Explore every episode of the podcast Take Me To Your Leader!

Democracy is under threat more than ever right now. Around the world, we’re seeing populism and nationalism taking hold and strongman leaders grabbing power. 

So, is this the era of dictators and demagogues? Who are they and what makes them so appealing? Our third season dives into the lives and times of seven autocrats from North Korea to Gaza to Hungary.   

• Host: Hamish Macdonald

• Producers: Zoe Ferguson and Linda Lopresti 

• Executive Producer: Amruta Slee 

• Sound Engineer: John Jacobs

Ferdinand Marcos Jr, better known as “Bongbong”, is the president of the Philippines. His popularity skyrocketed in recent years, particularly among Gen Z, thanks to his stardom on tiktok. But it was almost 40 years ago that he fled the country as a young governor when his father’s authoritarian and corrupt government was overturned in a dramatic coup. 

Recep Tayip Erdoğan’s maintained power for over 20 years by being all things to all people. 

Turkey’s president is at once a Western ally and a close friend of Vladimir Putin, a hardline Islamist and a leader that evokes the golden age of the Ottoman Empire. He is adored by his supporters and feared by his critics. 

So who is he really and what future does he envision for Turkey?  

Guests:

• Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at  The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of, The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey
• Meryem İlayda Atlas, journalist, founding editor of Daily Sabha and a board member of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT)
• Prof Ihsan Yilmaz, research chair in Islamic Studies and Intercultural Dialogue at the Alfred Deakin Institute

Emmanuel Macron is a straight-talking, ambitious global figure who wants France to help solve the challenges of our time. But at home, he’s a divisive leader who faces a wave of discontent.

So how did Emmanuel Macron start his own party and effectively come from nowhere to win two elections as the youngest president in French history. How will the charismatic centrist storming The Élysée Palace fare as far-right populism sweeps Europe?

Ursula von der Leyen is not easy to box. A mother of seven and medical doctor who once lived undercover, under a false identity in London before entering politics, has had a remarkable career. She rose through the ranks in the German parliament in the shadow of Angela Merkel, before being tapped on the shoulder for the president of the European Commission.

But according to foreign policy analyst Constanze Stelzenmüller, “heads of state elect commission presidents in the hope that they won't be too powerful in Europe”. So how did Ursula von der Leyen manage to transform the position and become one of the most powerful women in the world?

Guests:

• Constanze Stelzenmüller, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at The Brookings Institution 
• Jacek Rostowski, former Deputy PM of Poland
• Professor Claire Annesley, professor of politics and gender studies and Dean of UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture

Joe Biden is America’s oldest ever president. He wants to stay in the White House another four years and is now campaigning for a second term. If he wins that term, he’ll be 86-years-old by the time he leaves office.

Is he too out of touch as his Republican critics have said, or after 50 plus years in politics, is he far more astute than we think? 

Importantly, does he have what it takes to repair an increasingly divided America and a potential rematch against Donald Trump? 

Guests:

• Kim Hoggard, former White House official in the Reagan and Bush Administrations
• Susan Platt, former Chief of Staff to Biden
• Gabriel Debenedetti, national correspondent at New York Magazine

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy has captured the world’s attention and admiration like few leaders can.  When Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022, the comic actor turned wartime leader became the face of Ukraine’s resistance. He refused offers of evacuation, famously telling Joe Biden he needed ammunition, not a ride.

As the Russian bombs rained down, Zelenskyy went out into the streets of Kyiv using social media to talk directly to his people and the world. 

Rarely has the world seen a leader recording selfies from a city under attack. But his prolific online and social media messaging has helped galvanise widespread support for Ukraine. Now the man who played a president on TV, is in the role of his life.

We find out who the man behind the screen and the podium really is from those who know Zelenskyy best.  

Guests:

• Olga Boichak, Lecturer in digital cultures and the director of the Computational Social Science Lab at the University of Sydney 
• David Dodson, Film director and editor who worked with Zelensky for 14 years
• Oleh Rybachuk, Former Deputy PM of Ukraine and founder of the Centre of United Actions 

There’s a lot going on in the world right now; disruption, upheaval, and conflict. Long-running superpowers are teetering while others are emerging.

Yevgeny Prigozhin is becoming a figure of huge influence in the world right now. 

A former petty criminal, hotdog vendor and restaurateur from St Petersburg who went on to build a powerful private army. Prigozhin has been a loyal ally of Putin’s until he turned his sights on Moscow, sparking the biggest crisis in Vladamir Putin’s presidency. 

