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
Explainer 142: Who are the DUP?
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party, a Protestant group that wishes to remain part of the UK and separate from its Catholic neighbours to the south, has just 10 elected representatives in the UK’s House of Commons. But, crucially, it also holds the balance of power and is vital in helping…
Soft-power special
As Monocle’s annual Soft Power Survey hits newsstands, Andrew Mueller asks what countries can offer their international partners beyond trade and guns – or just the cold shoulder. Whether it’s sport, music, food, technology or a quick trip into space, soft power can (if deployed correctly) win hearts, minds and…
Explainer 141: Is Merkel’s departure a blow to liberal democracy?
As soon as Angela Merkel announced her exit from politics, international media were reporting the end of democracy as we know it – the final nail in the coffin of political decency. But, as our Berlin correspondent Kati Krause explains, it’s nowhere near that bad. In fact, it’s quite the…
The Trump effect
Last week’s midterms saw the election of record-breaking numbers of women and breakthroughs for minorities. Might Trump’s legacy be turning the US into everything his supporters like least – and fear most? Andrew Mueller is joined by former deputy homeland security adviser Amy Pope, UCL’s Jeffrey Howard and US Naval…
Explainer 140: Floral tributes
Every year the Royal British Legion, a charity that supports members and veterans of the British armed forces, raises money by selling poppies in remembrance of those who have died during service. Andrew Mueller explores how a well-meaning charity fundraiser has become yet another frontline in the 21st century’s culture…
Why ambassadors still matter
Despite being the world’s most powerful country, the US has dozens of vacant ambassadorships in the capitals of some of its most important allies. Does the current administration’s disregard for America’s foreign service signal a shift in global attitudes to diplomacy, when picking up the phone for a direct government-to-government…
Explainer 139: Trump’s predictable October surprise
Although the group of asylum seekers travelling towards the US from Central America is real, the threat they pose to American citizens is not. With only a few days until the midterm elections, it doesn’t take a political scientist to work out why Donald Trump has decided that now is…
Xinjiang: China’s captive province
China does a good job of keeping its Uyghur minority out of international headlines. But, as more stories of huge numbers of Uyghurs incarcerated in detention centres emerge, so do less-than-convincing excuses from Beijing. What do the Uyghurs want that China fears so much? And could this type of persecution…
Explainer 138: What does the Wentworth by-election mean for Australia’s conservatives?
In an historic upset, Australia’s governing coalition lost its one-seat parliamentary majority following a by-election in the Sydney electorate of Wentworth. Andrew Mueller explains why this comes as a shock, and asks if Australian conservatism has wandered deep into the ideological weeds.
Saudi Arabia vs the world
When news broke earlier this month of the disappearance and alleged murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi the outcry was appropriately loud. But what about the war in Yemen, the human rights abuses, the support for terrorism around the world? These were seen more as inconveniences to global powers that…
