*This episode was recorded in October 2025* This episode with Dr Lev Breydo explores how sovereign debt has evolved into a strategic instrument of power in an era of heightened geopolitical risk. We examine how credit markets, financial infrastructure, and legal design now shape state behaviour, constrain autonomy, and function as tools of coercion below the threshold…
Sovereign debt is not new. What is new is the role it now plays at the strategic level. Instruments once treated as technical matters of fiscal management have moved to the centre of international politics, shaping how states exert influence, constrain rivals, and manage risk without overt confrontation. In a recent episode of The International…
Coordinated and Produced by Elisa Garbil This episode with Romane Dideberg explores responsible mineral sourcing in the context of rising geopolitical risk, with a focus on the Sahel. We examine how insecurity, military coups, and shifting alliances are reshaping control over critical minerals, driving resource nationalism, and complicating governance in fragile and conflict-affected states. Moreover, we also look…
Romane Dideberg is a researcher at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. She works within the institute’s Africa Programme, engaging with policymakers, researchers, private sector, and international organisations on key policy challenges across the African continent. Her research focuses on peace and security dynamics and political developments in West Africa and the…
Written by Elisa Garbil – 29.12.2025 Critical minerals have become the strategic linchpin of the global energy transition. Electrification, battery manufacturing, and digital infrastructure all depend on a steady flow of minerals such as cobalt, lithium, manganese, rare earth elements, and platinum-group metals. As industrialised economies push toward decarbonisation and technological expansion, they are discovering that the…
In this episode, Dominic Bowen and Aidan Hehir discuss the legacy of the Srebrenica genocide, the politics of remembrance, and why, nearly thirty years later, the region continues to struggle with denial, revisionism, and rising ethnic tensions. Find out more about how competing narratives have shaped post-war identities, the role of international courts in establishing the historical…
The massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995, during which more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed, is one of the most devastating atrocities in Europe and the only genocide to be legally recognized on the continent since the Second World War. Despite this, the event’s memory has become deeply contested, which has significantly…
Dr Aidan Hehir is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Westminster. He gained his PhD from the University of Limerick in 2005 and previously worked at the University of Sheffield. His research interests include transitional justice, humanitarian intervention, and statebuilding in Kosovo. He is the author-editor of twelve academic books, the most recent…
2025 wasn’t just a year with a few bumps, it really was a live fire activity when it comes to leadership, business models, political systems and geopolitics and I think we’ve had some amazing guests on the International Risk Podcast this year. I’m Dominic Bowen, host of the International Risk Podcast and as wars are…
Grey zone warfare has become one of the defining strategic challenges of the twenty-first century. Positioned between peace and open conflict, this domain encompasses cyber intrusions, election interference, disinformation, sabotage, covert maritime activity and the growing use of state and non-state proxies. In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, Dominic Bowen speaks with Professor…
