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Why freedom is on the ballot this November: Historian Timothy Snyder
Listen: On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with author and historian Timothy Snyder to discuss the importance of freedom in the final stretch of one of the closest and most contentious presidential races in modern history. Snyder uses his new book, “On Freedom,” to discuss the many ways freedom has been used and, often, misused in politics and society.
Snyder suggests we expand our understanding of freedom to incorporate the notion of freedom "to" rather than just freedom "from." Freedom, he says, is about envisioning a better future rather than just protecting oneself from an outside threat. It's the freedom "to" have healthcare or to love whom you love rather than just the freedom "from" oppression or prejudice.
Snyder also delves into the critical role that newspapers and the press play in talking about freedom. Amid the rising tide of misinformation, Snyder warns that “if we...have different facts, we're not going to end up in a free world because whoever has the most power over fantasy is going to end up deciding things.”
Snyder concludes by discussing how freedom can be applied more globally. In exploring different interpretations of freedom, he highlights Ukraine’s view of freedom as an ongoing journey. Freedom, he says, is the means to a better life rather than the end goal.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.
Hard Numbers: US Southerners “Waffle” about the weather, Rent inflation continues to ease in Canada, Investors get nervous about US election, Manitoba looks to slash machete sales
2.1: Rents in Canada rose just 2.1% on an annual basis in September, the slowest rate of growth since October 2021. The data marks the fifth straight month in which the rate of rent increases fell. Back in May, it was at a whopping 9%. At the provincial level, rents in Ontario fell more than 4%, pulled downward by a drop of more than 8% in Toronto. Meanwhile, in Saskatchewan, rents rose by 23.5% as a result of higher demand for the province’s relatively affordable housing.
20.9: How nervous are investors about the prospect of a disputed US presidential election? The Cboe Volatility Index, which measures the perceived risk of severe stock swings within a 30-day period, has risen 6 points since September and now stands at 20.9, a level that is usually associated with moderate to high expectations of turbulence. Fears about a disputed US election are part of that, according to investors.
5,000: Do you happen to be thinking of selling a sword, machete, or other large-bladed weapon in Manitoba? You’d better act fast. The province’s lawmakers are debating a new bill that would tighten the rules around the sales of such weapons. Only people over the age of 18 with a photo ID would be permitted to buy them, and sales records would be maintained for two years, with fines for individuals as high as CA$5,000 for rule breakers. The bill follows high-profile machete attacks in the province.Is Silicon Valley eroding democracy? A Q&A with Marietje Schaake
Marietje Schaake has watched Silicon Valley for years, and she has noticed something troubling: The US technology industry and its largest companies have gradually displaced democratic governments as the most powerful forces in people’s lives. In her newly released book, “The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley,” Schaake makes her case for how we got into this mess and how we can get ourselves out.
We spoke to Schaake, a former member of the European Parliament who serves as international policy director at the Stanford University Cyber Policy Center and international policy fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. She is also a host of the GZERO AI video series. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
GZERO: How do private companies govern our lives in ways that governments used to — and still should?
Schaake: Tech companies decide on civil liberties and government decision-making in health care and border controls. There are a growing number of key decisions made by private companies that used to be made by public institutions with a democratic mandate and independent oversight. For-profit incentives do not align with those.
When tech companies curate our information environments for maximum engagement or ad sales, different principles take priority compared to when trust and verification of claims made about health or elections take precedence. Similarly, cybersecurity companies have enormous discretion in sharing which attacks they observe and prevent on their networks. Transparency in the public interest may mean communicating about incidents sooner and less favorably to the companies involved.
In both cases, governance decisions are made outside of the mandate and accountability of democratic institutions, while the impact on the public interest is significant.
Why do you present this not merely as a new group of powerful companies that have become increasingly important in our lives, but, as you write, as an “erosion of democracy”?
The more power in corporate hands that is not subject to the needed countervailing powers, the fewer insights and agency governments have to govern the digital layer of our lives in the public interest.
Why do you think technology companies have largely gone unregulated for decades?
Democrats and Republicans have consistently chosen a hands-off approach to regulating tech companies, as they believed that would lead to the best outcomes. We now see how naively idealistic and narrowly economically driven that approach was.
Silicon Valley is constantly lobbying against regulation, often saying that rules and bureaucracy would hold industry back and prevent crucial innovation. Is there any truth to that, or is it all talk?
