his Hindu nationalist agenda—all while growing closer to the United States. How could Hindu nationalism reshape India?

Media

In a wide-ranging conversation, Foreign Affairs Editor Dan Kurtz-Phelan joins Why It Matters to discuss nonpartisan publishing in a polarized political climate, the state of press freedom around the world, and the future of journalism.

Genocide and Mass Atrocities

Thirty years ago, Rwanda’s government began a campaign to eradicate the country’s largest minority group. In just one hundred days in 1994, roving militias killed around eight hundred thousand people. Would-be killers were incited to violence by the radio, which encouraged extremists to take to the streets with machetes. The United Nations stood by amid the bloodshed, and many foreign governments, including the United States, declined to intervene before it was too late. What got in the way of humanitarian intervention? And as violent conflict now rages at a clip unseen since then, can the international community learn from the mistakes of its past?

Top Stories on CFR

Election 2024

Each Friday, I look at what the presidential contenders are saying about foreign policy. This Week: Trump’s conviction on thirty-four felony counts takes the U.S. presidential election into uncharted waters.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

The transatlantic alliance has begun to connect its traditional security interests in Europe with the geopolitical dynamics in the Indo-Pacific region, including tensions between China and Taiwan.

Mexico

Andrés Rozental, a distinguished retired Mexican diplomat, president of Rozental & Asociados, and the founding president of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the dynamics of Mexico’s upcoming election and its consequences for the Mexican people as well as for U.S.-Mexico relations.