Finding the Story of Us

A Conversation with Mathieu Lefèvre

Recorded in October 2018

Global Futures is a podcast about global politics and how rising powers like China and India are transforming it. We discuss foreign policy, economics, war and peace, and how the world is changing with experts from across the world.

Countries, their citizens and politics, seem more and more polarized by the day. Across Europe, far-right political parties proclaiming nationalist rhetoric are on the rise. We are grappling to understand the rise of an Us versus Them narrative, as well as the normalization of this narrative in politics. Many are trying to imagine what a counter narrative could look like and whether it would actually be able to gain traction in increasingly fragmented societies.

In this episode of the Global Futures podcast, Joel Sandhu from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) meets Mathieu Lefevre who heads organization More in Common in Paris. Along with his team, Mathieu tries to develop and use positive narratives that tell what he calls the ‘story of us’.

What are the ingredients that create the Us vs. Them narrative and the ‘story of us’? And how can this approach help us in these highly uncertain times?

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