Carnegie Council Audio Podcast

Every capitalist economy struggles with how to come to terms with greed, says John Paul Rollert, an expert on the intellectual history of capitalism. He describes how our perspective has changed from the Christian view of greed as an unalloyed sin, to the 18th century idea that it could bring positive benefits, to the unabashed "Greed is good" ethos in the movie "Wall Street." Where do we stand now? How can we rehabilitate capitalism?

Next time on Global Ethics Forum, University of Maryland Baltimore County's Professor Kate Brown details the ethical, social, and health costs of nuclear power since World War II. In this excerpt Brown, author of "Plutopia," and journalist Stephanie Sy discuss the little-known Cold War era nuclear production plants in the Soviet Union and Washington State.

"Unknown to the rest of America, we had one regiment of Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico which was totally integrated. The rest of the military was segregated, and the Puerto Rican regiment was integrated." Military historian Richard Millett discusses some surprising and neglected aspects of the Hispanic experience in World War I, along with the war's impact on the United States' relationship with its Latin American allies.

As Obama's adviser on Russian affairs, Michael McFaul helped craft the United States' policy known as "reset" that fostered new and unprecedented collaboration between the two countries. Then, as U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012-2014, he had a front-row seat when this fleeting moment crumbled with Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency. "It's tragic," he says. "How is it that we have come back to something close to the Cold War?"

"I'm not making an argument that Maoism is coming back; we're very far away from that. But the crucial thing to recognize is just what we had known as characterizing the reform era is going away, and China is shifting into a more personalized authoritarian regime and one which is more closed with respect to outside influence. For me, I think when you see those things happening it makes you worried about what's the next norm that starts to break."

Over six years, Julie Chernov Hwang conducted over 100 interviews with current and former leaders and followers of radical Islamist groups in Indonesia to find out why some terrorists finally quit. What did she learn? The key is life skills training, family and community support, and personal development, she says. "If you are going to focus on deradicalization, focus it narrowly on use of violence. Don't try to overhaul someone's worldview."

"What happens when a predator drone has as much as autonomy as a self-driving car, moving to something that is able to do all of the combat functions all by itself, that it can go out, find the enemy, and attack the enemy without asking for permission?" asks military and technology expert Paul Scharre. The technology's not there yet, but it will be very soon, raising a host of ethical, legal, military, and security challenges.

In the 1930s during the run-up to WWII, many argued that arms manufacturers and bankers--"merchants of death"--had conspired to manipulate the U.S. into entering WWI. What is or should be the role of the profit motive in preparing for war? "This is a debate that is no less important now," says MIT's Christopher Capozzola, "but we are not having it, and we are not including all the people in that debate who need to be participating in it."

Unlike Trump, Duterte came to the presidency with a history in public service and he knew how to run a government, says John Gershman. "I would relate him in some ways more to the anti-democratic populist movements of Eastern Europe: authoritarian, a very heavy morality dimension to his vision of nationalism, with a focus on things like drugs, and with a healthy dose of misogyny in his rhetoric."

Are we witnessing a new era of cosmopolitan justice or are the old principles of victors' justice still in play? Economic and political theorist Daniele Archibugi discusses his new book, "Crime and Global Justice," which examines the history of global criminal justice and presents five case studies: Augusto Pinochet, Slobodan Milošević, Radovan Karadžić, Saddam Hussein, and Omar al-Basheer.

Professor Qin Gao, director of Columbia's China Center for Social Policy, explains the workings of the Chinese "Dibao" (limited income guarantee) system. "Dibao is doing relatively better than many other similar programs in developing countries," says Gao, yet it has limitations and some negative aspects. She also discusses Xi Jinping's ambitious goal to eradicate poverty by 2020, and the benefits of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) system.

Next time on Global Ethics Forum, "Atlantic" contributing editor Gregg Easterbrook looks beyond the headlines and makes the case for optimism in an age of fear. In this excerpt, Easterbrook shares some positive statistics about the global food supply and economics in the United States.

Growing up in Apartheid-era South Africa, Robert Bank cared about social injustice from an early age. Today he travels the world for AJWS, working with local activists on a range of issues such as women's rights in India and LGBT rights in Uganda. "My job—very much like a conductor of an orchestra in some way—is to ensure that every instrument has its beautiful voice heard and that this melody is given the opportunity to really soar."

What are the qualities and conditions that enable people to become successful peacemakers? At a time when peace seems elusive and conflict endemic, Bruce Jentleson makes a forceful and inspiring case for the continued relevance of statesmanship and diplomacy and provides practical guidance to 21st-century leaders seeking lessons from some of history's most accomplished negotiators, activists, and trailblazers.

"What you stopped seeing after World War I was great power conflict involving chemical weapons, and what you started seeing was asymmetric conflicts or regional conflicts that involved chemical weapons. That actually disturbed me even more because what I started realizing was that as time went on the weaker you were, the more likely that another state would use chemical weapons against you or your people."

"The failure of globalism [an ideology of bringing people closer together] is very different than the failure of globalization," says Ian Bremmer. "I don't think globalization has failed. It has led to a lot more wealth. It has taken a lot of people out of poverty." But in many Western countries the losers have not been taken care of, so the backlash is hardly surprising. What about the Chinese approach? Is it more successful?

"What distinguished Addams from other peace advocates was her strong emphasis on the crucial role of marginalized people, such as women, immigrants, and workers, in the peacemaking process," says Seiko Mimaki. Her views are highly relevant today, when people see themselves as abandoned by global elites. Unlike that of Woodrow Wilson, her vision of cosmopolitanism "pursued freedom and opportunity for everyone, not just for a privileged few."

Harvard's Yascha Mounk argues that liberalism and democracy are coming apart, creating new forms of illiberal democracy (democracy without rights) and undemocratic liberalism (rights without democracy). Populist leaders are flourishing; indeed, Hungary is on the verge of descending into dictatorship, with shamefully little criticism from the Europe or the U.S. What are the causes of this phenomenon? What can we do about it?

Next time on Global Ethics Forum, Nexus Institute founder Rob Riemen delivers a stark warning about the rise of fascism in the United States and Europe. In this excerpt, Riemen discusses the features of fascism in the 21st century and why it needs to be called out.

Although it has been written about for centuries, post-traumatic stress was not officially recognized as a medical condition until the 1980s. However World War I "was really a turning point in terms of acknowledging and starting to identify and treat what we call today post-traumatic stress," says Tanisha Fazal of the University of Minnesota, whose project on treating PTS will make the connection between World War I and current times.