Violence, Preparedness, and the Modern Workplace: Why Organisations Can No Longer Ignore Active Threat Risks

Violence, Preparedness, and the Modern Workplace: Why Organisations Can No Longer Ignore Active Threat Risks

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Workplace violence is no longer viewed as a rare or isolated risk. Across the United Kingdom, incidents of violence at work have continued to rise, while organisations globally are confronting increasingly complex operating environments shaped by geopolitical tensions, social volatility, insider threats, economic uncertainty, and growing societal polarisation. In this episode of The International Risk…

Michael Julian

Michael Julian

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Michael Julian is the creator of the ALIVE active shooter survival training program and a 30-year veteran of the private security industry. As President and CEO of MPS Security and Protection, he has led executive protection details, workplace violence prevention engagements, behavioral threat assessment teams, and active shooter response training for clients across the United…

Episode 363: Physical Security and Workplace Safety with Michael Julian

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

This episode with Michael Julian explores the growing realities of workplace violence, active threats, and organisational preparedness in an increasingly volatile security environment. The conversation examines why physical violence is becoming a more pressing concern for companies, schools, and public institutions, and how rising social instability, economic pressure, insider risks, and wider geopolitical tensions are…

Hungary’s Democratic Awakening: Dismantling Orbán’s Illiberal System After 16 Years

Hungary’s Democratic Awakening: Dismantling Orbán’s Illiberal System After 16 Years

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen speaks with Zsuzsanna Szelényi, foreign policy specialist, former member of the Hungarian Parliament, and Programme Director at the CEU Democracy Institute, about Hungary’s dramatic political transformation following the end of Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule. After 16 years of increasingly authoritarian governance, Hungary has voted…

Zsuzsanna Szelényi

Zsuzsanna Szelényi

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Zsuzsanna is foreign policy specialist, former politician, author and founding director of the CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy. Before joining the CEU Democracy Institute, Zsuzsanna Szelényi was Richard von Weizsäcker fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin and Europe’s Future Fellow of the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen. She is conducting research on…

Episode 360: Hungary After Orbán: Democratic Reset or Political Reconfiguration in Europe? with Zsuzsanna Szelényi

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

This episode with Zsuzsanna Szelényi explores Hungary’s dramatic political transformation following the end of Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule, examining how an entrenched illiberal system was dismantled through democratic means and what this reveals about the resilience of liberal democracy in Europe. The conversation traces the structural factors that converged to break Orbán’s grip on power—including economic mismanagement,…

Systemic Conflict and Global Shockwaves: Rethinking the Structure of Modern Warfare

Systemic Conflict and Global Shockwaves: Rethinking the Structure of Modern Warfare

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Conflict has traditionally been understood as a transition from peace to war, defined by identifiable actors, geographic boundaries, and military engagements. Increasingly, however, this framework is becoming difficult to sustain. Contemporary conflict is less a discrete event and more a continuous process unfolding across multiple domains simultaneously, from military operations and cyber activity to financial…

Episode 354: Beyond Strikes: The Ripple Effects of the US–Iran Conflict with Dr Jamie Shea

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

This episode with Professor Jamie Shea explores how contemporary conflict is no longer confined to the battlefield but unfolds across multiple interconnected domains, generating effects that extend far beyond the immediate theatre of operations. The conversation examines how the confrontation involving the United States, Israel, and Iran is producing systemic shockwaves across energy markets, supply…

Dr Jamie Shea

Dr Jamie Shea

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Jamie Shea CMG is Professor at the College of Europe Natolin.  He is also a Senior Fellow responsible for security and defence programmes at Friends of Europe and a Senior Advisor with the European Policy Centre.  Both of these think tanks are based in Brussels.  More recently, Jamie Shea has assumed the position of Senior…

Climate, Infrastructure, and Strategic Stability: Rethinking Security in a Physically Changing World

Climate, Infrastructure, and Strategic Stability: Rethinking Security in a Physically Changing World

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Climate change is no longer a distant or abstract risk in the context of global security. It is actively reshaping the physical environment in which military systems operate, altering the reliability of infrastructure, and introducing new forms of uncertainty into strategic decision-making. As Dr Florian Krampe of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) argues…