Articles & Podcast Episodes

International sanctions

In this episode, Matthias Catón speaks with Julia Grauvogel, Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). They discuss the implications of economic sanctions and talk about different types of sanctions and the ways to measure their effects on the “target” (the country receiving the sanctions) and the “sender” (the country imposing the sanctions).

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India and China

In this episode, Dr. Matthias Catón interviews Sujan Chinoy, the Director General of the Indian think tank IDSA. The former Ambassador is an expert in Indo-China relations. They discuss the current political situation and the ongoing border conflict between the two countries, which has been going on for decades but is again tense since 2020. Despite the political and military tensions, trade between the two countries has increased over the past years.

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Identify and manage political risks

Nicolas Schwank is an expert in political risk. His company monitors and analyzes different risks and briefs business clients. Our host Matthias Catón and Nico (who met when they both studied and worked at the University of Heidelberg), discuss different political risks that can affect business and how business leaders can ensure that they stay on top of things.

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ESG Taxonomies

The host Matthias Catón and his guest Karsten Löffler talk about ESG Taxonomies. ESG stands for “Environmental, Social, and Governance” and essentially means how companies “behave” well as corporate citizens. Taxonomies measure this. The best known is the EU Taxonomy, but as we learn, it is by no means the only one in force or being considered worldwide.

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Social media in global affairs

In this episode, our host Matthias Catón interviews Matthias Lüfkens, a veteran social media expert. They talk about using social media as a means of public diplomacy. How do governments and world leaders use it, what should they avoid, and why can it be such a powerful tool?

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