The International Risk Podcast

Episodios

• Episode 369: Reopening the Strait: Hormuz, Sea Power, and the Fragility of Global Trade with Dr Emma Salisbury 01.06.2026 37m

  This episode with Dr. Emma Salisbury explores how the closure of the Strait of Hormuz exposed the vulnerabilities of the global maritime system, revealing how a regional conflict can rapidly become a global economic and security crisis. The conversation examines why critical maritime chokepoints remain central to international trade, energy security, and geopolitical competition, and what recent disruptions tell us about the resilience of the modern global economy. We discuss the challenges o...
• Episode 368: Shadow Policing and Transnational Repression: China’s Global Campaign Against Critics with Sam Goodman 29.05.2026 30m

  In this episode, we host Sam Goodman to explore China’s global campaign of transnational repression, shadow policing, and pressure against critics abroad. Drawing on his work on Hong Kong, UK-China relations, sanctions, the BN(O) community, and economic transnational repression, Sam explains how Chinese and Hong Kong authorities project power beyond their borders through surveillance, diaspora intimidation, legal pressure, financial coercion, and attempts to silence pro-democracy voices far b...
• Episode 367: From Rodents to Cruise Ships: Hantavirus and the Risks of a Hyperconnected World with Dr Giulia Gallo 27.05.2026 30m

  In this episode, we host Dr Giulia Gallo to explore hantavirus, the recent MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, and why a rare but serious infectious disease can generate global headlines without necessarily becoming a pandemic-style threat. Drawing on her work in molecular virology, viral-host interactions and viral glycoproteins at The Pirbright Institute, Dr Gallo explains what hantaviruses are, why they are not new, how they are carried by rodents, and why different hantaviruses cause differe...
• Episode 366: The UAE Exit from OPEC: Geopolitics, Energy Security, and the Shifting Gulf Balance 25.05.2026 31m

  The Gulf is entering a period of profound geopolitical and economic uncertainty. As tensions around the Strait of Hormuz continue and global energy markets face mounting pressure, the United Arab Emirates has taken the extraordinary decision to leave OPEC, raising major questions about the future of energy coordination, regional alliances, and global economic stability. Today on The International Risk Podcast, we are joined by Dr Dania Thafer, one of the leading analysts of Gulf politics, ene...
• Episode 365: After the Fighting Stops: Landmines, Recovery and the Cost of Conflict with James Denselow and The HALO Trust 22.05.2026 32m

  In this episode we explore the lasting impact of landmines. Across Ukraine, Syria, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and dozens of other conflict-affected countries, landmines and unexploded ordnance continue to kill, injure, and displace civilians long after wars have ended. Fields cannot be farmed, schools cannot reopen, refugees cannot safely return home, and communities remain trapped by the hidden legacy of conflict beneath their feet. This is not only a humanitarian issue. Landmine contamination af...
• Episode 364: Emerging Normalisation of Water Weaponisation in Modern Conflict with Dr. Marcus King 20.05.2026 30m

  Across Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and now the Gulf, water systems are no longer just collateral damage. They are becoming targets and tools of coercion. Dams, desalination plants, pumping stations, rivers, reservoirs, and electricity grids are being pulled into the battlespace, with civilians paying the highest price. This matters far beyond the battlefield. When water infrastructure is attacked, the consequences ripple through food security, energy production, public health,...
• Episode 363: Physical Security and Workplace Safety with Michael Julian 18.05.2026 32m

  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 reshaping workplace security planning. We discuss the behavioural and psyc...
• Episode 362: The Amazon Rainforest, Gold Mining, and the Development Dilemma in Suriname with John Goedschalk 15.05.2026 21m

  This episode hosts John Goedschalk to examine the relationship between environmental sustainability, economic development, and long-term climate resilience in the Amazon rainforest and the Guiana Shield. The conversation explores why the forests of Suriname are disproportionately important to global climate stability, regional rainfall systems, and food production across South America. Drawing on the science behind the “Flying Rivers” system, the discussion explains how rainforest evapotransp...
• Episode 361: How World Wars Begin: Great Power Competition and the Fragile Global Order with Jake Clapham 13.05.2026 38m

  This episode with Jake Clapham explores the growing fragility of the international order, examining how institutional collapse, strategic miscalculation, and great power rivalry can transform regional crises into global conflicts. Drawing on the history of Imperial Japan, the Second World War, and contemporary flashpoints including Ukraine, Taiwan, and the Strait of Hormuz, the conversation considers whether the world is entering a new era of prolonged geopolitical instability. We discuss how...
• Episode 360: Hungary After Orbán: Democratic Reset or Political Reconfiguration in Europe? with Zsuzsanna Szelényi 11.05.2026 28m

  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 corruption, generational shift, and Hungary's confrontational...
• Episode 359: Conflict Pollution: How Modern War Damages Climate, Water, and Land for Generations with Doug Weir 08.05.2026 21m

