Future Discontinuous

We are witnessing changes in the world order which many thought we would never live to see. The US, long a bedrock of democracy, appears to go heading down an anti-democratic path. Traditional alliances are falling apart, while longtime enemies are drawing closer together. Meanwhile Europe, long a central player in geopolitics, seems increasingly sidelined in international negotiations.

To make sense of this unfolding new world order, Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett are joined by renowned Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan who has studied great power conflicts, war, and the international order for decades. In this episode, she draws parallels between past and present conflicts and unpacks the historical context and potential consequences of this global power reshuffle.

Margaret MacMillan is emeritus Professor of History at the University of Toronto and Professor of International History and the former Warden of St. Antony's College at the University of Oxford. Her books include Women of the Raj (1988, 2007); Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World (2001) for which she was the first woman to win the Samuel Johnson Prize and Nixon in China: Six Days that Changed the World (2007). Her most recent book is War: How Conflict Shaped Us (2020) which was in The New York Times’ Ten Best Books of the Year. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Geographical Society of Canada, and Honorary Fellow of the British Academy. MacMillan is also a Trustee of the Imperial War Museum and a Board Member of the IWM.

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Tech billionaires are exerting an enormous influence on the current Trump administration. It is not just Elon Musk and DOGE who are reshaping the American state. Behind the scenes, figures like Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and David Sacks are pushing an anti-regulation agenda and an anti-democratic entrepreneurial vision of politics.

In this conversation with American journalist Eoin Higgins, Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett explore how the relationship between the tech industry and US politics evolved and delve into the ideologies uniting the so-called tech bros and their strategic goals for politics in the US and Europe.

Eoin Higgins is an American journalist and historian covering tech, US, and world politics. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Intercept, The New Republic, The Nation, and more. He also writes for Morning Brew’s tech newsletter IT Brew. Higgins is the author of Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left.

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We are living through a time of immense upheaval, with geopolitical, social, and economic shifts reshaping our world every day. However, this is not the first time humanity has faced such dramatic changes. In this episode, Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett are joined by historian Lyndal Roper to take us back 500 years to the Peasants' War of 1524–25 – the largest armed rebellion in Europe before the French Revolution.

Inspired by Martin Luther and the Reformation, peasants across the German-speaking world fought for a radical new vision of freedom. Roper brings to life the peasants' fears, joys, and struggles while exploring how they rose up against their lords, what ideals fuelled their rebellion, and, crucially, what their fight can teach us for today's crises.

Lyndal Roper is Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford, specializing in the history of the Reformation and the early modern period in Germany. She is the author of a widely acclaimed biography of Martin Luther. Her new book Summer of Fire and Blood (German title: Für die Freiheit) explores the Peasants' War of 1525.

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In this episode of Future Discontinuous, we dive deep into the political turmoil following Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 46th President of the United States. From overhauls in US domestic policy to disruptions in global diplomacy, this episode breaks down Trump‘s dramatic reshaping of the world order. Together with Mark Medish, policy consultant and former White House official, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett examine whether the Trump administration’s actions amount to a constitutional coup, assess the resilience of America’s checks and balances, and discuss the chainsaw Elon Musk is taking to the American state.

Mark Medish is an American lawyer and policy consultant with extensive experience in government and international affairs. During the Clinton Administration, he served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council , as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury. He has also held senior roles at USAID and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Medish is Director and Vice Chair of Panterra, a strategic consultancy, and founder of Keep Our Republic, a nonprofit organization dedicated to civic education and democratic governance. Medish is also member of IWM’s Board of Trustees.

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Ultra-Processed Foods lie at the heart of a global increase in a variety of chronic and fatal diseases from cancer to Type 2 Diabetes. The food industry has been pouring billions into convincing governments not to regulate these additives which make everything from baby food to burgers addictive, persuading customers to return for more. Rosie Boycott, a highly respected British publisher and journalist, has been studying the politics and science of food since she started farming two decades ago. In a revealing conversation with Eva Konzett and Misha Glenny, Boycott explains why Ultra Processed Foods are so catastrophic for health and environment, about how the food industry borrowed its lobbying strategy from tobacco, and how we can change our eating habits for the planet is to survive.

