Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower

In this episode of Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower, hosts Sarah and Hanna speak with Fiona Cunningham , an assistant professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss China's current nuclear modernization, how it manifests, what might be driving it, how to study and analyze it - and what US policymakers should do about it. Topics discussed: China's Nuclear Modernization...

In this episode of Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower, hosts Sarah and Hanna speak with Ulrich Kühn, who is head of the research area “Arms Control and Emerging Technologies” at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH) and a Non-Resident Scholar of the Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. They discuss “Germany and Nuclear W...

In this episode of Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower, hosts Hanna and Sarah are joined by Rose McDermott, the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor of International Relations at Brown University. Together, they discuss Professor McDermott's recent article with Reid Pauly on the psychology of nuclear brinkmanship, the under-appreciated role of individuals in nuclear decision-making, and s...

In this episode of Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower, hosts Sarah and Hanna speak with Ankit Panda, who is the Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. They begin their wide-ranging discussion with a review of Ankit's 2020 book "Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea". Sarah, Hanna, and Ankit then en...

In this episode of Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower , hosts Sarah and Hanna speak with Rose Gottemoeller , who is the Steven C. Hazy lecturer at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Prior to joining Stanford, Ms. Gottemoeller served as the Deputy Secretary General of NATO and, before that, as Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at t...

In this episode of  Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower , hosts Sarah and Hanna speak with Rachel Whitlark, associate professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Their conversation focuses on Professor Whitlark’s 2021 book,  All Options on the Table: Leaders, Preventive War, and Nuclear Proliferation , and what it reveals about the influence of lead...

In this episode of Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower , hosts Sarah and Hanna speak with Nicholas Miller , associate professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. Their conversation focuses on the proliferation implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine one year on. With Professor Miller, they examine the evolving discourse around proliferation cascades over time and assess whether...

In this episode of Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower , hosts Sarah and Hanna speak with Dr. Siegfried Hecker , former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and current Distinguished Professor of Practice at CNS. Their conversation centers on Dr. Hecker's forthcoming book, Hinge Points: An Inside Look at North Korea's Nuclear Program (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2023). Dr. Hecker off...

In this episode of Machiavelli in the Ivory Tower, hosts Sarah and Hanna are joined by Jeffrey Lewis, Professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). Jeffrey is also the founder of Arms Control Wonk, the leading blog and podcast on arms control, disarmament, and nonp...

The third episode of the podcast series deals with nuclear escalation and the war in Ukraine. Hosts Sarah Bidgood and Hanna Notte invite Dr. Kristin ven Bruusgaard, a Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo, to explain the implications of Russian nuclear strategy and the modernization of its conventional forces for the ongoing war in Ukraine. Has...

In the second episode of the series, Sarah and Hanna speak with Dr. Mariana Budjeryn , a research associate with the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Dr. Budjeryn discusses her new book, Inheriting the Bomb: The Collapse of the USSR and the Nuclear Disarmament of Ukraine (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 2022). In their conversation, the hosts an...

In the first episode of the series, Sarah and Hanna speak with Prof. Scott Sagan, who is the Caroline S.G. Munro Professor of Political Science, the Mimi and Peter Haas University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, and Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University. The hosts discuss with Professor Sagan his recently c...