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In this episode, we explore the League of Nations' impact on the development of international law and global governance.

Editors Karin van Leeuwen and Morten Rasmussen explain how their Cambridge Handbook uses deep archival research across dozens of collections to reveal how the League used legal techniques, institutions and networks to shape a nascent form of global governance.

We explore the League’s legal section and court experiments, tensions between sovereign equality and imperial hierarchies, and case studies like Upper Silesia and the Manchurian crisis, as well as how the Handbook reframes the League as central to the development of international law and institutions, while noting the limits of ‘‘peace through law".

Resources: 

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Ikonomou, H. A. et al. (eds.) (2026) The Cambridge Handbook of the League of Nations and International Law. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: Available via Global Search.

Production:  

Guests: Karin van Leeuwen & Morten Rasmussen

Host: Amy Smith

Recorded & produced at the United Nations Library & Archives Geneva.

In this episode, we explore diplomacy in action.

Mario Oyarzábal, Member of the International Law Commission and the Legal Advisor to the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, discusses the new book International Law for Diplomats, a practitioner-focused guide written to help diplomats handle real-world issues like treaty negotiation, state immunities, use of force, human rights and dispute settlement.

Featuring chapters from experienced legal advisors from foreign ministries as well as international organizations and institutions, the book's central message is that international law is not a specialist domain but rather diplomacy’s keystone, essential for advancing state interests and reinforcing the rule of law.

Mario Oyarzábal reminds us, "that international law is a toolbox for cooperation for resolving disputes peacefully, for accountability."

Resources:

Ask a Librarian.

Ask an Archivist.

International Law for Diplomats, available via Global Search.

Production:   

Guest: Ambassador Mario Oyarzábal.
Host: Amy Smith.

Recorded & produced at the United Nations Library & Archives Geneva.

This is AIxMultilateralism, where we’re joined by experts who help us unpack the many ideas and issues at the nexus of AI and international cooperation.  

The environmental impact of AI systems is increasingly discussed. But what if we went beyond this to look at how the success of AI is dependent on the earth’s resources? In this episode we are joined by Martín Tironi Rodó, Director of FAIR, the Futures of Artificial Intelligence Research Nucleus, and the sociologist of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He shares why artificial intelligence is deeply interconnected with planetary intelligence, and calls for more research, agency and leadership across Chile and Latin America in shaping the future of AI.

Resources:

Learn about the Futures of Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) Nucleus.

Discover the Conceptual Cartographies of AI.

Explore the Hybrid Ecologies Exhibition.

Discover the exhibition Bajo nuestros pies: The Rare Earths of AI.

Consult Martin's work and research publications.

Production:   

Guest: Martín Tironi Rodó.
Host, production and editing: Natalie Alexander Julien. 

Podcast Music credits:

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/img/sequence
License code: AVHFBHYLV8MCYE1C

In this episode, we explore an interesting facet in the life of international governance: emotions. 

Professor Daniel Laqua, Professor Dan Gorman and Dr. Anne-Isabelle Richard join us to explain GLO (Global Governance Trust and Democratic Engagement in Past and Present), a transatlantic research project examining how civil society, activists and NGOs have campaigned to build, shape, reform or put an end to international organizations from the early 20th century to the early 2000s.

The project's findings reveal interesting aspects about how people relate to and through international insitutions, particularly, emotional experiences such as love, hate, trust, and a sense of belonging. Our guests explore these ideas using examples from the League of Nations, United Nations Associations, Jubilee 2000 and the Council of Europe. And, they also share what grassroots diplomacy suggests about the possibilities of change.

Resources:

Ask a Librarian.

Ask an Archivist.

Global Governance Trust and Democratic Engagement in Past and Present (GLO Project website: https://research.northumbria.ac.uk/glo

Production:
This episode was recorded on the occasion of the conference ‘Love, Hate, and the Fate of International Organisations: The Psychological Life of Global Governance (1900–Present)’, held at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Guests: Professor Daniel Laqua (Northumbria University, United Kingdom), Professor Dan Gorman (University of Waterloo, Canada) and Dr. Anne-Isabelle Richard (Leiden University, The Netherlands).

Host: Amy Smith

Recorded & produced at the United Nations Library & Archives Geneva.

This is AIxMultilateralism, where we’re joined by experts who help us unpack the many ideas and issues at the nexus of AI and international cooperation.  

Should philanthropy be a part of the development and governance of AI? We explore this question with Hubert Halopé and Giuseppe Ugazio, part of the team at the Artificial Intelligence & Philanthropy Project at the University of Geneva. They share the findings of the project's open source book The Routledge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy, why philanthropic organisations should play a key role in AI governance and in the ethical use of AI, and argue how philanthropy can be present in multilateral AI governance mechanisms at the UN.

Resources:

Learn about the Artificial Intelligence & Philanthropy Project at the University of Geneva.

Read The Routledge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy (open source version), edited by Giuseppe Ugazio & Milos Maricic.

Read Giuseppe's recommended book, The Green and The Blue: Digital Politics in Philosophical Discussion, edited by Luciano Floridi and Jörg Noller.

Production:   

Guests: Giuseppe Ugazio and Hubert Halopé.
Host, production and editing: Natalie Alexander Julien.

Podcast Music credits:

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/img/sequence
License code: NXAZUHU70MDKU4E9

Recorded and produced at the UN Library & Archives Geneva.