Security Dilemma

This week, Patrick C. Fox and guest co-host A.J. Manuzzi interview Elizabeth Shackelford, a Senior Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Our conversation covers the practice of diplomacy in U.S. foreign policy, conflict in Somalia, the coup in Niger and tensions in Southern Africa.

For a bonus episode, Security Dilemma interviewed Dan Caldwell, a VP at the Center for Renewing America and a conservative veteran foreign policy advocate. We recorded this episode on August 24th, the morning after the first GOP primary debate. Our conversation covers the foreign policy of a second Trump administration, conservative rhetoric about Europe and the southern border, the foreign policy...

This week, Security Dilemma interviewed Dr. David Kang, a professor at the University of Southern California. Our conversation covers the application of realism to the Asian peace, China's current and future role in the world, tensions on the Korean Peninsula, what the Philippines teaches us about alliances, India's position in Asia and soccer diplomacy.

This week, Security Dilemma interviewed Dr. Sumantra Maitra of The American Conservative and the Center for Renewing America. Our conversation covers the European tradition of realism, a conservative realist approach to competition with China and a critical perspective on India. Dr. Maitra on pivoting from Europe - https://americarenewing.com/issues/policy-brief-pivoting-the-us-away-from-europe-to...

This week, Security Dilemma interviewed the Stimson Center's Dr. Emma Ashford, a key advocate for realism and restraint in U.S. foreign policy. Emma spoke about energy politics, grand strategy and advice for future foreign policy practitioners.

This week, Security Dilemma interviewed the the Cato Institute's director of defense and foreign policy studies - Justin Logan. Justin is a highly regarded voice in the foreign policy thinktank space, and he offered his analysis on China policy, NATO expansion and fentanyl.

Join dissident foreign policy academic Dr. Van Jackson for a conversation about the Indo-Pacific, nuclear policy and progressive foreign policy. Dr. Jackson is a Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, the host of the Un-Diplomatic Podcast and the author of Pacific Power Paradox.

Jason Beardsley, a former U.S. military veteran and Director of Veterans Affairs at Stand Together, shares his insights on a range of national security issues. Beardsley's diverse background and experiences in the military provide a unique perspective on the challenges and complexities facing the United States in the realm of national security. The non-conventional footprint of SOF provides ad...

Join legendary foreign policy academic Dr. Stephen Walt in a tour of modern national security issues. Dr. Walt is a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School, a columnist at Foreign Policy, and the author of The Origin of Alliances , The Hell of Good Intentions , and many more books.

Lyle Jeremy Rubin deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 as a committed neoconservative. His experience serving there brought him face to face with the realities of war and empire. His book Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body: A Marine's Unbecoming tells the story of how he changed and came to support restraint in U.S. foreign policy. The Society's Patrick C. Fox interviews Rubin.

The Russian assault on Ukraine has created a surge of support for liberal interventionism in the West, prompting one of that current's most prominent exponents to suggest that a brief moment of foreign policy restraint was at an end . Not so, countered Yale historian Michael Brenes: "Restrainers are a more visible, organized bloc that at any time in recent memory." In fact, he argued, the war show...

What does 2023 hold for the war in Ukraine? Does Russia have the will and ability to slog on another year? Can Ukraine regain its lost territory? Will Western states remain relatively unified on providing aid? Is peace possible?  We spoke with Christopher Chivvis, director of the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former National Intelligence Off...

While all eyes are on Iran's protests, the country has advanced closer than ever to a nuclear weapon. Safeguards on the program are weak in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. Where do things stand, and where are they going? We hear from Kelsey Davenport, Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, where she focuses on the nuclear and missile...

How does the government get advice on policy in the Middle East? It's changed over time. America took a much larger role in the region after World War II, and needed more regional experts than it had. The government began funding area studies programs in academia. Yet it didn't like the advice it was getting from universities - and after the campus chaos of the 1960s, the academy wasn't so excited...

What ideas animated the early United States' most important diplomat? David Hendrickson, president of the John Quincy Adams Society, discusses major themes in Adams' life, thought, and character and how these informed his approach to international affairs.  Hendrickson is the author of the new book Freedom, Independence, Peace: John Quincy Adams and American Foreign Policy. It is available as...

Washington has been a quiet battleground between Moscow and Kyiv. 2021 saw some of K Street's top lobbying firms duking it out over issues like the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, sanctions, and Ukrainian NATO membership. Think tanks got in on the fight too. The Russian invasion of Ukraine then shifted the terrain, with new sanctions blocking Russian lobbying and new lobbyists entering the fray for Ukrain...

Resumes, cover letters, and job interviews are the tools you use to get hired in the world of international affairs. But how do you use those tools well? Learn key principles, themes, and techniques that can make you stand out from other job applicants and land an exciting job in foreign policy. For federal resume tips, check out this previous episode of the podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app....

Many people have an instinctive sense that American foreign policy has come to rely too much on military action. Now, there's data. Professors Sidita Kushi and Monica Toft of the Military Intervention Project have produced a massive new dataset of nearly 400 cases of the threat, display, or use of force by the United States abroad. We talk about the patterns of intervention, including an accelerat...

How can aspiring progressive foreign policy professionals start their careers? How can they break into roles working for Congress on Capitol Hill? Join us as we hear from Becca Watts, whose work on the Progressive Talent Pipeline helps shepherd young progressives, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, into opportunities that let them make an impact. The Progressive Talent Pipeline, w...

Washington loves the F-35 and hates the A-10. Why? Join us as we dig up a struggle that has roots in the earliest days of air power and turns on fundamental questions: what is an air force for? How should we purchase, assess, and retire aircraft? What are the politics behind these decisions?  Join us as we hear from Dan Grazier, Senior Defense Policy Fellow at the Project on Government Oversi...

Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Taiwan got a furious reaction from China, which held major military exercises around the island and fired ballistic missiles. These incidents highlighted a broader trend: China's military is growing in power, while the United States has been engaging more and more openly with Taiwan. Is the status quo falling apart? Are Washington and Beijing on the road to war? Can...

In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden made a dramatic shift in their security policies, seeking membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and turning away from decades of neutrality (indeed, centuries in Sweden's case). Barring further Turkish objections, their membership appears likely to go through. Does this serve U.S. interests? We spoke with Sumantra Maitr...

We hear a lot about something called "the liberal international order." The frequent use of the term, however, is relatively recent - and the phrase itself often obscures as much as it reveals. This recording from our 2022 summer conference in Washington captures a conversation with Stephen Wertheim of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and its American Statecraft Program.

The Eurasia Group Foundation (EGF) came out in June with their annual survey of international perceptions of American democracy. As the Biden administration works to restore the credibility of the United States on the world stage, we found favorable views of both the United States and American democracy are at a four-year high. The report also found favorable views of President Biden’s foreign pol...

President Joe Biden has made several big moves in his foreign policy toward the Middle East so far - among them a planned trip to meet with Saudi Arabia's controversial leader Mohammad bin Salman, a willingness to allow the Iran nuclear talks to lie fallow, and a cut to military aid to Egypt. This happens as several regional states want the United States to remain committed to the region and even...