Independent Thinking

As the world becomes more unstable and the demands for critical minerals from China and big tech increases, can greater international attention on Africa translate into greater power and prosperity for African nations?
Can African states leverage their huge deposits of natural resources and the youngest population in the world into more infrastructure, better engagement with international partners and greater representation for Africa on international bodies, including the UN Security Council?
Our experts explore the new global opportunities for African nations, the increasingly transactional approach of the US, trade deals with the EU, the Accra Reset, creating regional value chains, Russia's involvement in conflicts in Africa and why international organizations need to open up their decision-making bodies.
In a special edition for Black History Month, Bronwen Maddox is joined by Tighisti Amare, director of our Africa Programme, and Lisa Musumba, host of our sister podcast, 'Africa Aware'.
Produced by Podmasters for Chatham House, with thanks to Stephen Farrell and Sara Seth.
Explore Chatham House's latest work:
Video | Baroness Amos, President of Chatham House, speaking at a Black History Month event in mid-October about 'Reparative justice'
Research paper | The response to debt distress in Africa and the role of China
Research paper | Gold and the war in Sudan
Event | Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama on navigating a changing global order 
Event recording | Reckoning or rhetoric: Is now the time for reparative justice on the global stage?
Magazine issue |  The World Today autumn issue
Academic Journal | International Affairs
Audio | Africa Aware🎧
Audio |  The Climate Briefing🎧
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President Trump and President Putin's back-door deal to release hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Russian diesel into international markets has revitalized the Kremlin's war effort and left President Zelenskyy incandescent. Is the US president sacrificing Ukraine in the hope that it will help him in the midterms? Can Europe bridge the gap in support? And can Ukraine survive another winter under Russian attack?
Bronwen Maddox is joined by Orysia Lutsevych, deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme and head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House; General Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of the Joint Forces Command in the UK Armed Forces and a senior consulting fellow with our International Security Programme; and Sharon Hudson-Dean, associate fellow with Chatham House's US and North America Programme.
Produced by Podmasters for Chatham House, with thanks to Stephen Farrell and Sara Seth.
Comment | After Trump's Russian diesel deal, will Europe give Ukraine the support it needs?
Comment | Why the US midterms are a rare foreign policy election
Research paper | Why a 'whole-of-society' model is essential for Ukraine's recovery
Magazine issue | The World Today autumn issue
Academic Journal | International Affairs
Audio | Africa Aware🎧
Audio |  The Climate Briefing🎧
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The rightward movement in democracies in Europe and beyond shows little sign of slowing. Germany has elected its first far-right regional government in Saxony-Anhalt. In France, voter anger with Emmanuel Macron puts the Rassemblement National's Marine Le Pen in pole position for the presidency. In Spain, Pedro Sánchez called a snap election in an attempt to mobilise the beleaguered left around Spain's housing crisis. And Flávio Bolsonaro's success in the first round of Brazil's presidential elections suggests a second round of anti-woke, pro-Trump bolsonarismo is on the cards. What is driving politics to the populist right? And what does it mean for global security, stability and efforts to preserve what's left of the rules-based order?
Bronwen Maddox is joined by Grégoire Roos, director of our Europe and Russia and Eurasia Programmes; Nic Lawley, special adviser to the director of Chatham House; and Dr Christopher Sabatini, director of our Latin America Programme. 
Produced by Podmasters, with thanks to Sara Seth and Stephen Farrell.
Explore Chatham House's latest work:
Comment | Sánchez's gamble: This 'all-in' election will have international impact
Comment | Brazil's presidential election is more than just another polarized contest
Comment | Brazil's Amazon rainforest is at risk if Bolsonaro wins – but its low-carbon economy is here to stay
Magazine issue | The World Today autumn issue
Academic Journal | International Affairs
Audio | Africa Aware🎧
Audio | The Climate Briefing🎧
Follow Independent Thinking on your favourite podcast apps.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels' capture of Yemen's port city of Mocha means that Iran now effectively controls two crucial waterways in the region – the Bab al-Mandab Strait to the Red Sea and thus the Suez Canal, as well as the Hormuz Strait. Why has this simmering conflict exploded again? What do Iran and the Houthis want? How serious is this potential blockade for world trade and energy supply? And could the Houthis become a regional power, in economic terms even more powerful than Iran?
Bronwen Maddox is joined by director of Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme, Dr Sanam Vakil; Horn of Africa specialist Ahmed Soliman; and Yemen and Gulf specialist, Farea Al-Muslimi, who joins us from Jordan. 
Produced by Podmasters, with thanks to Sara Seth and Stephen Farrell.
Explore Chatham House's latest work:
Comment | New energy and trade routes could bypass Hormuz and change the Middle East. But major challenges remain
Magazine article | Farea al-Muslimi: 'I wrote my own death statement 5 times'
Comment | Escaping the Hormuz trap: What should an agreement to reopen the Strait look like?
Magazine issue | The World Today autumn issue
Audio | Africa Aware🎧
Audio | The Climate Briefing🎧
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President Donald Trump welcomes Xi Jinping to Washington with the US-China dynamic in a moment of historic flux. China is rising economically and militarily, while the US is mired in the Iran war, alienating allies and pursuing Trump's unpredictable trade and tariff disputes.
What do the two leaders want from this meeting, and will they get it? Can they reconcile their differing economic powers, the competition for critical minerals, and their radically contrasting visions for artificial intelligence.
And in the longer term: who will dominate the 21st century? Does Xi really want to retake Taiwan for China before his time in power ends? Or is the US-Chinese dynamic more complex and perhaps less alarming?
To unpick these threads Bronwen Maddox is joined by three experts from Chatham House's Asia-Pacific Programme: programme director Ben Bland, senior research fellow Dr Yu Jie and associate fellow Dr Bill Hayton.
Produced by Podmasters, with thanks to Sara Seth and Stephen Farrell.
Explore Chatham House's latest work: 
Magazine article | What the West fails to grasp about China's strategy to lead the world
Comment | Trump–Xi summit: Why the US and China should not underestimate each other
Comment | China is weathering the Hormuz energy crisis. But copying its model comes with risks
Magazine issue | The World Today autumn issue
Audio | Africa Aware🎧
Audio | The Climate Briefing🎧
Follow Independent Thinking on your favourite podcast apps.