Talking Policy

The closely contested 2020 presidential race was followed by unsubstantiated allegations of vote fraud and a wide partisan divide over trust in elections. American distrust in elections is growing—at least among some groups. As part of Talking Policy’s series on the Future of Democracy, host Lindsay Morgan talks with Thad Kousser , a political scientist at UC San Diego, about whether Americans are...

Tensions between the U.S. and China, and between China and Taiwan, continue to simmer. In our third Dispatch from Taipei, Talking Policy host Lindsay Morgan talks with James Lee and what Taiwanese people think about U.S. policy towards Taiwan. James is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and an affiliated researcher at the UC...

In the latest Talking Policy episode, Christian Davenport, one of the world's leading scholars of state repression and a professor at the University of Michigan, and Ben Appel, an associate professor at UC San Diego, discuss their new book, The Death and Life of State Repression .

In the latest episode in Talking Policy’s series on the Future of Democracy, host Lindsay Morgan talks with political scientist Amber Boydstun about how the media shapes how citizens think about politics and elections, and how the role of the media is changing. This interview was recorded on November 4, 2022. 

Though COVID-19 failed to feature prominently (or at all) in the U.S. midterms, the aftershocks of the pandemic are still influencing politics in the U.S. and beyond. To help us consider the impact of public health emergencies on democracy, in this Talking Policy episode, host Lindsay Morgan talks with George Rutherford, an infectious disease specialist and professor of epidemiology at UC San Fran...

In the latest Talking Policy episode, Sarah Z. Daly, an associate professor of political science at Columbia University, talks about her book Violent Victors: Why Bloodstained Parties Win Postwar Elections . This interview was recorded on October 27, 2022.

In our second dispatch from Taipei, Taiwan expert James Lee talks about his recent article in Global Asia , “The Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis is Here,” why a Chinese invasion is unlikely, and what a Republican sweep in the U.S. midterms would mean for U.S.-China-Taiwan relations. This interview was recorded on November 2, 2022. 

America’s immigration system is “on the ballot” this November. Those were the words of Florida governor Ron De Santis, who, along with other Republicans, has been using immigration as a weapon against Democrats this election season. In the latest episode in Talking Policy’s series on the Future of Democracy, host Lindsay Morgan talks with by Maggie Peters , a political scientist at UCLA, about wha...

Democracy depends on the participation of its citizens. But many people don’t participate in their democracies. What drives, and what discourages, political participation, here in the United States and around the world? In the latest from Talking Policy, host Lindsay Morgan interviews Cesi Cruz , a political scientist at UCLA who studies how information and social networks affect political partici...

In Talking Policy’s Dispatches from Taiwan series, host Lindsay Morgan talks with Taiwan expert James Lee about what the mood is like in Taipei amidst rising tensions with China; whether a war is likely; and what might be Xi Jinping’s endgame. James is based at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica in Taipei, and is a research affiliate with the UC Institute on Global C...

Today’s increasingly potent rivalry between the U.S. and China spans many domains, but is particularly acute in the techno-security sphere. Will China overtake the U.S. and become the dominant global techno-security power? If so, when? In this interview, Talking Policy host Lindsay Morgan talks with leading China expert, Tai Ming Cheung, about China’s progress in the techno-security space, how Bei...

China is the world's second largest economy and has become a technological powerhouse. But this year, the economy of China's main rival, the U.S., is forecast to grow at a faster rate than China's for the first time since 1976. Is China's economy at a crossroad? In this interview, Barry Naughton, one of the world's most highly respected economists working on China, says that increased government i...

Innovations like artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, cyber technologies, and even new capabilities in space have the potential to change the way countries fight during war time, and how they compete during peace time. But having new technologies available is one thing. Effectively using them is another. In this interview, IGCC fellow Shira Eini Pindyck explains why militaries that are gen...

In this episode of Talking Policy, IGCC Postdoctoral Research Associate and Taiwan expert James Lee is interviewed by guest host and IGCC affiliate Patrick Hulme about whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will embolden China in Taiwan—or not.

How is the war in Ukraine impacting African countries? In the latest Talking Policy episode, Lindsay Morgan talks with Prince Paa-Kwesi Heto, a doctoral candidate at UC Irvine and Ghanaian political economist, about food price increases, the risk of debt distress, and Western calls for African countries to “get off the fence” and condemn Russia.

In the latest in the Talking Policy series on Ukraine, Asli Bali, a professor at the UCLA School of Law and expert in human rights law and comparative constitutional law, talks about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine and beyond, what obligations the international community has to protect civilians, and why ending the war should be the most important priority. A graduate of Williams Coll...

In the latest in the Talking Policy series on Ukraine, Susan Hyde, a Professor of political science at UC Berkeley and IGCC researcher on the Future of Democracy initiative, talks about the relationship between the war in Ukraine and the global war for supremacy between democracy and autocracy. This interview was recorded on April 14, 2022.

In this interview, IGCC affiliate Patrick Hulme interviews Branislav Slantchev, a professor of political science at UC San Diego who studies military coercion, intrawar negotiations, the conduct of war, and how wars end. A native of Bulgaria, who previously lived in Ukraine, Slantchev offers candid thoughts on the limits of analysts’ predictions about war, the true cause of Putin’s aggression...

In the latest from Talking Policy’s series on Ukraine, Lindsay Morgan talks with Jana Grittersova, an Associate Professor of political science and cooperating faculty in the Economics Department at UC Riverside, and Vinnie Aggarwal, Distinguished Professor and Alann P. Bedford Chair in Asian studies at UC Berkeley, about the economic implications of the war in Ukraine. Grittersova is a former cent...

In the latest from Talking Policy’s series on Ukraine , James Lee, an IGCC postdoctoral fellow and Taiwan expert, talks with IGCC director and UC San Diego professor Tai Ming Cheung about how Russia’s invasion of and campaign in Ukraine may impact Chinese military strategy; the implications of the war for Chinese-Russian relations; and how he thinks the academic and policy worlds need to shift ami...

In the latest from Talking Policy’s series on Ukraine, we talk with UC San Diego professor of political science, Christina Schneider , who co-leads IGCC’s Future of Democracy initiative, about the already-significant implications of the invasion of Ukraine on European economic, military, and humanitarian policies. This interview was conducted on March 10, 2022.

In the latest from Talking Policy’s series on Ukraine, Michael Nacht, who holds the Thomas and Allison Schneider chair in public policy at UC Berkeley and is a specialist in US national security policy, nuclear weapons, and regional security issues affecting Russia and China, shares candid thoughts on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin's strategy, and the risk of nuclear confrontation.

The war in Ukraine is challenging assumptions about the world among policymakers and ordinary citizens alike. To help listeners understand what is happening, what it means, and what might happen next, a new Talking Policy series will bring together experts from across the University of California to answer questions about the political, economic, security, and humanitarian implications of the Ukra...

Concern is growing that disinformation, spreading at an unprecedented speed and scale, is causing grave damage in the U.S. and globally to everything from elections to vaccine uptake. But could the headlines be wrong? Do as many people believe in conspiracies as is generally assumed? In the latest Talking Policy episode, we talk with political scientists Molly Roberts and Seth Hill about why belie...

On the anniversary of the January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection, many are asking whether increased political violence is in the United States’ future. In a new episode of the Talking Policy podcast, we talk with Barbara Walter about her new book, How Civil Wars Start , and about the factors that increase the likelihood that countries will turn to violence, and their growing presence in American life...