Migration is a topic at the top of many different agendas but why are people moving and what can we learn from history to map out possible futures? Peter discusses this and more with Parag Khanna, founder & managing partner of FutureMap, a data and scenario based strategic advisory firm. Parag's new book MOVE and past work can be found on his websi…

When we choose what we eat it can have a huge impact on our environmental footprint. Author Sarah Briddle has written one of the books of the year, Food and Climate Change Without the Hot Air: Change Your Diet: The Easiest way to Help Save the Planet, and within it she measures the choices we take and what they mean for the world around us. Well wo…

Refugees and migrants take their path for many different reasons one of which is economic. How does the money they send back to their homes - remittance - change their families, communities and even governments? Outside of this how does their new cultural capital impact how they see the world around them and from where they travelled from? Pennsylv…

The 25th Bond film is in cinemas now and in this episode of I've Been Thinking with Peter Frankopan he digs into the real life world of espionage, counter terrorism and the life of Bond creator Ian Flemming. First up Peter is in conversation with Sir David Omand. He was the first UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, served on the Joint Intelli…

You've taken a hostage, but what are they worth? 97.5% of all hostages who are taken for ransom are returned but pricing is as important a factor as the negotiating. In this episode of I've Been Thinking Peter is in conversation with Professor Anja Shortland from King's College London on the economics of kidnapping and also the world of art theft w…

He's been the face of opposition politic in Russia for sometime but who is Alexei Navalny? What are his goals? What tools does he wield to achieve them? How do the Kremlin head him off? In order to answer those questions and more, Peter is joined by the authors and scholars behind Navalny: Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future? on this episode of I've B…

An extra episode of I've Been Thinking with Peter Frankopan in your podcast feed this week. In the media we see daily stories of projected food shortages, lack of workers and of course right now across the UK, queues on petrol forecourts. The UK is not alone in seeing disruption to its supply chains with incidents and examples across the globe not …

China Unbound: A New World Disorder, journalist Joanna Chiu takes her experience of over a decade examining China's expansion and puts pen to paper to give the reader a view of it's economic power, it's sway over foreign countries, and how China's growth has been handled by Western Nations. Peter and Joanna go under the hood of leader Xi Jinping's …

What is private education? Who goes in and who comes out? Like Peter, Richard Beard experienced such an education and writes about its impact and how it has shaped modern government in his latest book Sad Little Men: Private Schools and the Ruin of England. He and Peter get into private education's history, the breeding ground of power and its posi…

On this episode of I've Been Thinking Peter is in conversation with Vincent Brown, Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard and author of the excellent Tacky's Revolt released in 2020. He and Peter discuss who Tacky was, the implications of the revolt on the American revolution that was to come …

Welcome to the second part of this deep look into Afghanistan. Peter speaks to Professor Sumit Ganguly who provides the history and background of the Taliban's origins, and Professor Amira Jadoon one of the world's foremost experts on ISIS-K. You can find Professor Amira Jadoon on Twitter - @AmiraJadoon - and her website is www.amirajadoon.net Furt…

This is a two part special of I've Been Thinking, digging deeper into the situation in Afghanistan. In this episode Peter is in conversation with Ajmal Ahmady, until very recently the Governor of the Central Bank of Afghanistan and Minister of Commerce who saw the eye storm of the Taliban takeover and tries to answer "what comes next for the countr…

The Pacific Ocean trade routes have fascinated many for a long time including economic historians Mark Koyama & Fernando Arteaga. Together with their colleague Desiree Desierto they have written an extensive paper on trade across the Pacific Ocean in the centuries after the arrival of Columbus and Europeans in the Americas. In this episode of I've …

This episode of I've Been Thinking with Peter Frankopan is a special one as we look at the developing situation in Afghanistan. Peter has spent a lot of time working on the history of Afghanistan and its neighbours, so the dramatic events have sparked lots of questions about what happened, why and what may happen next. He is joined by Bruno Macaes,…

Leticia Arroyo and Noel Maurer are New York based academics who have written a fascinating work on if and how pandemics shape elections following their paper on the 1918 Spanish Flu. In this episode they discuss the steps taken in America to curb the Spanish Flu, and how certain measures were similar to those taken recently for Covid-19 but the pub…

Tim Marshall was Diplomatic Editor and foreign correspondent for Sky News but after three decades he chose to step away to focus on analysis and writing of what he had witnessed and learn in his career. He is the author of the huge international bestseller Prisoners of Geography. In this episode he talks to Peter about what shape a new Cold War cou…

Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips never intended being an active member of parliament despite being a member of the Labour Party. She is one of the most visible MPs which comes with many positive and negative impacts professionally and privately. On this episode of I've Been Thinking Jess shares learnings from her latest book, Everything You Need…

Former Chief Economist at Spotify Will Page is Peter's guest on episode 6 of I've Been Thinking. Peter and Will discuss his book, Tarzan Economics, and the examples within showcasing economics impacting music but also everything in our wider culture. Will reveals how streaming is changing the way music is written, how a high street chain we're all …

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei left China in 2015 and has since lived in several countries including the UK and most recently Portugal. Growing up with his own father in exile, Ai Weiwei's art has always featured his activism and in his most recent work including documentary film he looks at refugees across the world and the stories they tel…

West Indian fast bowling legend Michael Holding speaks to Peter about how he came to write his most recent book Why We Kneel How We Rise, educating himself on racism, his hopes for change in the future and the most recent racist abuse members of the England team faced after their Euro 2020 final defeat. If you're enjoying the podcast please do leav…

Is being Prime Minister of the United Kingdom a job you would really want? Sir Anthony Seldon, author of The Impossible Office?: The History of the British Prime Minister, joins Peter to examine that question and takes Peter through the history of the premiership to explain it's evolution and why we are now in a point in history where those filling…

James Comey was the 7th Director of the FBI from 2013 until his dismissal by President Donald Trump in 2017. As head of the FBI he opened the investigation into Hilary Clinton's emails on the eve of the US election which many believed aided Donald Trump's rise to power. Comey and Trump would clash during his time in office which he has written abou…

Peter's first guest on I've Been Thinking is Professor Alice Roberts. Alice is a biological anthropologist, biologist, presenter and author. In this episode we look into the unbelievable amount of information that can be gleamed from bones, why the lives of ordinary citizens as well as those more famous figures in history are just as important and …

Best-selling author, rock star historian and world-renowned thinker Peter Frankopan is turning his hand to the art of podcasting, with his new project: I’ve Been Thinking...with Peter Frankopan. In this podcast, Peter, Professor of Global History at Oxford University discusses global topics which inform understanding of the past, present and future…