What Do We Know and What Should We Do about the Irish Border?  

In the second episode of this new podcast series, Professor Richard English speaks with Professor Katy Hayward, Professor of Political Sociology and Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen's University Belfast.

The discussion focuses on her book What Do We Know and What Should We Do about the Irish Border?  (Sage, 2021)

Themes discussed include:

• the experience of those who live in border areas
• the best ways to avoid further polarization  regarding border disagreements
• the relationship between the Irish border and political identities and legitimacy
• the role of contingency or inevitability in political devlopments regarding the border

Podcast produced by Colm Heatley.

Afghanistan 2021

In the first episode of this new podcast series, Professor Richard English speaks with Professor Michael Semple about the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, examining the causes of the upheaval and asks what the future might hold:

• the effects of Taliban rule on people's lives 
• the policy failures that led to the recent crisis
• the factional divisions within the current Taliban
• and the likelihood of ongoing conflict in the country

Professor Michael Semple is Practitioner Chair at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.  He is an acknowledged world leader on the Afghan conflict. He collaborates with international peace-related NGOs and think tanks, and engages with policy makers. Michael is active in the public and policy debate around conflict transformations and Afghanistan.

Podcast produced by Colm Heatley.