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Ian Explains
The world is quietly being reshaped by a demographic time bomb: Birthrates are plummeting, and the global population is rapidly aging. By 2050, one in six people will be over 65. While the overall population is still increasing—driven by growth in developing countries like Nigeria and Pakistan—experts predict it will peak in about 60 years. The shift to depopulation will have huge implications for the future of work, healthcare, and retirement. So what can we do about it? On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down the different strategies governments are using to try to get people to have more kids, particularly in East Asia, where the population crisis is severe. Countries like Japan and South Korea have tried tax incentives, expanded parental leave, subsidized child care, and even matchmaking. But nothing is working. Is a slow-moving crisis inevitable? Or, instead of turning back the demographic clock, is it time to start rethinking the future of aging?
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
As Americans head to the polls, election officials face the dual challenge of safeguarding both the voting process and public confidence in it, with foreign adversaries and domestic actors ready to exploit any lingering doubts about election integrity. On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer discusses the roots of Americans’ mistrust in the security of their votes, even though election systems are indeed secure.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
How does the European Union work, exactly? On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down the different institutions of the EU and how they work together. In recent EU elections, the centrist European People’s Party held onto a slim majority , pushing back on the rise of far-right nationalist parties that have surged in national elections in places like France and Germany. The EPP will now have to find a way to deliver on key issues like migration reform and the Green Deal using a coalition in European Parliament, no easy task for a body with 720 members that represent some 450 million citizens. But how do EU laws actually get passed? The institutions of the EU can be hard to keep track of: there’s also the European Commision, the European Council, the Council of the EU—admittedly confusing. Ian Bremmer unpacks the seven major institutions that govern the European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc and most ambitious effort at supranational governance, a political experiment that’s turned a historically fractious continent into a unified whole.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Americans love their freedom. And depriving other Americans of said freedom (see: slavery, manifest destiny). But lately it's been the Democratic candidate for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been focusing on freedom.
At a recent rally, she said this: "Across our nation, we have been witnessing a full-on assault on hard-won hard-fought freedoms and fundamental rights. The freedom to vote, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride, and the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do."
In the past, Democrats have talked about how the government could protect the freedom to love or the freedom to unionize. Flash forward to 2024, Reagan would be proud. What explains this rhetorical jujitsu? Well, it makes for a handy political foil. Trump could become that threat that Americans need protecting from.
There is, of course, one little problem with this messaging: reality. Because, in reality, Harris fundamentally believes that policy can make people's lives better. Sure, she received some criticism in her debate against Trump for being light on policy, and her campaign waited until well into September to publish an “Issues” page on her website. But make no mistake, Kamala Harris wants to use the levers of big government to build more housing, pass new child tax credits, and modernize education.
So, the question for Kamala—and Donald—is whether enough voters can live with those contradictions. We'll find out when millions of them exercise their most fundamental freedom at the ballot box on November 5th.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
- Harris, Trump and the hypocrisy in US politics ›
- Will Kamala Harris’ momentum last in the race against Trump? ›
- Trump vs. Harris: A high-stakes election and its risks to democracy ›
- How Harris and Trump plan to tackle America’s housing crisis ›
- Muted mics, amplified impact: Harris and Trump debate for razor-thin margins ›
- Ian Bremmer on Trump’s win - GZERO Media ›
President Xi Jinping has made it clear he wants to bring Taiwan under Chinese control. But how would he actually send troops to the island? And after watching Russia get bogged down in two years of grinding war in Ukraine, has his calculus changed? On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer lays out Xi’s strategies for achieving his primary political goal: reunification with Taiwan.
Overall, the chances of an all-out Chinese invasion are slim to none. It would be a huge political and military risk for China, and its economy can’t afford the hit of global sanctions. Beijing is also deeply dependent on Taiwan for its technology infrastructure: Taiwan’s TSMC manufactures more than half of the world’s computer chips that power things like phones and electric cars. But Taiwan’s economy is also dependent on China, its largest trading partner. So Xi could still apply plenty of pressure without sending a single troop to the island. Will Xi try to solve his “Taiwan problem” before he leaves office?
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don''t miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Will the United Nations be able to adapt to address problems of the modern era, like artificial intelligence and the growing digital divide? On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer looks at the challenges of multilateralism in an increasingly fragmented world.
In the face of crises like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war in Gaza, and a rapidly warming planet, the UN’s goals of peace and security feel like a failure. But this year’s Summit of the Future during the General Assembly could be a turning point for the 78-year-old institution. UN members will vote on a Global Digital Compact to regulate AI, fight misinformation, and connect the whole world to the internet. Bremmer is one of 39 experts on the UN’s High-Level Advisory Body who've been studying the issue of global AI governance for the past year to better understand what that Compact should include. This week, the group released a report called “Governing AI for Humanity” with recommendations for creating a global regulatory framework for AI that is safe, inclusive, and equitable. Instead of a patchwork of regulation that’s happened so far, which has been concentrated in wealthy countries, can the UN lead the global AI conversation?
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don''t miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Are we in a 21st-century space race with China? And if so, who’s winning? On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down China’s ambitious space program, which in the last few years has sent a rover to Mars, built a space station, and returned samples from the far side of the moon–something no country has done before. By 2035, it plans to build a lunar base with Russia on the moon’s south pole. However, intelligence experts are concerned China’s activity in space is more directly tied to its military than it’s letting on. A 1967 UN treaty bans military activity on the moon but not military activity in space altogether. The final frontier could be the next battleground. Can the US space program, boosted by private space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, counter China’s lunar ambitions? Is this the end of the post-Soviet era of international space cooperation? Ian Bremmer breaks down the astronomical stakes of the next era of space exploration.
Look for the full episode, with an interview with former astronaut Senator Mark Kelly on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, airing on US public television (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don''t miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).