In this episode of Chalkboard Politics, the team explores the evolving challenges facing international institutions in a period of populist backlash and shifting global power. In the first conversation, professors Allison Carnegie and Richard Clark discuss how international organizations – from the European Union to the IMF and WTO – navigate growing populist resistance, funding withdrawals, and declining hegemonic support. They explain how institutions respond strategically, sometimes appeasing critics, sometimes quietly working around them, while increasingly seeking new coalitions and sources of legitimacy.
The episode then turns to an interview with Professor Anjali Dayal, who examines the changing role of the United Nations in peacekeeping, humanitarian coordination, and global governance. Dayal traces how U.N. peacekeeping missions have evolved from neutral observers between countries to complex operations dealing with civil wars, counterterrorism, and regime stabilization. The conversation also explores the consequences of declining U.S. commitment to international institutions, Security Council gridlock, and growing tensions around international law.
Together, this podcast episode considers whether international institutions can adapt to populist pressure and declining hegemonic leadership, or whether the global order is entering a more fragmented and uncertain era.
You can listen to the episode here, or wherever you get your podcasts. All the Chalkboard Politics episodes can be found here.
Zara Williamson is a senior at Columbia College and the lead producer for the Chalkboard Politics podcast.
Elizabeth N. Saunders is professor of political science at Columbia University, and the author of “The Insiders’ Game: How Elites Make War and Peace” (Princeton University Press, 2024).
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