Recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018.
Visiting Europe in the summer, President Trump lambasted Germany’s relationship with Russia, took a dig at Theresa May’s Brexit strategy and seemingly sided with Vladimir Putin against America’s own intelligence agencies. The UK’s former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, also famously made numerous diplomatic gaffes. Once diplomacy was regarded as a careful art, furthering national interests through back-channels and coded language, and pursued by highly educated diplomats. But in recent years, politicians have seemed keener to make loud public statements at the expense of cool negotiation. Why do politicians seem to respond to events on the hoof rather than pursuing a long-term strategy? Are they playing with fire?
MARY DEJEVSKY
former foreign correspondent in Moscow, Paris and Washington; special correspondent in China; writer and broadcaster
PROFESSOR BILL DURODIÉ
chair of international relations, University of Bath
DR SEAN LANG
senior lecturer in History, Anglia Ruskin University; author, First World War for Dummies
CARNE ROSS
author, The Leaderless Revolution; executive director, Independent Diplomat
#PodcastOfIdeas: John Bercow’s snub, protests on campus and Living Freedom
#BattleFest2016: The UK economy after Brexit - sink or swim?
#PodcastOfIdeas: Trump’s inauguration and Theresa May’s Brexit speech
#BattleFest2016: Is utopian thinking dead?
#BattleFest2016: The new populism
#BattleFest2016: What’s the truth about ’post-truth’ politics?
#PodcastOfIdeas: Josie Appleton on The rise of the Busybody State
#BattleFest2016: Zaha Hadid - her life and legacy
#BattleFest2016: Are political parties over?
#PodcastOfIdeas: public health, the view from Australia with Terry Barnes
#PodcastOfIdeas: Trump’s victory
#BattleFest2016: Can America be great again?
#BattleFest2016: Big Data: does size matter?
#BattleCry: Munira Mirza on reinvigorating London
#PodcastOfIdeas: What’s the truth about generational inequality?
#BattleCry: Anders Sandberg on ethical AI
#BattleCry: Ian Dunt on populism
#BattleCry: Timandra Harkness on Big Data
#BattleFest2015: After Ferguson - policing and race in America
#PodcastOfIdeas: How will we feed Britain after Brexit?
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free