  This episode hosts Doug Weir from the Conflict and Environment Observatory to examine the environmental consequences of modern warfare and the wider ecological risks created by armed conflict. The conversation explores how conflict generates complex forms of pollution, from toxic air emissions and oil fires to groundwater contamination and long-term ecological damage, often with impacts that persist decades after the fighting ends. Drawing on recent conflicts including Ukraine and development...
• Episode 358: The Long Arm of Tehran: Proxies, Criminals and State-Backed Threats with Edmund Fitton-Brown 06.05.2026 43m

  In this episode, we host Edmund Fitton-Brown to explore how Iran projects power beyond its borders through proxies, criminal networks, intelligence services, and deniable operations. Drawing on his experience as a former British Ambassador to Yemen and former senior United Nations expert on ISIS, al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Edmund explains why Iran’s external operations cannot be understood simply through the language of “sleeper cells” or conventional state espionage. We discuss why Iran’s thr...
• Episode 357: 100 Years to Extinction: Dr Peter Solomon on Emerging Technologies and the Risks that Come with Them 04.05.2026 31m

  This episode hosts Dr Peter Solomon to examine the widening gap between our capacity to build transformative technologies and our ability to govern them, with a particular focus on the international risks that emerge when innovation outpaces regulation. The conversation explores how rapid technological advancement is reshaping the global risk landscape at unprecedented speed and scale, with artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and emerging technologies creating governance vacuums that...
• Episode 356: War on the Climate: Conflict, Carbon, and the Hidden Cost of War in Iran with Benjamin Neimark and Frederick Otu-Larbi 01.05.2026 24m

  This episode hosts Benjamin Neimark and Frederick Otu-Larbi to examine the environmental and climate consequences of modern warfare, with a particular focus on the ongoing conflict involving Iran and its rapidly escalating global impact. The conversation explores how conflict is generating emissions at unprecedented speed and scale, with millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide released in just weeks through fuel consumption, munitions, and the destruction of infrastructure. We discuss how the cl...
• Episode 355: Leading under Pressure in a More Volatile and Compounded Crises Environment with Jon-Paul Gabriele 29.04.2026 29m

  Business leaders are operating in a harsher, more expensive, and more politically volatile environment, where geopolitics is now showing up directly in fuel costs, inflation, supply chains, capital markets, alliance structures, and executive decision-making. I’m Dominic Bowen, host of The International Risk Podcast, where we unpack the issues shaping business, leadership, and global risk. Today, the operating environment for business is clear. The Iran conflict is pushing up oil and gas price...
• Episode 354: Beyond Strikes: The Ripple Effects of the US–Iran Conflict with Dr Jamie Shea 27.04.2026 45m

  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 chains, and geopolitical dynamics, reshaping how conflict is experienced globally. We discuss ...
• Episode 353: Terrorism Rewired: AI, Crime-Terror Networks and the New Global Threat Landscape with Dr Colin P. Clarke 24.04.2026 41m

  In this episode, we host Dr Colin P. Clarke to explore how terrorism is evolving in an era of AI, organised crime, proxy warfare, and great power competition. Drawing on decades of work on terrorism, insurgency, illicit finance, and political violence, Dr Clarke explains why today's threat landscape is no longer defined solely by hierarchical jihadist organisations, but by decentralised networks, regional affiliates, lone actors, criminal ecosystems, and state-backed proxies. He also reflects...
• Episode 352: Inside the Ransomware Economy: Incentives, Governance, and Risk with Anja Shortland 22.04.2026 32m

  This episode hosts Professor Anja Shortland, returning to the podcast following her previous appearance in 2021, to examine how ransomware has evolved into a sophisticated and highly organised form of cybercrime, operating as a global market shaped by incentives, reputation, and weak governance. The conversation explores the scale of the threat, with billions in annual losses, and how attacks extend far beyond encryption to include data theft, business disruption, and systemic risk acro...
• Episode 351: Climate, Infrastructure, and Nuclear Risk: Rethinking Strategic Stability with Dr Florian Krampe 20.04.2026 31m

  This episode with Dr Florian Krampe explores how climate change is no longer a peripheral environmental issue but a central factor reshaping global security. The conversation examines how environmental shifts are already degrading critical military infrastructure, from Arctic early warning systems built on melting permafrost to changing ocean conditions that affect submarine detection and strategic stability. We discuss how these physical changes introduce new forms of uncertainty into deterr...
• Episode 350: The Human Blind Spot in Cybersecurity with Robert Siciliano 17.04.2026 41m

  In this episode, we host Robert Siciliano to examine why the biggest vulnerability in cybersecurity is so often not the technology, but the people using it. Drawing on decades of work in fraud prevention, identity protection, and security awareness, Robert argues that most organisations still treat cyber risk as a compliance issue rather than a human one. He explains why trust, routine, distraction, and fatigue continue to make employees the easiest route into organisations, even as firms inv...