Episodes

  • Interview with Finnish Scholar Ilmari Käihkö by JSIS Director Danny Hoffman

    Interview with Finnish Scholar Ilmari Käihkö by JSIS Director Danny Hoffman
    Jun 26 2025
    An interview by Danny Hoffman, Director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington with Ilmari Käihkö, an associate professor of War Studies at the Swedish Defense University and a researcher at the University of Helsinki. Dr. Käihkö was a guest speaker at the UW for a public event titled, "Finnish/Nordic Perspectives on the War in Ukraine." Recorded in April 2025. Dr. Käihkö visited the University of Washington as part of the 2024-2025 Finland-Washington Research Exchange Program.
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    37 mins
  • Poland after the 2025 Presidential Election, with Monika Sus, Polish Academy of Sciences

    Poland after the 2025 Presidential Election, with Monika Sus, Polish Academy of Sciences
    May 23 2025
    The virtual guest talk will assess the results of the May 18 first round of Poland’s presidential election. It is unlikely that any candidate will secure a majority, leading to a runoff on June 1 between Rafał Trzaskowski and PiS-backed Nawrocki. The vote reveals a fragmented political landscape, breaking the traditional PO–PiS dominance, with left-wing candidates collectively gaining notable support while far-right candidates perform poorly. The second round will likely hinge on ideological divides. If Trzaskowski wins, it could finally unlock key reforms long blocked by the outgoing PiS-aligned president. Monika Sus is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw, Poland), and a Fellow at the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. Her research interests focus on international relations, with a particular emphasis on European and transatlantic security cooperation, and the EU’s foreign, security, and defence policy. She recently published an article in the The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, exploring the Polish reaction to the war in Ukraine: Status-seeking in wartime: Poland’s leadership aspirations and the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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    27 mins
  • Joyce Mushaben | The Art of Mainstreaming: Ursula von der Leyen in Pursuit of a Union of Equality

    Joyce Mushaben | The Art of Mainstreaming: Ursula von der Leyen in Pursuit of a Union of Equality
    Oct 9 2024
    Dr. Joyce Mushaben presents her lecture "The Art of Mainstreaming: Ursula von der Leyen in Pursuit of a Union of Equality" on May 25, 2022. Dr. Mushaben was at the time the CIDEU Scholar in Residence at the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies. This podcast was co-funded by the European Union.
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Phillip Ayoub | The Double-Helix Entanglements of Transnational Advocacy: SOGI Rights in Europe

    Phillip Ayoub | The Double-Helix Entanglements of Transnational Advocacy: SOGI Rights in Europe
    May 13 2024
    The Double-Helix Entanglements of Transnational Advocacy: Moral Conservative Resistance to SOGI Rights in Europe Phillip M. Ayoub is a professor in the Department of Political Science at University College London and Editor of the European Journal of Politics and Gender. He is the author of three books, including When States Come Out: Europe’s Sexual Minorities and the Politics of Visibility (Cambridge University Press, 2016), and his articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, the European Journal of International Relations, the European Journal of Political Research, Mobilization, the European Political Science Review, among others.
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    45 mins
  • Céline Bessière | The Gender of Capital

    Céline Bessière | The Gender of Capital
    May 13 2024
    Why do women of all socio-economic backgrounds accumulate less wealth than men? Why do marital separations impoverish women while they do not prevent men from remaining or becoming wealthy? In her new book co-authored with Sibylle Gollac, The Gender of Capital: How Families Perpetuate Wealth Inequalities (Harvard University Press, 2023), Céline Bessière answers these questions, drawing from ethnographic observations and statistical analysis. The Gender of Capital shows that formal legal equality has not eliminated economic inequality between men and women. It illustrates the mechanisms through which women of all social classes lose financially when they divorce or inherit. Examples as diverse as those of the single mothers who joined the French “Yellow Vest” movement, the high-profile divorce of Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, and the division of the estate of the Trump family demonstrate that capital is gendered. Bessière will discuss how class divisions and the patriarchal appropriation of capital reinforce one another. A professor of sociology at Paris–Dauphine University, visiting professor at NYU, senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France, Céline Bessière studies the material, economic, and legal dimensions of the family. In France, The Gender of Capital was also adapted into a graphic novel.
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    56 mins
  • Ayse Dursun | Organized Muslim Women in Turkey[...]

    Ayse Dursun | Organized Muslim Women in Turkey[...]
    Oct 23 2023
    Organized Muslim Women in Turkey: An Intersectional Approach to Building Women’s Coalitions This talk explores the politics of organized Muslim women in Turkey and analyzes their coalitions with other – secular feminist, Kurdish etc. – women’s movements from an intersectional perspective. It provides empirical evidence for significant changes in Muslim women’s politics under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and points to the increasing difficulty to build cross-movement women’s coalitions in the face of rising religious conservatism and authoritarianism. Ayse Dursun studied Political Science and English Studies at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main und graduated in 2010. Following her graduation, she started a PhD on the topic “Muslim Women’s Movements in Turkey: An Intersectional Approach to Coalition Building” at the Department of Political Science of the University of Vienna. During her PhD, she worked as a research assistant at the same Department for the following projects: “Fördert Föderalismus Frauen? Föderalisierte Gleichstellungspolitik in Österreich und Deutschland” (Does Federalism Promote Gender Equality? Federalized Gender Equality Policies in Austria and Germany) (duration: 2012-2014) as well as “In Whose Best Interests? Exploring Unaccompanied Minors‘ Rights through the Lens of Migration and Asylum Processes” (MinAs) (duration: July 2014-December 2015). In May 2018, she received her PhD. From January until September 2019 she was working as a researcher for the research project Migrant Communities and Children in a Transforming Europe (MiCREATE) at the Department for Political Science. Since October 2019 she is Post Doc Assistant with research focus on Gender and Politics at the Department of Political Science. She is Steering Committee member of the Standing Group “Gender and Politics” of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). The Talking Gender in Europe lecture series is organized by the Center for West European Studies and the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence with support from the Lee and Stuart Scheingold European Studies Fund, the EU Erasmus+ Program, the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, and the Center for Global Studies.
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    46 mins
  • Guntis Smidchens | Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian “New Idealism” for a Postimperial World

    Guntis Smidchens | Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian “New Idealism” for a Postimperial World
    Sep 14 2023
    Guntis Smidchens presents his lecture, "Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian “New Idealism” for a Postimperial World" on Aug. 15, 2023. This lecture was part of the 2023 EU Policy Forum Educator Workshop. This teacher workshop is sponsored by the European Union, the UW Center for West European Studies & EU Center, the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, the Center for Global Studies, the World Affairs Council. The workshop is hosted by the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. For more information, please email the Center for West European Studies at cweseuc@uw.edu. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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    48 mins
  • John Koenig | The U.S.-Europe Defense Relationship: De-Risking, Not De-Coupling

    John Koenig | The U.S.-Europe Defense Relationship: De-Risking, Not De-Coupling
    Sep 11 2023
    John Koenig presents his lecture, "The U.S.-Europe Defense Relationship: De-Risking, Not De-Coupling" on Aug. 15, 2023. This lecture was part of the 2023 EU Policy Forum Educator Workshop. This teacher workshop is sponsored by the European Union, the UW Center for West European Studies & EU Center, the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, the Center for Global Studies, the World Affairs Council. The workshop is hosted by the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. For more information, please email the Center for West European Studies at cweseuc@uw.edu. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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    43 mins