Just days after the elections, President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) conceded defeat. The incoming president is a human rights lawyer and advocate named Duma Boko, who leads the opposition coalition known as the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).

Botswana is a politically stable, upper-middle-income country—a rarity in the region—and it has long maintained this status. This stability partly explains the longevity of the Botswana Democratic Party. However, as my guest Ringisai Chikohomero explains, Batswana have grown disillusioned with the BDP, reflecting a broader global trend against incumbent governments.

In our conversation, Ringisai Chikohomero discusses why the BDP lasted so long in power, what to expect from the incoming government, and why Botswana's politics and economy matter to the global community. He is a researcher specializing in political affairs, governance, and democracy in the Southern Africa program of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. We spoke last week.

Over the past few weeks, the situation in Haiti has gone from bad to worse. On November 10, the interim prime minister of Haiti, Gary Conille, was dismissed by the council that had appointed him in May. Since then, violence has surged throughout Port au Prince and in surrounding locals. A Kenyan-lead police mission has been powerless to stop this escalating security and humanitarian crisis.

In our conversation, Renata Segura of the International Crisis Group explains the shifting contours of this violence and what steps can be taken to enhance security in Haiti. She also delves into the ongoing debates about transforming the Kenyan-lead mission into a formal UN peacekeeping mission, discussing the potential advantages and disadvantages of such a move.

The major UN climate conference, known as COP29, kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan, last week. Tens of thousands of attendees are present, including members of civil society, the private sector, and delegates from every country on the planet.

This long-planned summit, however, takes place just a week after the world's largest economy and second-largest emitter elected as president a man who denies climate change and intends to pursue American withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. What impact is the U.S. election having on these negotiations and on climate diplomacy moving forward? Joining me to explore this question and much more is Ryan Hobert, Associate Vice President for Climate and Environment at the UN Foundation.

We begin with an extended conversation about this and another elephant in the room: the irony of a petrostate hosting a climate conference. We also spend much of our discussion focusing on the substance of this year’s COP, particularly the effort to reach an agreement on funding for less-developed countries to help them adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts.