Talking Policy

Questions about Taiwan’s status are fueling rising tensions between the island and China, and between China and the U.S. Will there be war in the Taiwan Straits? Why is Taiwan important to the United States and might the Biden administration revise U.S. policy towards Taiwan? In the latest episode of the Talking Policy podcast, James Lee , a postdoctoral research associate at the UC Institute on G...

What makes some countries more or less prone to war (or peace)? What leadership traits are war prone—and what cultural traits are? In the latest Talking Policy episode, Lindsay Morgan interviews Robert Trager , an associate professor in the political science department at UCLA and affiliated researcher with IGCC. The author of the forthcoming book, The Suffragist Peace with Joslyn Barnhart, and a...

Elections are a core component of democracy, but the integrity of elections is under threat—globally and in the United States. In the latest episode of Talking Policy, Lauren Prather discusses U.S. efforts to promote democracy globally through election monitoring; considers whether international election monitors could strengthen U.S. elections; and answers questions on the threat of meddling. Lau...

Multilateral international organizations are a key part of the rules-based global liberal order, facilitating global and regional cooperation, and shared notions of human rights, democracy, and capitalism. But the number and influence of regional international organizations (RIOs) with powerful authoritarian members is on the rise, helping to stall democratization and promote autocratic regimes. I...

From U.S.-China trade wars and the COVID-19 pandemic, to the mounting effects of climate change, global supply chains are under severe strain. In this episode of Talking Policy , Etel Solingen , a distinguished professor and the Thomas T. and Elizabeth C. Tierney chair in Peace and Conflict Studies at UC Irvine, weighs in on what’s at stake, and shares lessons from her new volume, Geopolitics, Sup...

For people impacted by war and displacement, what are the long-term mental and social consequences of trauma—and what can be done to help them? In the latest episode of Talking Policy, Lindsay Morgan interviews Biz Herman, a UC Berkeley doctoral student and IGCC alumna, who studies the psychological consequences of conflict. Biz shares insights from the recent Human Security, Violence, and Trauma...

Manipulation and deception have always been a part of politics. But misinformation and disinformation are flourishing in the digital age, with social media, and new technologies like artificial intelligence, making fake content easier to create and disseminate. In this interview, IGCC expert Jacob Shapiro, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and co-director of...

Recent analysis suggests that democracy is on the decline globally. Why and where is this happening—and what can be done about it? Here, Stephan Haggard, the Lawrence and Sallye Krause Professor of Korea-Pacific Studies at UC San Diego, talks about his new book with Robert Kaufman Backsliding: Democratic Regress in The Contemporary World , and the role that polarization, quiescent legislatures, an...

Nuclear war may at times seem the stuff of a bygone era. But with Iran and North Korea growing their nuclear weapons programs, a rapid acceleration in China, and a flagging U.S. arsenal—nuclear weapons are back on policymakers’ radars. Here, Brad Roberts, director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and an affiliated researcher at IGCC, analyzes the...

With the Biden administration promising to rebuild global alliances, how will the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), one of the longest—and arguably most successful—alliances adapt to a rapidly changing world? In this edition of IGCC Conversations, Heidi Hardt, associate professor of political science at UC Irvine and expert in transatlantic security, talks about her book, NATO’s Lessons i...

With the US drawing down forces in a number of global hot zones, and the Biden administration promising a break from Trump-era disengagement, Eli Berman, IGCC research director for international security studies and professor of economics at UC San Diego, revisits his book Proxy Wars: Suppressing Violence Through Local Agents.