Episodes
| Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| From Crisis to Crisis | 20181106 | In the ashes of World War 2, a new international order was built. Its aim: to ensure relative peace and stability. In this series, the BBC's former Diplomatic Editor Bridget Kendall examines why all this now seems to be falling apart.
In this episode, Bridget explores how, after the revolutions of 1989, a resurgent European Community became the European Union, and absorbed the liberated states of Eastern Europe - but how, since then, the EU has been beset first by financial crisis, then migration crisis and Brexit. She asks how its founding ideals are faring in a Europe very different from the postwar world of its birth, as populist nationalism rises again.
And she examines how much Europe will matter anyway in the emerging 21st century world order, in which China looks set to play an increasingly dominant role. Can authoritarian capitalism and a rejection of the postwar vision of human rights, democracy and the rule of law really win over the world?
Speakers in this series include:
Producer: Phil Tinline
Bridget Kendall asks why the international order built after 1945 is now in deep trouble. | |
| From Crisis to Crisis | 20181106 | 20181112 (R4) | In the ashes of World War 2, a new international order was built. Its aim: to ensure relative peace and stability. In this series, the BBC's former Diplomatic Editor Bridget Kendall examines why all this now seems to be falling apart.
In this episode, Bridget explores how, after the revolutions of 1989, a resurgent European Community became the European Union, and absorbed the liberated states of Eastern Europe - but how, since then, the EU has been beset first by financial crisis, then migration crisis and Brexit. She asks how its founding ideals are faring in a Europe very different from the postwar world of its birth, as populist nationalism rises again.
And she examines how much Europe will matter anyway in the emerging 21st century world order, in which China looks set to play an increasingly dominant role. Can authoritarian capitalism and a rejection of the postwar vision of human rights, democracy and the rule of law really win over the world?
Speakers in this series include:
Producer: Phil Tinline
Bridget Kendall asks why the international order built after 1945 is now in deep trouble. |
| Out of the Ashes | 20181023 | In the ashes of World War 2, a new international order was built. Its aim: to ensure relative peace and stability. In this series, the BBC's former Diplomatic Editor Bridget Kendall examines why all this now seems to be falling apart.
In this opening episode, Bridget retraces how the victorious Allies set about building a new order out of the cataclysm of world war.
At first, global institutions like the United Nations were established, with the aim of bringing states together in institutions that would embed enough co-operation to stave off a return to conflict.
But within couple of years, a new Cold War was dividing the world into American and Soviet spheres. In this harsher context, further institutions like NATO and what became the European Union were set up, which also aimed at establishing a new kind of internationalism - even if they weren't quite as idealistic as the UN.
As Bridget explores, from decolonisation to coups and proxy wars, the rhetoric of a liberal rules-based order did not always match reality. But in 1989, when East Europe achieved liberation from the Soviet bloc through largely peaceful revolutions, it seemed as though the liberal hopes of the late 1940s had won. So what went wrong?
Speakers in this series include:
Producer: Phil Tinline
Bridget Kendall asks why the international order built after 1945 is now in deep trouble. | |
| Out of the Ashes | 20181023 | 20181029 (R4) | In the ashes of World War 2, a new international order was built. Its aim: to ensure relative peace and stability. In this series, the BBC's former Diplomatic Editor Bridget Kendall examines why all this now seems to be falling apart.
In this opening episode, Bridget retraces how the victorious Allies set about building a new order out of the cataclysm of world war.
At first, global institutions like the United Nations were established, with the aim of bringing states together in institutions that would embed enough co-operation to stave off a return to conflict.
But within couple of years, a new Cold War was dividing the world into American and Soviet spheres. In this harsher context, further institutions like NATO and what became the European Union were set up, which also aimed at establishing a new kind of internationalism - even if they weren't quite as idealistic as the UN.
As Bridget explores, from decolonisation to coups and proxy wars, the rhetoric of a liberal rules-based order did not always match reality. But in 1989, when East Europe achieved liberation from the Soviet bloc through largely peaceful revolutions, it seemed as though the liberal hopes of the late 1940s had won. So what went wrong?
Speakers in this series include:
Producer: Phil Tinline
Bridget Kendall asks why the international order built after 1945 is now in deep trouble. |
| Security and Hubris | 20181030 | In the ashes of World War 2, a new international order was built. Its aim: to ensure relative peace and stability. In this series, the BBC's former Diplomatic Editor Bridget Kendall examines why all this now seems to be falling apart.
In this episode, Bridget traces how the confidence inspired by the fall of the Soviet bloc led first to a renewed international liberal dynamism, but increasingly to what looks like hubris.
She asks why NATO, rather than folding with its old Soviet foe, instead expanded eastwards.
Meanwhile, the surge of liberal confidence that followed the revolutions of 1989 led to a drive to promote democracy and human rights across the world, with military force if need be - until the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq descended into bloody chaos.
Bridget draws on her experience reporting from Moscow to explore how Russia has gone from a potential ally of the liberal internationalists to their antagonist, via a lost decade of economic turmoil.
And she finds out how, in the age of Trump, the fundamental values on which the post-war world order was built are now looking increasingly shaky.
Speakers in this series include:
Producer: Phil Tinline
Bridget Kendall asks why the international order built after 1945 is now in deep trouble. | |
| Security and Hubris | 20181030 | 20181105 (R4) | In the ashes of World War 2, a new international order was built. Its aim: to ensure relative peace and stability. In this series, the BBC's former Diplomatic Editor Bridget Kendall examines why all this now seems to be falling apart.
In this episode, Bridget traces how the confidence inspired by the fall of the Soviet bloc led first to a renewed international liberal dynamism, but increasingly to what looks like hubris.
She asks why NATO, rather than folding with its old Soviet foe, instead expanded eastwards.
Meanwhile, the surge of liberal confidence that followed the revolutions of 1989 led to a drive to promote democracy and human rights across the world, with military force if need be - until the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq descended into bloody chaos.
Bridget draws on her experience reporting from Moscow to explore how Russia has gone from a potential ally of the liberal internationalists to their antagonist, via a lost decade of economic turmoil.
And she finds out how, in the age of Trump, the fundamental values on which the post-war world order was built are now looking increasingly shaky.
Speakers in this series include:
Producer: Phil Tinline
Bridget Kendall asks why the international order built after 1945 is now in deep trouble. |