Regulation is a process that can have endless different outcomes, so without context, it is an empty but very powerful phrase. We know plenty of examples where regulation has sparked innovation — think of electric cars as a result of sustainability goals. On the other hand, innovation is simply not the only consideration for lawmakers. There are other values in society that are equally important, such as the protection of fundamental rights or of national security. That means innovation may have to suffer a little bit in the interest of the common good.
What’s Europe’s relationship like with Silicon Valley at this moment after a series of first-mover tech regulations?
Many tech companies are reluctantly complying, after exhausting their lobbying efforts against the latest regulations with unprecedented budgets.
In both the run-up to the General Data Protection Regulation and the AI Act, tech companies lobbied against the laws but ultimately complied or will do so in the future.
What’s different about this moment in AI where, despite Europe’s quick movement to pass the AI Act, there are still few rules around the globe for artificial intelligence companies? Does it feel different than conversations around other powerful technologies you discuss in the book, such as social media and cryptocurrency?
I have never seen governments step up as quickly and around the world, as I have in relation to AI, and in particular the risks. Part of that may be a backlash of the late regulation of social media companies, but it is significant and incomparable to any waves of other technological breakthroughs. The challenge will be for the democratic countries to work together rather than to magnify the differences between them.
You were at the UN General Assembly in New York last week, where there was a new Pact for the Future and HLAB-AI report addressing artificial intelligence governance at the international level. Does the international community seem to understand the urgency of getting AI regulation and governance right?
The sense of urgency is great, but the sense of direction is not clear. Moreover, the EU and the US really do not want to see any global governance of AI even if that is where the UN adds most value. The EU and US prefer maximum discretion and presumably worry they would have to compromise when cooperating with partners around the world. The US has continued its typical hands-off approach to tech governance in relation to AI as well.
There is also a great need to ensure the specific needs of communities in the Global South are met. So a global effort to work together to govern AI is certainly needed.
Back to the book! What can readers expect when they pick up a copy of ”The Tech Coup?”
Readers will look at the role of tech companies through the lens of power and understand the harms to democracy if governance is not innovated and improved. They will hopefully feel the sense of urgency to address the power grab by tech companies and feel hopeful that there are solutions to rebalance the relationship between public and private interests.
Can we actually save democracy from Silicon Valley — or is it too late?
The irony is that because so little has been done to regulate tech companies, there are a series of common-sense steps that can be taken right away to ensure governments are as accountable when they use technology for governance tasks, and that outsourcing cannot be an undermining of accountability. They can also use a combination of regulatory, procurement, and investment steps to ensure tech companies are more transparent, act in the public interest, and are ultimately accountable. This applies to anything from digital infrastructure to its security, from election technologies to AI tools.
We need to treat tech the way we treat medicine: as something that can be of great value as long as it is used deliberately.
Live on Tuesday: International Democracy Day 2024: Navigating AI for Governance and Citizen Engagement
Tomorrow, GZERO's Chief Content Officer Tony Maciulis will moderate a UN livestream panel in the lead up to the International Day of Democracy: "Navigating AI for Governance and Citizen Engagement". The special event, presented by the United Nations Democracy Fund and United Nations Office for Partnerships, will bring together diverse voices from civil society, academia, and the UN to explore the role of artificial intelligence in promoting and defending good governance and active citizen participation. The International Day of Democracy is Sunday, September 15, 2024.
Watch live here on Tuesday, September 10th at 11 am ET:
For more information about this event, visit the UN TV website.
Argentina's President Javier Milei wants his nation "on the side of liberal democracies"
In the latest episode of GZERO World, Ian Bremmer sits down with the new firebrand president of Argentina, Javier Milei. Milei may be best known outside of Argentina for his flair for the dramatic, whether it be cloning his dogs, calling the pope an SOB, or dressing up as a superhero to sing about fiscal policy.
But when it comes to trade and geopolitics, don’t let the fanfare fool you. Milei is clear-eyed. He plans to reverse “100 years of decadence” — which he blames on Argentina’s various leftist governments of the past — by forging an open and free trade policy.
“Trade is a prosperity machine, and we should seek every possible way to open up more markets and to open up more vis-a-vis the rest of the world,” he says.
But what might be even more striking for the flamboyant leader is his sober geopolitical outlook and his determination to keep Argentina on the side of Western democracies.
“The key point here is not just about the benefits to be gained from free trade,” Milei tells Bremmer, “but it's also a significant geopolitical matter about making sure we are on the right side of history, which is the side of liberal democracies, and not on the side of autocrats.”