To many in the West, Paul Kagame is Rwanda’s saviour, the man who restored the country after its recent genocide. But those who have dealt with him inside and outside the country paint a very different and much darker picture.

Guests:

• Noel Zihabamwe - Survivor of 1994 genocide, now a leading member of Sydney's Rwandan community 

• Phil Clarke - Professor of International Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 

• Michela Wrong - British journalist and author 

Producers: Zoe Ferguson and Linda Lopresti 

Executive Producer: Amruta Slee 

Sound Engineer: John Jacobs

Make Argentina Great Again. That's the catchcry Javier Milei has borrowed from his friend, Donald Trump. 

Wildly brash (like Trump) deliberately unkempt (like Boris Johnson), Milei has made his way to the top job with no government experience and a whole lot of chutzpah. 

And you won’t believe who – or what – set him on this path...

Guests:

• Dr Constanza Sanhueza - Lecturer in Political Science, Australian National University 

• Vera Bergengruen - TIME Washington DC reporter   

• Eduardo Amadeo - Diplomat, economist, and economic advisor to Javier Milei’s Security Minister 

Producers: Zoe Ferguson and Linda Lopresti 

Executive Producer: Amruta Slee 

Sound Engineer: John Jacobs

He’s leader for life, his word is final in the highly factionalised theocratic regime of Iran and his influence extends across the flashpoints of the Middle East. Yet we know almost nothing about the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

And as you’ll hear, his loyalists defend him as stridently as his critics attack him.

Guests: 

• John Limbert – One of the 55 American hostages held in captivity in Iran in 1979 

• Arash Azizi - Iranian writer and Historian. Senior lecturer in political science and history at Clemson University 

• Fereshteh Sadeghi - Iranian journalist based in Tehran 

Producers: Zoe Ferguson and Linda Lopresti 

Executive Producer: Amruta Slee 

Sound Engineer: John Jacobs

At just 35 Viktor Orban, then a fiery radical, became Europe's youngest prime minister. Since then, his political brand has undergone an astonishing change. 

So how did the student dissident become a 21st Century demagogue?

Guests:

• Zsuzsanna Szelenyi - Program director at the CEU Democracy Institute, former Hungarian politician and author, Tainted Democracy Viktor Orban and the Subversion of Hungary 

• Nick Thorpe - The BBC's Central Europe correspondent 

• Ben Wellings - Associate Professor of politics and international relations at Monash University 

Producers: Zoe Ferguson and Linda Lopresti 

Executive Producer: Amruta Slee 

Sound Engineer: John Jacobs

He’s Indonesia’s hard man of politics - Prabowo Subianto is a former military leader who stands accused of human rights abuses. But in the latest election campaign he pitched himself as a cute, dancing Grandpa.

Now he’s the country’s newest president. So, what kind of leader will he be?

Guests:

• Yoes Kenawas - Research Fellow at the Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta 

• Dr Jemma Purdey - Fellow at the Australia-Indonesia Centre at Monash University 

• Geoff Thompson - Former ABC foreign correspondent 

Producers: Zoe Ferguson and Linda Lopresti 

Executive Producer: Amruta Slee 

Sound Engineer: John Jacobs 

Believed to be ‘the mastermind’ behind the October 7th attack on southern Israel, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in an IDF attack in Gaza in October 2024. So who was he and how did he rise to power?

Three observers, including one who has met Sinwar, grapple with the factors that led to the man and the leader he became.

This episode was recorded before Yahya Sinwar was killed.

Guests:

• Ben Wedeman - CNN senior international correspondent 
• Khaled Hroub - Professor of Middle Eastern studies at Northwestern University in Qatar 
• Michael Koubi - Former chief interrogator for Shin Bet, Israel's security service 

Producers: Zoe Ferguson and Linda Lopresti 

Executive Producer: Amruta Slee 

Sound Engineer: John Jacobs

He’s more ruthless than his father and more chilling than his grandfather, and his regime has been called a "model dictatorship". 

Meet North Korea's reclusive Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, and enter his world of missiles, murders, oppression and secrecy. 

Guests: 

• Anna Fifield - Asia-Pacific editor for The Washington Post 

• Hyun-seung Lee - North Korean defector and former Army Special Forces soldier 

• In Bum Chun - Retired South Korean Army lieutenant general 

Producers: Zoe Ferguson and Linda Lopresti 

Executive Producer: Amruta Slee 

Sound Engineer: John Jacobs