Things That Go Boom PRX
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Stories about the ins, outs, and whathaveyous of what keeps us safe. So, grab a beer and buckle up. It gets bumpy! Hosted by Laicie Heeley.
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Fika and Feminism: Part 1
This season on Things That Go Boom, we’re on a mission to figure out this new thing spreading like wildfire across the world: feminist foreign policy.
But to even begin to understand what it is and where it’s going, we had to start in the place where it failed.
We’re calling this season, “The F Word.” And on this episode and the next, we take a deep look at the chasm that caused Sweden’s feminist foreign policy to break in two.
And we ask: If this thing can’t succeed in Sweden, can it succeed at all?
GUESTS:
Dr. Brian Palmer, Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, Uppsala University; Dr. Elin Bjarnegård, Professor, Uppsala University; Margot Wallström, former Foreign Minister of Sweden
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Antigone's Diary becomes a mural when youth in the suburb of Husby tell about their lives, Stockholm University
Handbook on Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy, Government of Sweden
Sweden’s New Government Abandons Feminist Foreign Policy, Human Rights Watch
Jantelagen: Why Swedes won’t talk about wealth, BBC
Special thanks to all of our guests, including our anonymous panel participants and Dr. Brian Palmer who went above and beyond to help our team understand and connect with folks in and around Stockholm. -
Season 9: The F-Word
With more than 50 elections set to take place around the world, 2024 will be a battle for democracy. It will also be a battle for peace. Because after doing things the same way for, pretty much ever, countries in Europe and Latin America have been experimenting with something called “feminist foreign policy,” and feeling the backlash. After all, there’s a lot in a word.
But that word is really just the best way folks have come up with to describe this thing that some people think could begin to break up the boys club that dictates how we wage war, and peace.
So, can it survive? That’s what we set out to find out on this season of Things That Go Boom. -
Things That Go Boom Introduces: Click Here
Click Here is a podcast, hosted by Dina Temple-Raston, that tells true stories about the people making and breaking our digital world.
Earlier this year, the FBI added Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev to their Most Wanted hacker list for his alleged role in a number of ransomware attacks against U.S. targets. In a rare interview shortly after the FBI announcement, he talked about being added to the list and what he plans to do as an encore. -
Well, What Do You Know?
What do swarms of autonomous drones, facial recognition, and nuclear test site monitoring have in common? They are all things we were still curious about as we wrapped up this internet and security season of Things That Go Boom. In this mailbag episode, experts weigh in to help answer some tough questions from you, our audience!
GUESTS:
Lauren Kahn, Senior Research Analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology; Dr. Eleni Manis, Research Director at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project; Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Hicks Discusses Replicator Initiative, US Department of Defense
Ground Rules for the Age of AI Warfare, Foreign Affairs
Madison Square Garden Uses Facial Recognition to Ban Its Owner’s Enemies, The New York Times
Nuclear Test Sites Are Too Damn Busy, Arms Control Wonk
The Reason We’re All Still Here, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis -
Least Cost Paths
On Sunday, the people of Poland cast their votes in an election that some have called a battle for the country’s soul. When we released this episode, we were still watching for the various parties to confirm the parliamentary coalitions that would lead to the final result.
But experts tell us no matter who wins, one thing is likely to stay the same: Poland's hardline approach to refugees from its eastern border with Belarus.
So today, we head to that border, where scientists are studying the impact of rising militarization and anti-refugee activity on the region. It's not always easy — because the Polish border guard isn't always keen to hand out the answers these scientists would love to add to their analysis. But Eliot Higgins, the founder of investigative website Bellingcat, says civilians have an edge these days when states won’t answer our questions. We have an unprecedented amount of information at our fingertips — and we're using it to challenge our governments around the world in all kinds of ways.
A NOTE: We’re heartbroken by the sudden Hamas attack on Israelis and by the Israeli airstrikes and devastation in Gaza. Donate to Doctors Without Borders as it continues to offer impartial medical care to those most impacted by war.
GUESTS: Katarzyna Nowak, University of Warsaw; Michał Żmihorski, Mammal Research Institute; Maciej Kisilowski, Central European University; Eliot Higgins, Bellingcat
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Threats to Conservation From National Security Interests, Katarzyna Nowak, Dinah Bear, Anwesha Dutta, Myles Traphagen, Michał Żmihorski, and Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Conservation Biology
Recognizing Opposition Movements is Riskier Than It Seems, John Reid Wilcox, Inkstick Media
Monitoring the Environmental Consequences of the War in Ukraine, Jon Letman, Inkstick Media
Can National Reconciliation Defeat Populism? Maciej Kisilowski, Anna Wojciuk. Project Syndicate.
Thanks to Sławomir Makaruk for additional field production. -
Tobacco, Trust, and the Artist Formerly Known as Twitter
We’re about a year out from a presidential election, and former President Donald Trump is leading the Republican pack in spite of his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The attack reflected the anger and violence that can be stoked by misinformation. But the issue of misinformation has become heavily politicized since the 2016 election and Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook data to target divisive messages at segments of the American population. As a result, researchers like Boston University’s Joan Donovan have found themselves subject to intense political and funding pressures. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Donovan about the parallels between Big Tobacco and Big Tech, and what the online misinformation landscape looks like heading into the 2024 elections.
GUESTS:
Dr. Joan Donovan, Assistant Professor, Boston University College of Communication, Division of Emerging Media Studies
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Harvard Misinformation Expert Joan Donovan Forced to Leave by Kennedy School Dean, Sources Say, The Harvard Crimson
Here Are 4 Key Points From the Facebook Whistleblower’s Testimony on Capitol Hill, National Public Radio
Factsheet 4: Types of Misinformation and Disinformation, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Social Media Misinformation and the Prevention of Political Instability and Mass Atrocities, The Stimson Center
Customer Reviews
Much gratitude!
Super grateful for all the clarity and creativity of this podcast. As a long-ago student of international relations, this one of my favorite national security podcasts. Laicie & team - thank you!
Real security
I love Lacie Harley’s comprehensive take on what yields security— not merely or principally armaments, national intelligence, and stern brows, but environmental care and a world where there aren’t populations of materially desperate people. Smart, humane, and thoroughly researched.
Superb
Thought provoking, interesting, lively, and at times hilarious. Really well done. Can’t recommend highly enough.