Departures Podcast featuring Bronwen Everill, author of “Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance and African Economics”

Throughtout the post-colonial period in Africa, there has been no shortage of economists, non-governmental organizations, diplomats, and aid organizations flying in from the United States and Western Europe with an astonishing array of prescriptions and reform plans to dramatically transform the economies and governance structures of these young nations. With few exceptions, these interventions failed […]

Departures Podcast featuring Oriana Skylar Mastro, author of “Upstart: How China Became a Great Power”

A popular meme in Kenya goes something like this: everytime China visits, we get a hospital. When the US visits, we get a lecture.  That’s of course not an accurate picture of the competition between the West and China in the global South, but it does highlight a certain disconnect that can be perceived widely […]

Departures Podcast featuring William Egginton, author of “The Rigors of Angels”

What does it mean to perceive reality? How do art, science, and philosophy converge in shaping our understanding of the world? In this episode of Departures with Robert Amsterdam, we sit down with William Egginton, acclaimed author and professor, to dive into his latest book, “The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate […]

Departures Podcast featuring Michael Kimmage, author of “Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability”

As this coming February will mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion and occupation of Eastern Ukraine, there is already a clear and tangible impact upon the geopolitical challenges faced by the United States and her allies in Europe in terms of their roles in the international system. This week Departures with Robert Amsterdam is […]

Departures Podcast featuring Tobias Harris, founder of Japan Foresight

In a week in which most eyes are on the US election, there are other meaningful elections which also merit close examination. On October 27 Japanese voters expressed their pent-up frustration with the growing list of scandals associated with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and ended the party’s near 70-year long rule. LDP and […]

Departures Podcast featuring Jonathan Haslam, author of “Hubris: The American Origins of Russia’s War against Ukraine”

As the war in Ukraine grinds into yet another brutal winter, narratives are shifting in Western capitals regarding the nature of the conflict, its goals, and the longer term meaning of the war in terms of the balance of power on the European continent. Looking back to the war’s origins, it is important not only […]