Oxford Policy Pod

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Pod, Master of Public Policy students Felix Wu and Meredith Lehman sit down with Pepper Culpepper — Vice Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government — to discuss his new book, Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How it Could Save Democracy.
In Billionaire Backlash, Culpepper and his co-author Taeku Lee argue that scandals centered on corporate malfeasance are a unique political force which leaders can leverage to compel lasting policy change. This discussion charts a path for how their theory applies to the present moment, at a time when populism is on the rise in democracies across the world.
Recorded at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Pod, Master of Public Policy students Marc Naro and Cristian Iftodii sit down with Margrethe Vestager, former Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and one of Europe’s leading voices on competition and digital policy.
The conversation explores some of the defining challenges of our time — from artificial intelligence and climate change to economic security and the future of the international order. Drawing on her years at the heart of European decision-making, Margrethe Vestager shares her vision for how Europe can navigate technological transformation while defending democratic values and global cooperation.
Recorded at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

In a time when international law is increasingly being tested, challenged, and at times openly undermined, we speak with Professor Philippa Webb KC about the pressures facing the international legal order and the future of global governance. Drawing on her work across academia, legal practice, and international institutions, she reflects on whether the current moment represents a genuine crisis for international law, or part of a longer pattern of contestation and adaptation within the international system.
The conversation explores the role of international courts in an era of selective state compliance, the tension between geopolitical realism and multilateral cooperation, and how institutions can remain effective and legitimate amid growing international instability. We also discuss technology’s impact on justice, the resilience of international institutions under strain, and her idea of “incremental creativity” — the belief that meaningful reform can still emerge from within existing legal frameworks, even during periods of profound uncertainty.

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Pod, MPP students Amal Ali and Isabella Notarpietro speak with Professor Alan Stein, Director of the Children and Climate Initiative and Senior Research Fellow in Global Health and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government. An expert in early childhood development with over 300 scientific journal publications, Alan has worked throughout his career with children and families facing adversity. He has made major contributions from both scientific and clinical perspectives to understanding the relationship between parents in adversity and their babies.
This episode explores the intersections between climate change and children’s health. Starting with a discussion of the unique ways in which climate change impacts children, both globally and across different regions, it then examines approaches to policymaking that foreground their experiences and incorporate their voices.
The conversation also explores the Children and Climate Initiative, a groundbreaking new research and policy development collaboration led by Alan. The Initiative aims to show how climate change negatively impacts children’s health outcomes, anticipate where these effects will be most severe in the future and work with policymakers to translate these insights into policy responses. We discuss how the Initiative is contributing to increasing attention to the health impacts of climate change, particularly for children, on the global stage.

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Pod, MPP Student from Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, Rahym R. Augustin-Joseph, sits with Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis, and Leader of the Opposition in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, in the Eastern Caribbean.
Premier Brantley serves as Premier of Nevis and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Brantley previously held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2022. Before entering politics, he built a career as an attorney engaged in international litigation.
In this episode, we address the known fact, which is that the Caribbean and Small States, are deleteriously affected by global shocks between world powers, not of their making, such as climate change, wars, geopolitical tensions, policy shifts, and a growing rightward trend among states that affects migration, international multilateral assistance and the rules based order that have protected their sovereignty.
However, one cannot as said in the Caribbean, ‘lay down and play dead’, but instead, the Caribbean must employ a suite of policy and diplomatic measures that can insulate them from these global shocks, while using these windows to transform their societies. This episode addresses some of these measures that Premier Brantley believes can be done, while still focusing on what he has attempted to do in Nevis to transform.