We will get through this. At some point in the coming months, there will be a therapy or vaccine that allows life to return to something that resembles normal. What will the post-COVID19 world look like? How will this global pandemic change everything from our politics to our culture to international relations? Introducing the Munk Dialogues.

To encourage a conversation about the long-term impact of COVID-19, the Munk Debates launched a new “dialogues” series in spring 2020 moderated by Munk Debate co-founder Rudyard Griffiths, author of Who We Are: A Citizen’s Manifesto.

As the COVID-19 pandemic enters a new phase this autumn the Munk Dialogues continue. Are governments up to the challenge of a second wave of infections? How is the all-important economic recovery likely to play out? And, what are risks – domestic and global – of a high stakes U.S. election?

The Munk Dialogues are a weekly interactive video conversation about the big issues and events transforming our lives. Through weekly livestreams you will be able to participate in online Q&As with some of the world’s brightest minds and sharpest thinkers. From economics to culture to geopolitics, we will explore the key issue and ideas that will shape the post-pandemic world.

The videos will be available here on our website. WBFO, your NPR station, will broadcast the series Sundays at 6pm.

October 4- dialogue with Maggie Haberman, Pulitzer Prize winner, New York Times’ White House correspondent, and one of world’s leading investigative journalists, on the behind the scenes of President Trump’s reelection bid.

October 11-dialogue with Michael Eric Dyson, bestselling author, scholar, and racial justice campaigner, on the future of the politics of race and social justice in the shadow of the most consequential U.S. election in a generation.

October 18--dialogue with Robert Reich, former U.S. labor secretary, economic inequality activist, and filmmaker, on how to meet the once in a generation societal challenges presented by COVID19 and its shakeout of the global economy.

October 25-dialogue with Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives and bestselling author, on the legacy of Trump’s first term as president, and the future of U.S politics, two weeks out from November’s vote.

November 1- dialogue with James Carville, U.S. Democratic Party stalwart, political strategist, and bestselling author, on the likely outcomes of the November 3, 2020 U.S. election, one week out from this high-stakes global event.

November 15 – Martin Wolf, CBE, – British, Assoc. Editor and Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times, widely regarded as preeminent economic journalist at work today on the state of global economy and how COVID-19 is creating a new economic reality that will effect growth and prosperity for a generation to come.

November 22 – Anne Applebaum – American historian and journalist, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Cundill History Prize, staff writer at The Atlantic on the aftermath of the U.S. election, on the future of democracy in an era of populist politics and rising authoritarianism.

November 29 – Zhang Weiwei - professor of International Relations at Fudan University, has written widely on China’s economic and political reform on America’s growing rivalry with the Middle Kingdom and why China’s unique system of governance means it will come out on top.

Munk Dialogues

The World After COVID-19

Stream Videos Now or tune in to WBFO Sundays at 6pm

Is the capitalist system broken?

Aiming to help the world rediscover the art of public debate, the Munk Debates convene the brightest thinkers of our time to weigh in on Capitalism, something that touches on everything from the 2020 U.S. election cycle to climate change to economic inequality: “The capitalist system is broken. It’s time to try something different.”

Munk Debates
Capitalism

Premiered January 28, 2020
on WNED PBS

There is a growing belief in western societies that the current capitalist system no longer works for average people. Economic inequality is rampant. Life expectancy is falling. The environment is being destroyed for profits. Political power is wielded by wealthy elites and big business, not the people. For capitalism’s critics, the answer is a top to bottom reform of the “free market” along more socialist and democratic lines.

The Fall 2019 Munk Debate moved the motion: Be it resolved, the capitalist system is broken. It's time to try something different.

The Munk Debates, now entering its 12th year, are held twice a year in Toronto and tackle major policy issues, such as whether American foreign policy emboldens terrorists, whether men are obsolete, and whether religion is a force for good in the world. The Munk Debates are Canada’s preeminent forum to discuss the pressing issues of our time. Previous Munk Debate participants are a who’s who of world influencers, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon, and David Frum.

Arguing against the resolution will be Arthur Brooks, Harvard professor and Washington Post columnist. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers “The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America” and “The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise.” Joining him will be New York Times columnist, political commentator, and bestselling author, David Brooks.

For proponents of capitalism, it is the engine of economic and social progress, full stop. Not only has capitalism made all of us materially better off, its ideals are responsible for everything from women’s rights to a cleaner environment to greater political freedoms. The answer to society’s current ills is more capitalism, more economic freedom, and more free markets.

Arguing the affirmative is Editorial Director and Publisher of The Nation, Katrina vanden Heuvel. vanden Heuvel writes a weekly column for The Washington Post, and is a frequent commentator on U.S. and international politics for ABC, MSNBC, CNN, and PBS. She will be joined by Yanis Varoufakis, who is the former Minister of Finance for Greece.

Is China a threat to the liberal international order?

Tickets to the Munk Debates in Toronto can sell out in just 15 minutes, but WNED PBS viewers don’t need to leave their living rooms to catch the latest debate on China and its impact on the world. “China: Friend or Foe?” which premiered June 18, on WNED PBS, with renowned panelists H.R. McMaster and Michael Pillsbury arguing one side and Kishore Mahbubani and Huiyao Wang arguing the other. Rudyard Griffiths is the organizer and moderator.

Munk Debates
China: Friend of Foe?

Premiered Tuesday, June 18, 2019

on WNED-TV

Increasingly in the West, China is being characterized as a threat to the liberal international order, one that must be overcome through economic, political, technological and even military means. Supposedly, free and open societies, led by the United States, need to push back against the policies of the Chinese Communist Party to preserve a rules-based international order in 21st century. For others, this approach spells disaster. It ignores the history and dynamics propelling China’s peaceful rise to superpower status. Rather than undermining the post-war order, China is its best, and maybe only, guarantor in an era of declining U.S. leadership, increased regional instability and slowing global growth.

The Spring 2019 Munk Debate moved the motion: is China a threat to the liberal international order?

The motion for the Spring 2019 Munk Debate, held May 9: is China a threat to the liberal international order? Arguing for the resolution is H. R McMaster, who served as the 26th Assistant to the President for National Security before retiring from the U.S. military as Lieutenant General in 2018. He is a New York Times bestselling author, and a West Point graduate with a PhD in military history. He is joined by Michael Pillsbury, one of Donald Trump’s top advisors on China. Pillsbury is the author of The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower, and the director for Chinese strategy at the D.C.-based Hudson Institute.

Arguing against the resolution is Kishore Mahbubani, former President of the United Nation Security Council and past dean of the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Mahbubani is the author of numerous bestselling books, including 2018’s Has the West Lost It? A Provocation. Joining him will be Huiyao Wang. Dr. Wang is the Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) in Beijing. He was a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

Rudyard Griffiths is the organizer and moderator of the Munk Debates. He is the author of the 2009 Globe and Mail book of the year, Who We Are: A Citizen's Manifesto, and has edited various essays on Canadian and international political and historical themes. He has been a television anchor on BNN, CTV News Channel, and Bloomberg TV Canada.

The Munk Debates are a signature initiative of the Aurea Foundation, founded in 2006 by Peter and Melanie Munk to support Canadian institutions involved in the study and development of public policy.

Support for airing The Munk Debates was provided by Empire Communities.