Rosie Boycott is a member of the House of Lords and has a distinguished career as a journalist, publisher, and author. She served as the editor-in-chief of several British newspapers and co-founded the feminist magazine Spare Rib. Beyond her media career, Boycott is a well-known food activist, specialising in food and environmental politics and legislation. She was also chair of the London Food Board and advised the city's government on sustainable food policy.

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The flood of headlines about the war in Israel and Gaza can feel overwhelming. Season two of Future Discontinuous kicks off with an episode examining the current state of the conflict, highlighting geopolitical dynamics and influential players. In conversation with Dahlia Scheindlin, hosts Eva Konzett and Misha Glenny explore Israeli public opinion, Netanyahu’s grip on power, Trump’s agenda for the region, and perspectives of the neighboring countries in the Middle East.

Dahlia Scheindlin is a political and strategic consultant, and policy analyst at Century International. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and other publications. Scheindlin is also the author of The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled (2023).

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It is no news that humanity will have to extract enormous amounts of rare earths and other critical raw materials to move away from carbon-based economies. In episode four of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha and Eva invite Julie Klinger, who studies the geopolitics of resource usage, to discuss the pitfalls of the green energy transition, whether we see the emergence of a new resource colonialism, and why states and mining companies alike are turning their gaze to outer space in the global race for rare minerals.

Julie Klinger is an associate professor of geography and spatial sciences at the University of Delaware. She publishes on rare earth elements, natural resource use, the energy transition, and outer space, and is the author of the award-winning book Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes (Cornell University Press, 2018).

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Making sense of the current geopolitical moment is no easy undertaking. In the third episode of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett invite prolific author, historian, and Russia expert Mark Galeotti on the podcast. Together with their guest, they try to illuminate the murky waters of Russia’s foreign policy, the repercussions of the power shifts in the Middle East on Putin’s strategy, and the broader security implications of Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership.

Mark Galeotti is the director of the consultancy Mayak Intelligence and an Honorary Professor at University College London. A specialist in Russian politics and security, he has worked for the British Foreign Office, headed the Center for Global Affairs at New York University, and studied at Cambridge University and the LSE. A prolific author, he has some 30 books to his credit, most recently Forged in War: A Military History of Russia from its Beginnings to Today (Osprey Bloomsbury, 2024).

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In the second episode of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett are joined by historian Nils Gilman, COO of the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles. Together with their guest, they take a deep dive into the national, the global, and the planetary, and discuss how the outbreak of the Black Death in the 1300s differed from COVID-19, whether a world state could work, and what kind of institutions we need to tackle humanity’s many predicaments in the 21st century.

Nils Gilman is a historian and currently the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of the Berggruen Institute, an LA-based think tank developing ideas to shape future institutions. He is the author of Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America (2004), Deviant Globalization: Black Market Economy in the 21st Century (2011), and, most recently, Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises (2024).

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In the first episode of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny (IWM) and Eva Konzett (FALTER) welcome international relations scholar and Harvard Professor Stephen Walt. In a wide-ranging conversation, they discuss the US elections and their implications for the international stage. Against the backdrop of heightened global tensions, what does the second presidency of Donald Trump mean for trade relations with China, Europe’s engagement in Ukraine, and the deepening conflict in the Middle East? Listen in as Walt gives his take on this time of monsters, as Antonio Gramsci has famously termed the moment when the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born.

Stephen Walt is the Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He previously taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. Walt is a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine, commenting regularly on global affairs. His most recent book is The Hell of Good Intentions: America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy (2018). From September to December 2024, he is a Guest of the Institute at the IWM Vienna.

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Feeling lost in a crumbling world? In Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett explore global challenges with top thinkers. From climate tech to geopolitics, they seek answers to whether humanity can reverse decline or face conflict. Join them to navigate uncharted waters with hope.

Our hosts Misha Glenny is the Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences and one of the BBC’s most distinguished correspondents, as well as the presenter of the highly-praised podcast How to Invent a Country. Eva Konzett is a renowned editor and reporter for Vienna’s leading news magazine, Falter. Future Discontinuous: Smart Talk with Smart People is a co-production of FALTER and the IWM Vienna.

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