Dr. Olivia Mason

Dr. Olivia Mason

Dr Olivia Mason is a Lecturer in Political Geography at Newcastle University. Her research explores mobility politics and resource colonialism, with a focus on Jordan and the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region. She is particularly interested in how colonial legacies continue to shape environmental governance, nature, and cultural heritage. Olivia is committed to environmental and social justice and has worked extensively with…

climate change, environmentalism, green washing

Empire of Extraction: The Enduring Environmental Legacy of Colonialism

Written by Elisa Garbil – 12.06.2025 From Nauru to Nigeria, the scars of imperialism are written into the land, the waters, and the air. Understanding these histories is critical in order to address the environmental crises of today properly. The great empires of the colonial era didn’t just redraw the political map, they permanently altered…

Episode 239: Legacies of Colonialism with Dr. Olivia Mason

Coordinated and Produced by Elisa Garbil Today Dominic Bowen hosts Dr. Olivia Mason. They dive into the intricacies of post-colonial states, environmental collapse and how the colonial era has influenced this collapse, post-colonial neglect, the re-shaping of colonial control in a post-colonial era through for example international conservation efforts, green colonialism as a form of resource…

alt right Steve Bannon, Donald Trump the international risk podcast

The Rise of the ALT-Right, NRx, and its Relation to Climate Change Denial

Written by Elisa Garbil – 17.10.2024 With the US Elections coming up comes the discussion of the influence of the far-right. To be precise, the ALT-Right and the NRx. This rise leads to numerous risks, one of them being the denial of climate change and Environmental Social Governance (hereinafter ESG). Roger Burrows claims that the…

Tarek Megerisi

Tarek Megerisi is a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His work mainly addresses how European policymaking towards the Maghreb and Mediterranean regions can become more strategic, harmonious, and incisive – with a long-term focus on Libya.  For more than a decade, Megerisi…

Episode 166: The Failures of the Rwanda Bill, EU Migration Policies, and the Geopolitics of Libya with Tarek Megerisi

Recently, we heard from Mireia Faro Sarrats, and we had a fascinating discussion about Europe’s externalisation of its refugees, and the UK’s recently passed Rwanda Bill. Under this bill any asylum seeker entering the UK ‘illegally’, from a ‘safe’ country, such as France, could be sent to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed there…

Mireia Faro Sarrats

Mireia Faro Sarrats is the communications officer at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, she worked as a communications officer at the European Institute of the Mediterranean, a public affairs officer at the United States Consulate General in Barcelona, and in the communications department of the European Agency for Fundamental Rights in Vienna. Faro…

Episode 165: The Rwanda Bill and the Externalisation of EU Migration Policies with Mireia Faro Sarrats

Recent statistics show the UK’s migration is at a record high. In April 2022, the British government stated that any asylum seeker entering the UK ‘illegally’, from a ‘safe’ country, such as France, could be sent to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed there rather than in the UK. If these claims were successful,…