Dr. Holly Bell is an economist and author whose work sits at the intersection of economics, international security, and geopolitical risk. A former professor and academic administrator at the University of Alaska Anchorage, she studies the economic vulnerabilities of resource-rich states and the risks posed by foreign investment in critical infrastructure. She is the author…
The loss of sovereign territory has traditionally been understood as a military event, for example, through an invasion, an occupation or a flag raised over conquered ground. But a different and arguably more dangerous form of territorial loss has been unfolding for years, hidden inside routine economic decisions that, taken individually, look entirely reasonable. This…
In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen is joined by Dr. Holly Bell, economist, former professor and academic administrator at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and author of the geopolitical novel Occupied Alaska, to unpack how economic dependence on foreign capital can constrain a nation’s sovereignty just as effectively as military…
In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen is joined by Kirtan Pandit, conservation researcher and co-founder of GeoSutra, an environmental intelligence company whose team deployed drones within 24 hours of the catastrophic Nepal flood to carry out rapid damage assessments in Nuwakot district. Kirtan shares a firsthand account of the disaster…
For most of the last century, mining felt like a distant industry, something happening underground, in remote corners of Africa, South America or Central Asia, disconnected from daily life in wealthy capitals. That perception was always something of an illusion, but it has become impossible to sustain. The minerals pulled from the ground today determine…
Lisa Sachs is the Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) at Columbia University’s Climate School, where she is also an Associate Professor and Director of the M.S. in Climate Finance program. She is a globally recognised expert on climate finance, sustainable investment and natural resource governance, and a leading voice on how laws,…
What do lithium batteries, Apple Watches and artillery shells have in common? They all trace back to the same tangled web of mines, minerals and geopolitics. In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen sits down with Lisa Sachs, Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment at Columbia University’s Climate School,…
Lord Peter Ricketts GCMG GCVO is a crossbench member of the House of Lords and one of Britain’s most experienced former diplomats, having spent more than 40 years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He served as the United Kingdom’s first National Security Adviser from 2010 to 2012 under Prime Minister David Cameron, establishing the National…
Andy Burnham walked through the door of 10 Downing Street this week as Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade, a churn rate that would have been unthinkable a generation ago, and one that is now forcing allies and rivals alike to ask an uncomfortable question: does it still matter who’s in charge in London? According to Lord Peter…
In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen is joined by Lord Peter Ricketts, the UK’s first National Security Advisor, former Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, and former British Ambassador to France, to unpack what Andy Burnham’s rise to Downing Street means for Britain’s place in the world. Ricketts examines why…
