How global trade killed the liberal world order The United States, once hailed as the leader of the free world, is turning autocratic. While it`s easy to tie the shift specifically to Donald Trump, the conditions that enabled both his rise and that of other authoritarian leaders, have been developing for decades. The seeds of destruction lie in economic institutions established under a false assumption: that freer trade would lead to freer societies. This episode of Business Beyond examines the trend through the rise of China, the decline of US manufacturing, and the emergence of new regional groupings, like BRICS and ASEAN.

Inside the Most Prepared Country on Earth Why Finland is Preparing for war with Russia I traveled to Finland to train for arctic warfare and to learn what compelled the Finns to join NATO after decades of neutrality. I also visited the Finland-Russian border to understand how Finland’s relationship with its long-time neighbor and former occupier has changed.

Why the Swiss Love Their Guns (more than Americans) How Switzerland’s Obsession with Guns is Different Americans and Swiss citizens have some of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but their gun cultures differ wildly. One country has seen over 500 mass shootings in 2023 alone, while the other has had less than a handful over the past twenty years. To understand why there’s such a stark difference between these two countries’ gun cultures, we traveled to Switzerland to see how each of these cultures started, and where they began to part ways.