Rear Vision — How History Shaped Today

Gerrymandering is endemic in the United States and could determine the outcome of this year's mid-term elections. It has been a feature of the American political system since the beginning of the republic, according to Princeton University's Samuel Wang. So, how did the self-styled “world’s greatest democracy” end up with a system that former California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, says is being rigged by both major parties?

Guests:

Dr John Hart – School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University

Dr Samuel Wang – Professor of Neuroscience and Head of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, Princeton University 

Dr Ben Reid – data analyst and researcher, Australian and European history, Parliament of Victoria 

Dr Melissa Rogers – Professor, Politics & Policy and Co-Director, Inequality and Policy Research Center, Claremont Graduate University

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to affect economies around the world.  But Russia has not only escaped the financial fallout, but has prospered.

It may surprise you to know that the Australian parliament has no real say over whether the country goes to war. In the United States its effectively the same, with analysts saying the US Congress has now basically ceded its war powers to the president. A process, by the way, that began long before the arrival of Donald Trump. In this episode we look at how that happened and why calls for war powers reform have had so little success.

Guests:

Dr Russell Berman – Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University 

Dr Sarah Percy – Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Queensland

Dr Sarah Burns – Rochester Institute of Technology 

Dr Alison Broinowski - Australians for War Power Reform

Dr Nicole Townsend - lecturer in War Studies – University of New South Wales, Canberra

The Federal Government is hoping tax reform will help address the widening generational wealth gap and rebalance the tax system in favour of younger people.One policy being targeted for an overhaul in this year's budget is the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount.

Australia started taxing capital gains in the mid-1980s to tackle tax avoidance and evasion which was a huge problem at the time.So why in 1999 did the Howard government introduce a discount on that tax? 

And why does the concession encourage investment in established housing stock? 

Guests:Chris Evans - Emeritus Professor UNSW Business SchoolPeter Martin - economist and presenter of The Economy StupidRick Krever - taxation law and policy specialist at UWACraig Emerson - economist and former Federal Labor MP Joe Aston - author and business journalistPeter Tulip - Chief Economist at the Centre for Independant StudiesRichard Holden - Scientia Professor of  Economics at UNSW Business School 

In 1707 the Scottish national parliament was disbanded, not to be reconvened until 1999. How and why Scotland regained its own Assembly is the story of rising Scottish nationalism and Westminster’s attempts to dampen such feelings and keep Scotland in the Union. On May 7th, Scots go to the polls, and the outcome could impact significantly on both the nationalist cause in Scotland and on the ongoing viability of Keir Starmer’s Labour government at Westminster.

Guests:

Dr Clement Macintyre – Professor Emeritus, School of Society and Culture, Adelaide University

Dr Nicola McEwen – Professor of Public Policy and Governance, University of Glasgow 

Alyn Smith – Former UK MP and MEP, candidate for the 2026 Scottish parliamentary elections, Scottish National Party 

Tom Chidwick – Manager, Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London

IN 1959 Fidel Castro transformed Cuba into a socialist state. And ever since then, American presidents have been trying to undo it.

Now it’s Donald Trump’s turn – and he’s determined to succeed. 

Australia’s incoming Chief of Army, Lt. General Susan Coyle, will be the first woman ever to hold the Army’s top post. Her appointment in the lead-up to Anzac Day reflects a change that’s been decades in the making. The true history of warfare is the story of men and women together on the battlefield. But in the early 20th century that reality changed, and at the same time, female fighters began to be written out of the history books. This is the story of how western women successfully fought their way back onto the front line. It’s also a story about how the current US administration is once again trying to wrest them from the field.

Guests:

Ashleigh Percival-Borley – Military historian, Durham University 

Dr Sarah Percy – Associate professor, School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland

Dr Megan McKenzie – Professor, School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University 

Dr Kyleanne Hunter – CEO of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

Links:

Sarah Percy’s Forgotten Warriors

Kyleanne Hunter’s Invisible Veterans

Megan MacKenzie’s Beyond the Band of Brothers

It’s a truism of peace talks that we’re not negotiating with our friends but rather with our enemies. And when our enemies have been designated as terrorists and murderers, it’s not an easy task. 

How have violent conflicts ended in the past and are there lessons we can learn from previous peace negotiations?

Guests

Youssef Mahmoud, Senior Advisor at the International Peace Institute. Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and head of peace operations in Burundi, the Central African Republic and Chad.

Randall Lesaffer, Professor of Legal History at KU University in Leuven, Belgium and author of Peace Treaties and International Law in European History: From the Late Middle Ages to World War One.

Philipp Kastner, Senior Lecturer in International law at the University of Western Australia and author of Legal Normativity in the Resolution of Internal Armed Conflict.

Luxshi Vimalarajah, senior mediator advisor at the Berghof Foundation. Previously involved in peace negotiations in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Turkey, Yemen, North Macedonia and Colombia.

The conflict in the Middle East has led to a sharp rise in energy prices – and highlighted the issue of Australia’s energy security.  

Why haven’t we all transitioned to renewables? The story of Australia’s energy transition and why it’s had so many false starts and missteps. 

Wrapping yourself in the national flag has become a common practice for far-right activists right across the Western world, particularly anti-immigration demonstrators. In the UK the co-opting of the Union Jack and the flag of St George has become so common it’s now described in derogatory terms as “flag-shagging”. In this episode, we explore the historic power of national flags as symbols of division, not just national unity. 

Guests:

Dr Anne Platoff – Flag expert and former librarian, University of California, Santa Barbara 

Laura Scofield – Design Director, The Atlantic

Dr Dominic Bryan – Professor of social anthropology, Queens’s University Belfast