Security Dilemma

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...

Iran faces growing problems at home and abroad. At home, a building collapse added fuel to the fire of protests that had started over rising food prices. Abroad, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors has just condemned the regime’s lack of compliance with nuclear safeguards measures. Nuclear negotiations are frozen. Sanctions remain on. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has compli...

Ukraine won the battle for Kyiv and pushed the Russians back from Kharkiv. But that doesn't mean the war is over - indeed, it seems likely to continue for the long haul, while there may be dangers of Russian escalation in spite of Russia's weak position. We spoke with George Beebe, former head of Russia analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency and current Director of Grand Strategy at the Quinc...

What does it mean to be Ukrainian? Struggles within Ukraine about the answer to that question create an opening for other states to intervene, argues our guest, with some (primarily in Ukraine's north and west) favoring a more ethnic nationalism and others (primarily in Ukraine's east and south) favoring a more civic nationalism. In World War I, World War II, and the present day, outside powers ha...

How did Putin become Putin? Amb. John Evans met the future Russian leader when he was just a deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. Evans, then serving as U.S. consul general, shares his recollections of the young Putin, situates this in the broader Russian political situation in the 1990s and the evolution of U.S.-Russian relations from the optimism of the period to today's bitterness. We also speak abo...

Change is in the air in the Koreas. In the South, incoming president Yoon Suk-yeol takes over from Moon Jae-in, potentially yielding shifts away from diplomacy with Pyongyang and toward closer relations with Washington and Tokyo. In the North, a recent ICBM test stoked concerns about nuclear risks as many diplomatic mechanisms are on ice. And both Koreas face a diplomatic test as the Russian invas...

U.S. leaders have complained for decades that allies aren't pulling their weight. Countries like Germany have become infamous for underinvesting in their own defense, effectively shifting their defense burdens onto American soldiers and taxpayers. Occasional commitments by allies to do better have often gone unmet, and the most likely path to wide European compliance with NATO's shared 2% of GDP s...

How do different countries choose who gets to decide when nuclear weapons are used, how that decision is made, and how that decision can be brought into effect? What factors lead them to choose different strategies for closely controlling - or not - their nuclear arsenals? How does all this impact U.S. security - and how do U.S. policies shape other actors' choices? Learn all this and more in a sp...

The global response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has put China in a complicated position, and there have been some signs of frustration in Beijing. The global economic disruptions wrought by war and sanctions are no good for the PRC. At the same time, an isolated Russia may present opportunities for China. And stepping back from today's crisis to the broader sweep of history, the Sino-Russian r...

What motivates a military to continue fighting even when their situation looks grim? Are certain types of militaries more effective at achieving their goals than others?  Ukraine appears to have fought better than Russia expected, while even experts on Russian forces have been surprised by the shortcomings its military has displayed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What can the current...

Why is it so hard to let go? It is an enduring puzzle of U.S. foreign relations. It is hardly original to point out the sprawling collection of U.S. military installations and personnel abroad, but why is it so hard to reduce that military footprint, especially when so many presidents come into power wanting to do so? Today, I'd like to discuss U.S. President William McKinley's annexation of the P...

The world is watching the situation in Ukraine with bated breath. As of this recording, Russia has not invaded, but claims of a drawdown appear to be false. We spoke with Emma Ashford about what’s going on, how we got to this point, and possible ways to resolve the situation. We also dig into the views of other powers like China and Germany and the role that economic factors play in the dispute. E...