In 1997, Jessica Matthews' landmark Foreign Affairs essay “Power Shift” captured the growing influence of NGOs and other non-state actors in shaping global affairs. But nearly three decades later, that tide has turned. A provocative new piece in Foreign Affairs argues that the age of NGOs is over—and states are reasserting dominance.

Joining me to unpack this shift is Jennifer Hadden, co-author of the new article and Associate Professor at Brown University. We discuss the heyday of NGOs in the 1990s, what led to their decline, and what this reversal means for the future of human rights, democracy and freedom worldwide.

Foreign Affairs

A groundbreaking new study published in the British medical journal The Lancet Global Health finds that unilateral economic sanctions—most of which are imposed by the United States—lead to approximately 564,000 excess deaths worldwide each year. Up to half of these deaths are children.

While sanctions are often touted as an alternative to military force, this research shows they can devastate public health, cause severe food and medicine shortages, and drive mortality rates to levels comparable to those seen in armed conflicts. In fact, the findings suggest that sanctions are about as deadly as military conflicts around the world each year.

Joining me to discuss this new study is one of its authors, Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. We begin by examining his key findings and then explore how and why sanctions end up killing so many people globally.

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Mark Weisbrot's research.

I caught up with Comfort Ero at the Aspen Security Forum last week. She is the President of the International Crisis Group, and in that role, she brings a truly global perspective on the drivers of conflict worldwide. Earlier in the forum, she participated in a panel on international aid—timely, given the massive scaling back of foreign assistance by the Trump administration and other traditional donors in Europe. So, for most of this conversation, we explore the implications of this sudden retraction of foreign aid on regional and global security—that is, how might these aid cuts impact conflict dynamics around the world?

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My guest today, Thordis Gylfadottir, served as Iceland's foreign minister until 2024. We spoke last week at the Aspen Security Forum, where she delivered a forceful case for the necessity of continued military and diplomatic support for Ukraine. However, that view—once broadly shared across Europe and the Atlantic—is no longer as ubiquitous as it once was. In our conversation, I wanted to learn from her exactly how firm support for Ukraine remains across Europe, both in politics and in society. And what, if anything, can be done to shore up that support.

We begin, however, with a discussion of her current work as the Special Envoy for the Council of Europe on the situation of children in Ukraine, where she helps bring home Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia during its invasion.

Trump’s pick for UN Ambassador, Mike Waltz, faced questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week. You may recall he previously served as National Security Advisor before being sidelined by Trump after “Signalgate.” But Waltz was never officially fired — he was banished to the United Nations instead. For over two hours, he fielded questions from senators.

So, what did we learn about how the Trump administration might approach diplomacy at the United Nations with Mike Waltz as U.S. Permanent Representative? Mark and Anjali watched the full two-and-a-half-hour hearing so you don’t have to.

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A furious backlash against gender equality, women’s rights, and LGBTQ rights is sweeping the globe. In a new report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, my guest today, Saskia Brechenmacher, shows that this backlash is not just a temporary reaction to recent progressive reforms but a key front in a larger cultural and political realignment taking place across a diverse set of countries.

Saskia Brechenmacher is a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. In our conversation, she explains how this backlash is manifesting across regions and the multitude of forces driving this trend.

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The farmer-herder conflict in Nigeria is a long-running and deadly struggle over land and resources, primarily between nomadic herders—mostly from the Fulani ethnic group—and settled farming communities. Driven by factors such as desertification, population growth, and shrinking grazing land, herders increasingly move south in search of pasture, leading to violent clashes with farmers over farmland and water access. The conflict has intensified in recent years, contributing to insecurity and displacement, particularly in Nigeria's Middle Belt region.

It was there, in the middle of the night on June 13th, that an unknown group attacked the village of Yelewata. An estimated 200 people were killed, mostly farmers and their families, in what is considered the single deadliest massacre of its kind. The attack sparked a massive public outcry over the government's apparent inability to prevent such violence.

Joining me to discuss what is driving this conflict—and why Nigerians are increasingly losing confidence in the government's ability to provide security in the Middle Belt region—is Isaac Albert, a professor of African History, Peace, and Conflict Studies at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.

We begin by discussing the recent attack on Yelewata before taking a broader look at what his research suggests is fueling this conflict—and what may be done to prevent massacres like this in the future.

The major Financing for Development Conference wrapped up in Seville last week with the so-called Compromiso de Sevilla, which commits countries to accelerating efforts to fund the Sustainable Development Goals and support economic and social development in lower-income countries. In our first segment, we are joined by Michael Sheldrick, co-founder of Global Citizen, who explains what was accomplished at this major UN meeting — and what was left on the table. Then, Anjali and Mark discuss the current predicament facing IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi as he tries to navigate the capricious sensitivities of Donald Trump following the U.S. bombing of Iran.

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