Are foreign aid, climate policy, and global governance actually working — or are they propping up a broken system? The Unpopular View cuts through partisan noise with evidence-based analysis on the politics and economics of international development, foreign aid reform, climate policy, natural resource governance, and global corruption. Host Michael Brown is a social and environmental risk analyst and former NGO founder with three decades of field experience across more than 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific. He has worked on corruption investigations, community-led development, conservation, mining governance, and climate mitigation — on the ground, not from a think tank...
Latest episodes
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42 min
PEPFAR: Worth the Cost? Part 2
PEPFAR saved an estimated 26 million lives. It was also built so fast, and so far from the countries it served, that when the money froze in 2025, much of it was left standing on n…
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32 min
Who Really Built PEPFAR?
Welcome to The Unpopular View with Michael Brown.On this show, our core argument—backed by Michael’s two Routledge books on land and climate in the Global South—is clear: foreign a…
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47 min
The value to Americans of aid and soft power in the DRC, Sudan, and Afghanistans of the world
For fifty years, the people who design foreign aid programs have rarely been the people who have to live inside them. In this episode of The Unpopular View, host Michael Brown sits…
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41 min
One Euro Gen Z's views on America, War, Migration Ukraine, Russia, etc.
Welcome back to the second and final part of our deep dive into global geopolitics through a Gen Z lens. In this segment, host Michael Brown sits down with Armin Sumansky, a Bates…
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40 min
Gen Z: One European's Perspective
What does Gen Z actually think about the future? Is the generation as unified as the media claims, or is it fundamentally fragmented?In Part 1 of this exclusive 2-part series, host…
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21 min
Can Aid Be Fixed, or Should It Be Scrapped? Two Paths to a New Social Contract
Episode 3/3 closes out this Unpopular View series as Michael Brown and Dr. Emily Brearley debate her "Solution 42" proposal for narrowing what institutions like USAID and the World…
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25 min
AID: SMALL & PROVEN, OR BIG & NEGOTIATED?
Episode 2/3 of this Unpopular View series digs into what actually makes development work succeed or fail. Michael Brown and Dr. Emily Brearley break down the real checklist — land…
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24 min
40 Years in the Field vs. a World Bank Insider: Did Foreign Aid Ever Have a Real Social Contract?
Episode 1/3 of this Unpopular View series opens with host Michael Brown drawing on 40 years in international development — from hand-hauling water near Timbuktu to a motor-pump irr…
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28 min
Sepsis: The Cost Of Inaction – Part 3 of 3 with Dr. Niranjan “Tex” Kissoon
The final segment turns from problem to solution. Michael Brown hands the floor to Tex to make the case for what actually works — the antibiotic pipeline, financing models, the glo…
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22 min
Sepsis: A Global Crisis – Part 2 of 3 with Dr. Niranjan “Tex” Kissoon
Sepsis isn't just a U.S. problem — it's a global crisis with a much higher body count. Michael Brown and Dr. Kissoon shift focus to sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin Americ…
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23 min
Sepsis: The Silent Killer - Part 1 of 3 with Dr. Niranjan "Tex" Kissoon
One year ago, I nearly died of sepsis after a routine biopsy — a 106.4° fever, four days at Danbury Hospital, and a near-miss that came after surviving cerebral malaria, meningitis…
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25 min
Will It Last? Has Boston’s Sports Identity Drifted Too Far From Its Roots?
Every dynasty eventually faces the same question: what was it actually built on?Boston's sports story is told as one of loyal suffering rewarded — decades of heartbreak, then a gol…
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22 min
The Hubris Question: Have Boston’s Sports Expectations Turned Into Entitlement?
Hubris has toppled governments, derailed foreign policy, and wasted billions in development aid. So what happens when it takes over a sports city?For decades, Boston fans wore thei…
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23 min
Sixty Years, Three Bostons: From Bambino Curse to Boston Sports Dynasties – Has It Made the City Arrogant?
Sixty years of winning. Four franchises. More championships than any city has a right to expect. But has Boston's run of dominance — from the Celtics of Russell to the Patriots of…
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25 min
Moving From the Aid Industrial Complex to Localization That Works
Every development program claims its goal is to leave. None of them do.In the 1960s, the Green Revolution turned India from a country facing famine into a food exporter — and then…
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18 min
Where International Development Has Succeeded or Failed
AIDS arrested. Ebola contained. Malaria deaths cut in half. That wasn't charity — it was the international system protecting everyone, including Americans. You don't defund the fir…
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18 min
The Aid Industrial Complex - Benefit or Problem for the Global South?
In 1953, the CIA overthrew Iran's elected government because outsiders decided they knew best. In 1961, Western intelligence helped assassinate Patrice Lumumba in the Congo — same…
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21 min
Africa's Demographic Surge: Youth, Technology, and the Race Between Transformation and Instability
Episode 9 of The Unpopular View, Michael Brown, is a the conclusion of this 3/3 sit down with longtime colleague Koffi Kouakou in a first “North–South dialogue” on African realitie…
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25 min
Critical Minerals and the New Resource Competition: Africa's Leverage or Another Extraction Cycle?
Episode 8 of The Unpopular View, Michael Brown, is a part 2/3 of his sits down with longtime colleague Koffi Kouakou in a first “North–South dialogue” on African realities, America…
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28 min
North-South Conversation on Africa and Its Future
In Episode 7 of The Unpopular View, Michael Brown sits down with longtime colleague Koffi Kouakou in a first “North–South dialogue” on African realities, American assumptions, and…