So many of us seem to be scrambling to understand where the world is heading. Decade-old certainties seem to crumble before our eyes. Perhaps we are reaching the moment that Karl Marx predicted when all that is solid melts into air. But don’t panic. In their brand-new podcast, Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett are seeking out some of the brightest minds on the planet to help you navigate your way through this uncharted ocean. We will learn whether technology really can prevent climate change, whether the current economic headwinds are temporary or structural, whether Russia and China are forever friends, and whether social media are turning us all into zombies. But unlike many podcasts, we will also be looking for answers. After almost a century of steady progress in health and prosperity, people no longer expect their lives to be an upgrade on that of their parents. Misha and Eva will be asking guests whether such trends can be reversed or whether we will sink into another period of conflict both within and between states. Things may look bleak on the surface, but around the globe, human ingenuity continues to draw on diverse traditions to create systems that will overcome or circumvent the political, social, and economic dangers that are all too visible.
Our hosts: Misha Glenny is the Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences and one of the BBC’s most distinguished correspondents, as well as the presenter of the highly-praised podcast How to Invent a Country. Eva Konzett is a renowned editor and reporter for Vienna’s leading news magazine, Falter.
About our show: Future Discontinuous: Smart Talk with Smart People is a co-production of Falter and the IWM Vienna.
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Did Vienna Invent the Modern World, Richard Cockett?
At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna was the capital of an empire in decline. Yet the city was a hotbed of intellectual cross-pollination, spawning new ideas and scientific innovations across fields ranging from physics and economics to psychoanalysis and the arts.
In this episode of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett invite author Richard Cockett to retrace Vienna’s ideational footprint around the globe. Together with their guest, they discuss the famed „Red Vienna“ and its anti-progressive „Black“ (as Cockett calls it) counterpart, touch on the origins of the term sexual revolution, and shine a light on the Viennese émigrés—women especially—whose legacy remains widely influential today.
Richard Cockett is a journalist, historian, and academic. He is currently a senior editor at The Economist newspaper and a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He was previously a lecturer in history and politics at the University of London, and has written several books about British and world history. His most recent book, Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World (Yale University Press, 2024), has earned numerous critical accolades.
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17 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT
What Can We Learn from Genghis Khan, Ayşe Zarakol?
In this episode of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett are joined by international relations scholar Ayşe Zarakol to rethink where global order comes from—and why it may now be coming apart. Drawing on her book Before the West, Zarakol challenges the familiar story that modern international politics begins with Europe and the Peace of Westphalia. Instead, she traces earlier Eurasian world orders built around empires rather than nation-states, focusing on the Mongol and Chinggisid models of sovereignty that organized power around rulers, households, and fluid realms rather than fixed borders. The discussion explores how these Eastern orders structured political competition across Asia, how their influence reached Europe through rivalry with the Ottomans, and how ideas of centralized authority took hold long before the modern state system.
Shifting the conversation to the present, the trio examines how stigma and hierarchy continue to shape the behavior of both rising and declining powers, from China and Russia to Europe and the United States. Are today's turbulences best understood through familiar 20th-century analogies, or do the upheavals of the 17th century—marked by climate stress, technological disruption, and prolonged instability—offer a more unsettling parallel? As strongman politics resurges and the nation-state itself comes under pressure from digital platforms and concentrated private power, the episode asks what kinds of order might emerge next and how long we may have to navigate a world without one.
Ayşe Zarakol is a professor of international relations at the University of Cambridge. The main themes of her research are East-West relations and social hierarchies in world politics, problems of modernity and sovereignty, and rising and declining powers. She is the author of Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders (Cambridge University Press, 2022), which has won six prestigious awards. In 2024, Zarakol was elected to fellowship in the British Academy and the Academia Europaea.
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3 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT
Can history explain Putin’s war, Sergey Radchenko?
Few historians illuminate the inner workings of Soviet and Russian foreign policy with the clarity and archival depth of Sergey Radchenko. Drawing on unprecedented access to Communist Party documents, Radchenko has rewritten key chapters of the Cold War, tracing the ambitions, insecurities, and delusions that drove leaders from Stalin to Gorbachev, which still echo in Vladimir Putin’s Russia today.
