Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.

This week’s Munk Members podcast explores two stories in the news this week. First, Italy is gearing up for a national election in September. Not only populist but outright far-right parties seem on the cusp of forming a coalition government if opinion polls hold over the summer. What would this mean for the Eurozone? Italy is struggling under sclerotic economic growth, massive public debts and restive politics, thanks in no small part due to a backlash against the “technocratic” government of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Is this a turning point for Italy? How are Europe’s technocrats in Brussels likely to respond to Italy moving hard right? Second, this week saw former Prime Minster Stephen Harper endorse the populist front-runner candidate in the Canadian conservative leadership race. Why is a former PM who was avowedly anti-populist during his tenure in government lending political support to a candidate and party flirting with bans on vaccine mandates, World Economic Forum conspiracies and attacks on the independence of central banks and bankers?

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.