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The Foreign Desk
Monocle’s global-affairs show with Andrew Mueller. Expert guests, in-depth analysis, and sharp commentary on major geopolitical issues.
Latest Episodes
Autocracies and the personality cult
In part three of our summer series we explore how autocratic leaders have built a personality cult. We look at the personality traits needed to build one and look at dictators’ legacies once the parades cease and the statues are toppled. Author Kapka Kassabova tells us what it was like…
Autocracies and architecture
Christopher Lord discusses the relationship between governance and architecture. For example, what does the layout of your parliament building say about your government? And why has work by so-called ‘starchitects’ started popping up in surprising corners of the world? With Razan Alzayani, Yasser Elsheshtawy, David Mulder van der Vegt, Peter…
Autocracies and art
In part one of our summer series we explore the relationship between autocratic regimes and art. From lewd fantasy art collections and obscene home decor to the vast and impressive – not to mention expensive – state collections of Qatar. We ask why power and money rarely lead to good…
Trump: 42 months to go
Donald Trump’s first six months in the Oval Office have given us plenty to talk about. His policies aren’t passing, his tweets keep coming – and what about that wall? But accusations against him and his closest allies are building, so how long can it last?
Venezuela: can Maduro hold on?
Unofficial referendums, spurious elections, strikes and riots – the ongoing instability in Venezuela is taking its toll on the people that live there. But could things have been different? And what can be done to return the country to normality?
No place like home
In 1965 the UK separated the Chagos Islands, an archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean, from Mauritius to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. Everyone living there was evicted and they have been fighting to return ever since. After a vote in the UN referred the matter to…
Hong Kong’s 20-year handover hangover
Twenty years after the “one party, two systems” treaty guaranteed Hong Kongers’ democratic rights, we ask if China has kept its promises and whether the UK should have been a better advocate for its former colony. We get the verdicts from Lord Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong;…
Mosul: the end of the fight against Isis?
In Iraq, Mosul is all but recaptured from Islamic State. In Syria, Raqqa looks likely to be freed next. Does the caliphate have a future if it holds no territory? And how can the retaken cities be rebuilt to stop IS coming back?
The Gulf – another Cold War?
As tensions continue to rise between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Andrew Mueller asks if the co-ordinated shunning of Qatar by many of its neighbours is just a distraction – and where this political stalemate could be heading.
Does independence always matter?
Independence movements don’t always mean a heroic struggle against oppression. Some countries that appear functional and pleasant to the outside world are home to people who do not agree. They want to be free – but from what?