In this episode of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett explore Stalin’s competing quests for security, resources, and legitimacy, Khrushchev’s nuclear brinkmanship from Berlin to Cuba, and the unraveling of Soviet power in Eastern Europe. Together with their guest, they examine how China emerged as Moscow’s greatest geopolitical nightmare, how misunderstandings shaped the end of the Cold War, and why Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has become a catastrophic gamble for all involved. They also unpack early, little-known peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow—and what recent diplomatic maneuvers reveal about the shifting global balance of power.
Sergey Radchenko is a Russian-British historian who currently teaches at the Henry Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. Radchenko grew up on Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East before studying in the United States and the United Kingdom. He is the author of several books about the Cold War and has published extensively on nuclear history and Russian and Chinese foreign and security policies. His latest book, To Run the World (Cambridge University Press, 2024), won the prestigious Lionel Gelber Prize in Canada this year. He regularly writes for publications such as The Guardian.
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19 Nov 2025
Can we resist the AI empire, Karen Hao?
There is no shortage of critical commentary on the dizzying pace of developments in artificial intelligence. Yet, few do it as astutely as Karen Hao, whose award-winning book, Empire of AI, unveils the inner workings of OpenAI and the tech sector more broadly, shining a light on an industry marked by both grandiose proclamations and notorious secrecy. In this episode of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett revisit some of Silicon Valley‘s foundational myths and trace the ever-increasing impact of AI on our lives. Together with their guest, they examine how OpenAI has become the multi-billion-dollar empire it is today, discuss the differences between AI doomers and AI boomers, and take stock of the environmental costs of the data centers mushrooming around the globe.
Karen Hao is an award-winning journalist and author covering artificial intelligence. Having previously worked as an application engineer for a digital startup, a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal covering American and Chinese tech companies, and a senior AI editor at MIT Technology Review, Hao regularly writes about tech and AI for high-profile publications like The Atlantic. She also leads the AI Spotlight Series, a program that trains journalists to cover AI. Her 2025 book, Empire of AI, was an instant New York Times bestseller.
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5 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
What is the meaning of freedom, Timothy Snyder?
Often considered ‘the value of values,’ freedom is increasingly interpreted in negative terms as the absence of interference, especially by prominent figures on the right. Historian and author Timothy Snyder argues that in order to achieve true freedom, we must ask about the moral and political structures required for human societies to flourish. In this wide-ranging conversation with Snyder, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett explore topics such as the collapse of the Soviet Union, the many shades of freedom, and the importance of the humanities in helping us navigate the present.
Timothy Snyder holds the Chair in Modern European History at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Since 2008, he has been a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, where he leads the Institute's Ukraine programs. Snyder is the author of numerous critically acclaimed books, including Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017), and, most recently, On Freedom (2024).
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21 Mar 2025TRANSCRIPT
How new is the new world order, Margaret MacMillan?
Historian Margaret MacMillan discusses the shifting global power dynamics and their historical context with Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett
14 Mar 2025TRANSCRIPT
Are the tech bros taking over the White House, Eoin Higgins?
Journalist Eoin Higgins discusses the influence of tech billionaires on US politics and their anti-regulation agenda with hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett in this interview.
7 Mar 2025TRANSCRIPT
What can we learn from the Peasants' War of 1525, Lyndal Roper?
Historian Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford, discusses the Peasants' War of 1525 with Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett, revealing the lessons from this rebellion for today's crises, in this interview
28 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT
Is Trump preparing a constitutional coup, Mark Medish?
In this episode of Future Discontinuous, we dive deep into the political turmoil following Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 46th President of the United States. From overhauls in US domestic policy to disruptions in global diplomacy, this episode breaks down Trump‘s dramatic reshaping of the world order. Together with Mark Medish, policy consultant and former White House official, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett examine whether the Trump administration’s actions amount to a constitutional coup, assess the resilience of America’s checks and balances, and discuss the chainsaw Elon Musk is taking to the American state.