Milei also cautions other nations to learn from Argentina’s missteps. “I recommend to everyone NOT to follow in Argentina's footsteps,” Milei asserts, highlighting Argentina’s drastic fall from wealth due to socialist policies. His message is clear: Argentina’s experience is a cautionary tale, underscoring the perils of forsaking economic freedom and democratic principles.
Watch the full interview on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airing nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube and on our website. Don’t miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
- Milei makes fiery Davos debut ›
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- Who the heck is Javier Milei? ›
- Ian Explains: What's so radical about Argentina's new president (besides his cloned dogs)? - GZERO Media ›
- Argentina's radical new president, Javier Milei (Exclusive interview) - GZERO Media ›
- Javier Milei's plan to save Argentina: Full interview - GZERO Media ›
Maduro declares victory in Venezuela, opposition cries fraud
Venezuela’s strongman President Nicolás Maduro declared victory in the country’s hotly contested election on Monday, claiming to have won 51% of the vote despite independent exit polls showing a landslide for the opposition. Maria Corina Machado, Maduro’s chief rival, whom he banned from standing, said data collected by volunteers in polling places showed her candidate, Edmundo González, trouncing Maduro with 70% of the vote.
Election day. People began lining up at 3 a.m. in some parts of the capital Caracas on Sunday, anxious to cast their ballots in what many saw as their last best chance to restore the democratic process in Venezuela.
Media reports were tightly controlled, but some voters told CNN Español that they faced intimidation by militants. Citizens who attempted to enter government buildings to observe vote counting found themselves blocked by men on motorcycles donning red clothing and shouting pro-Maduro slogans.
What happens now? Machado said the opposition would fight to “defend the truth” and called on the international community to reject the results, but she stopped short of calling for protests. The presidents of Peru, Chile, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Uruguay all condemned or cast doubt on Maduro’s claimed victory, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for official vote tabulations to be published.
We are watching how Venezuelan voters react, and whether the international community can heap pressure on the Maduro regime — particularly given his dark warnings of a “bloodbath” and “civil war” if he is forced from office.
For more on Venezuela’s election, check out GZERO’s Viewpoint interview with Eurasia Group expert Risa Grais-Targowhere.How will the summer of 2024 be remembered in US history?
We are living through history in the making, and it is stressful. On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer asks media journalist Brian Stelter and Vanderbilt historian Nicole Hemmer how future generations will view the current political moment in the United States.
They’ll learn, Stelter says, that “the struggle for a true multiracial democracy was incredibly volatile, was in times even scary." He points out that this tumultuous period is characterized by fierce battles between figures like Donald Trump, who offer simplistic solutions, and figures like Joe Biden, who resist such approaches. They’ll learn that “figures like Donald Trump came forward with easy solutions that actually weren't that easy at all” and that “figures like Joe Biden came forward to try to resist the Trumps of the world."
Nicole Hemmer echoes Stelter's sentiments, describing the current era as a testing ground for multiracial democracy. “This will either be a story of counter-majoritarian institutions stamping out public desires, or it will be a story of reforms that remade those institutions in order to make them reflect the will of the people.” We'll either be a more or less democratic United States after this moment, Hemmer adds, and what happens in the next months and years will decide that.'
Watch full episode: Trump, Biden & the US election: What could be next?
Season 7 of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, launches nationwide on 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 (🔔).
Rwanda votes: Kagame looks set to secure fourth term
Rwandans are heading to the polls Monday for a presidential election, and while official results are not expected until next Saturday, President Paul Kagame – who won with a suspicious 98.8% of the vote in 2017 – looks set to secure a fourth term.
Kagame first came to power in 1994, when he led the rebel militia and overthrew the Hutu government responsible for the Rwandan genocide that killed over 800,000 people. He’s been in power for over three decades and oversaw the removal of term limits via referendum in 2015.
Praised for returning stability to the country, and for its emergence as a financial hub, Kagame has also come under increasing international scrutiny for alleged human rights violations and for backing rebel groups in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Voter turnout is expected to be high, but against a backdrop of crackdowns on the opposition and political dissent, there are valid questions as to how free and fair the election is. Only two opposition candidates – the same two allowed to face Kagame in 2017 – were cleared by the state-run electoral commission this time. Any candidate who stood even a chance of being competitive against Kagame was barred, imprisoned, or has reportedly since disappeared.
We’ll be watching to see the level of voter turnout and victory and to see how Kagame uses his next term to shape Rwanda’s foreign policy.