In this episode of New Frontiers, Mark Williams sits down with political scientist Javier Corrales, to discuss his latest book—‘Autocracy Rising: How Venezuela Transitioned to Authoritarianism’. Known for decades as one of the developing world’s most stable democracies, Venezuela’s slide toward autocracy began with Hugo Chávez’s rise to the presidency. In 1998 public displeasure with various economic, political, and social issues swept Chávez to power. Thereafter, power itself increasingly accrued to the presidency—at the expense of civil society elements, pluralism, and institutional checks and balances—to the point that Freedom House now ranks the Venezuelan political system led by current president Nicolás Maduro as “not free.” How did Venezuela transition from democracy to autocracy? What factors played the largest causal roles? And what lessons might Venezuela’s experience teach about democracy’s fragility elsewhere? This episode offers a deep dive into these topics.

Javier Corrales is Dwight W. Morrow 1895 professor of Political Science at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He obtained his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 1996.

Corrales's research focuses on democratization, presidential powers, ruling parties, democratic backsliding, populism, political economy of development, oil and energy, the incumbent's advantage, foreign policies, and sexuality. He has published extensively on Latin America and the Caribbean.

For more information on the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs at Middlebury College and the New Frontiers podcast series, visit our website.
New Frontiers is a higher education podcast series bringing scholarly research and expertise to bear on national, international, and global affairs.

Produced and edited by Margaret DeFoor and Mark Williams, director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs. Intro by Charlotte Tate, associate director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs. Editing also by Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs intern, Mehr Sohal.

Music Credits
Forte by Kestra - Summer with Sound Album
Soul Zone by Kestra - Light Rising Album

Established in 1600 to secure trade relations between India, East and Southeast Asia, and Britain, the East India Company did this and much, much more. For nearly 300 years it ran a global trading network that operated for profit, politics, and eventually empire. In the process it not only became the world’s first multinational corporation, but — thanks to its own army, navy, currency, and legal system—came to rule territories far more extensive than its home base of the British Isles. On this episode, Mark Williams speaks with historian Ian Barrow about this remarkable company, how it came to support British imperialism, what its history might tell us about the rise of capitalism and the nature of colonialism, and some of the legacies its operations left behind.

Ian Barrow is director of the Axxin Center for the Humanities and the A. Barton Hepburn Professor of History at Middlebury College. An historian of South Asia, he has written three books, most recently a history of the East India Company titled The East India Company, 1600–1858.

For more information on the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs at Middlebury College and the New Frontiers podcast series, visit our website.
New Frontiers is a higher education podcast series bringing scholarly research and expertise to bear on national, international, and global affairs.

Produced and edited by Margaret DeFoor and Mark Williams, director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs. Intro by Charlotte Tate, associate director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs. Outro by Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs intern, Mehr Sohal.

Music Credits
Forte by Kestra - Summer with Sound Album
Soul Zone by Kestra - Light Rising Album

How has US foreign policy changed since the end of the Cold War? When—and over what issues—did America’s largely bipartisan foreign policy collapse? What major foreign policy challenges await the next US president? Where will the next US administration take America, and how might it seek to advance and protect its notion of the national interest? In this episode of New Frontiers, Ambassador Michael McKinley joins Mark Williams to discuss the foreign policy implications of the 2024 US presidential election. Their conversation ranges from such historic milestones as the end of the Cold War and the Global War on Terror, to more contemporary policy issues like the Middle East, Ukraine, trade, and immigration.

Over the course of a 37-year career, Michael McKinley served as the US Ambassador to Peru, Colombia, Afghanistan, and Brazil, and as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State. Earlier assignments included serving as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’affaires at US embassies in Mozambique, Uganda, and the US Mission to the European Union. His articles on foreign policy and US politics have appeared in Foreign Affairs, the Atlantic, the Financial Times, and other publications. He has a Ph.D. from Oxford University in Latin American history.

For more information on the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs at Middlebury College and the New Frontiers podcast series, visit our website.
New Frontiers is a higher education podcast series bringing scholarly research and expertise to bear on national, international, and global affairs.

Produced and edited by Margaret DeFoor and Mark Williams, director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs. Intro by Charlotte Tate, associate director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs.

Music Credits
Forte by Kestra - Summer with Sound Album
Soul Zone by Kestra - Light Rising Album