Mark Medish is an American lawyer and policy consultant with extensive experience in government and international affairs. During the Clinton Administration, he served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council , as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury. He has also held senior roles at USAID and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Medish is Director and Vice Chair of Panterra, a strategic consultancy, and founder of Keep Our Republic, a nonprofit organization dedicated to civic education and democratic governance. Medish is also member of IWM’s Board of Trustees.
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21 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT
Are Ultra-Processed Foods the New Silent Killers, Rosie Boycott?
Rosie Boycott, a British journalist and food activist, discusses the health and environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods and the industry's lobbying tactics with Eva Konzett and Misha Glenny in this interview.
14 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT
Who has a plan for peace in the Middle East, Dahlia Scheindlin?
The flood of headlines about the war in Israel and Gaza can feel overwhelming. Season two of Future Discontinuous kicks off with an episode examining the current state of the conflict, highlighting geopolitical dynamics and influential players. In conversation with Dahlia Scheindlin, hosts Eva Konzett and Misha Glenny explore Israeli public opinion, Netanyahu’s grip on power, Trump’s agenda for the region, and perspectives of the neighboring countries in the Middle East.
Dahlia Scheindlin is a political and strategic consultant, and policy analyst at Century International. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and other publications. Scheindlin is also the author of The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled (2023).
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20 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
Do we have to destroy the environment to save it, Julie Klinger?
Julie Klinger, a geography expert, explores the dark side of the green energy transition, revealing the emergence of a new resource colonialism and the quest for rare minerals in space.
13 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
What does the fall of Assad mean for Russia, Mark Galeotti?
Mark Galeotti, a renowned Russia expert, illuminates the implications of the Assad regime's fall on Putin's strategy and Russia's foreign policy in the Middle East.
6 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
Why do we need a world government, Nils Gilman?
Historian Nils Gilman explores the need for a world government with hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett, discussing how to tackle humanity's predicaments in the 21st century.
29 Nov 2024TRANSCRIPT
What does another Trump presidency mean for global politics, Stephen Walt?
In the first episode of Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny (IWM) and Eva Konzett (FALTER) welcome international relations scholar and Harvard Professor Stephen Walt. In a wide-ranging conversation, they discuss the US elections and their implications for the international stage. Against the backdrop of heightened global tensions, what does the second presidency of Donald Trump mean for trade relations with China, Europe’s engagement in Ukraine, and the deepening conflict in the Middle East? Listen in as Walt gives his take on this time of monsters, as Antonio Gramsci has famously termed the moment when the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born.
Stephen Walt is the Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He previously taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. Walt is a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine, commenting regularly on global affairs. His most recent book is The Hell of Good Intentions: America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy (2018). From September to December 2024, he is a Guest of the Institute at the IWM Vienna.
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27 Nov 2024TRANSCRIPT
Trailer: What to expect from Future Discontinuous
Feeling lost in a crumbling world? In Future Discontinuous, hosts Misha Glenny and Eva Konzett explore global challenges with top thinkers. From climate tech to geopolitics, they seek answers to whether humanity can reverse decline or face conflict. Join them to navigate uncharted waters with hope.
Our hosts Misha Glenny is the Rector of the Institute of Human Sciences and one of the BBC’s most distinguished correspondents, as well as the presenter of the highly-praised podcast How to Invent a Country. Eva Konzett is a renowned editor and reporter for Vienna’s leading news magazine, Falter. Future Discontinuous: Smart Talk with Smart People is a co-production of FALTER and the IWM Vienna.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Inside a recent episode
Did Vienna Invent the Modern World, Richard Cockett?
Published 4 Mar 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] So, unlike another capitals of Europe at the time, where disciplines were getting stovepiped, areas were coming down as people became more specialist. In Vienna, there was this huge mingling. So a lot of the artists of Vienna, I use that word, loosening writers such as Arthur Schnitz or, for instance, and they were very influenced by the anatomist physiologists and particularly psychoanalysis of Vienna in their own writings to create what's been called modernism, Austrian modernism, which was a particular way of looking at the world, and that translated the painting writing and the way that which you do science, empirically collecting evidence, etc. […]
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