Independent Thinking
Independent Thinking is the new podcast from Chatham House.
Each week our director, Bronwen Maddox, will host conversations with leading policymakers, journalists and our own Chatham House experts to provide insight and depth on the big international questions of the week.
Independent Thinking gives you, the listener, the opportunity to engage with the high-level conversations that the institute hosts, and, for Chatham House members, to ask questions directly to the participants in each episode.
Nov 7, 2025
Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York’s mayoral race this week – and other electoral successes – energized Democrats in the US and left-wing parties worldwide. The new standard-bearer of the American left is hailed by progressives as a generational shift of leadership – at 34 he will be the first Muslim mayor...
Oct 31, 2025
Far-right Dutch leader Geert Wilders suffered a setback on Wednesday’s elections, with centrists poised to take back power.
Rob Jetten, 38, leader of the centre-progressive Democrats 66 party, is set to become the Netherlands’ youngest leader in modern history after running on the upbeat slogan ‘Yes we can’....
Oct 24, 2025
China’s ruling Communist Party leadership met in Beijing to frame the next five-year-plan. Amid a trade war with the United States, they set priorities for economic policy and technology, including how to build artificial intelligence into key sectors of society.
New faces appeared and old ones vanished, with a...
Oct 17, 2025
Beset by early ceasefire disputes between Israel and Hamas, international backers of President Trump’s Mideast project must move quickly to elevate it from vague wish list to viable framework. Rapid delivery of aid, reconstruction - and security for Palestinians and Israelis – are essential. But without a political...
Oct 10, 2025
At home the US is mired in domestic dysfunction with a government shutdown now in its second week. But abroad, President Trump has brokered a deal that - although it didn't win a Nobel Peace Prize - could end the two-year Gaza war. Laurel Rapp and Max Yoeli join guest host Christopher Sabatini.
They discuss the effects...