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Diplomatic History
World Affairs June 7, 2023

Catastrophes, Confrontations, and Constraints

How Disasters Shape the Dynamics of Armed Conflicts

Tobias Ide

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
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Armed conflict and natural disasters have plagued the twenty-first century. Not since the end of World War II has the number of armed conflicts been higher. At the same time …

Diplomatic History

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Interviews with scholars of diplomatic history about their new books.

Asian American Studies June 3, 2023

The Allure of Empire

American Encounters with Asians in the Age of Transpacific Expansion and Exclusion

Chris Suh

Hosted by Byung Ho Choi
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The Allure of Empire: American Encounters with Asians in the Age of Transpacific Expansion and Exclusion (Oxford UP, 2023) traces how American ideas about race in the Pacific were made …
Early Modern History June 3, 2023

We, the King

Creating Royal Legislation in the Sixteenth-Century Spanish New World

Adrian Masters

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
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We, the King: Creating Royal Legislation in the Sixteenth-Century Spanish New World (Cambridge University Press, 2023) by Dr. Adrian Masters challenges the dominant top-down interpretation of the Spanish Empire and …
Nordic Asia Podcast June 2, 2023

Recentering Pacific Asia

Regional China and World Order

Brantly Womack

Hosted by Julie Yu-Wen Chen
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The Pacific Rim of Asia – Pacific Asia – is now the world's largest and most cohesive economic region, and China has returned to its center. In this conversation, Julie …
British Studies May 30, 2023

Friends of Israel

The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity

Hilary Frances Aked

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Is there such a thing as “the Israel lobby,” and how powerful is it really? Hilary Frances Aked's book Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity (Verso, 2023) provides a forensically researched …
Military History May 29, 2023

How Britain Broke the World

War, Greed and Blunders from Kosovo to Afghanistan (1997-2021)

Arthur Snell

Hosted by Philip Blood
Arthur Snell's book How Britain Broke the World: War, Greed and Blunders from Kosovo to Afghanistan (1997-2021) (Canbury Press, 2022) critically assesses UK foreign policy over the past 25 years, from …
Nordic Asia Podcast May 26, 2023

Sweden-North Korea Relations

Neither Friend nor Enemy

Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein

Hosted by Myunghee Lee
Welcome to the fourth NIAS-Korea episode. We invite Dr. Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein to discuss Sweden-North Korea relations. It may seem odd that among the Western countries, Sweden is the one …
Women's History May 25, 2023

The Suffragist Peace

How Women's Votes Lead to Fewer Wars

Robert F. Trager and Joslyn N. Barnhart

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In the modern age, some parts of the world are experiencing a long peace. Nuclear weapons, capitalism and the widespread adoption of democratic institutions have been credited with fostering this …
Economics May 24, 2023

The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks

A System of Debt or Development?

Adrian R. Bazbauers and Susan Engel

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
Adrian Bazbauers and Susan Engel’s 2021 book The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks: A System of Debt or Development? (Routledge, 2023) explores the evolution of the 30 functioning multilateral development …
Military History May 23, 2023

The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur

War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe

Suzanne Sutherland

Hosted by Douglas Bell
In The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur: War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe (Cornell UP, 2022), Suzanne Sutherland explores the role of the military entrepreneur and explains how these international …
International Horizons May 18, 2023

Algeria and France

Grievances and the Effects of Decolonialism

Laetitia Bucaille

Hosted by International Horizons
In this episode of International Horizons, RBI's director, John Torpey interviewed Laetitia Bucaille about the factors that explain variation in resentment and grievances in former colonies drawing from the cases …
Military History May 17, 2023

Age of Danger

Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats

Thom Shanker and Andrew Hoehn

Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Again and again, American taxpayers are asked to open their wallets and pay for a national security machine that costs $1 trillion operate. Yet time and time again, the US …
Genocide Studies May 17, 2023

Never Again

Germans and Genocide After the Holocaust

Andrew I. Port

Hosted by Kelly McFall
As reports of mass killings in Bosnia spread in the middle of 1995, Germans faced a dilemma. Should the Federal Republic deploy its military to the Balkans to prevent a …
Politics & Polemics May 17, 2023

Silent Coup

How Corporations Overthrew Democracy

Claire Provost and Matt Kennard

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
As European empires crumbled in the 20th century, the power structures that had dominated the world for centuries were up for renegotiation. Yet instead of a rebirth for democracy, what …
General History May 15, 2023

Khmer Nationalist

Sơn Ngc Thành, the CIA, and the Transformation of Cambodia

Matthew Jagel

Hosted by Michael Vann
Khmer Nationalist: Sơn Ngc Thành, the CIA, and the Transformation of Cambodia (Northern Illinois UP, 2023) is a political history of Cambodia from World War II until 1975, examining the …
Diplomatic History May 15, 2023

Practicing Peace

Conflict Management in Southeast Asia and South America

Aarie Glas

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Southeast Asia and South America are regions made up of largely illiberal states lacking stabilizing great powers or collective identities. But despite persistent territorial disputes, regime instability, and interstate rivalries …
Diplomatic History May 13, 2023

China in the Global South

Impact and Perceptions

Theodor Tudoroiu and Anna Kuteleva

Hosted by Dong Wang
Using a multidisciplinary approach and case studies based on fieldwork in nine countries scattered across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Oceania, China in the Global South: Impact and …
Madison's Notes May 13, 2023

China and the New Cold War

A Conversation with Matt Pottinger

Matt Pottinger

Hosted by Annika Nordquist
What does Xi Jinping want, and what is he afraid of? What is the future of China's relationship with Russia? What should the United States be doing to counter China …
European Politics May 12, 2023

The Russo-Ukrainian War

The Return of History

Serhii Plokhy

Hosted by Tim Jones
"The Ukrainian nation will emerge from this war more united and certain of its identity than at any other point in its modern history," writes Serhii Plokhy at the end of …
Asian Review of Books May 11, 2023

The Peking Express

The Bandits Who Stole a Train, Stunned the West, and Broke the Republic of China

James M. Zimmerman

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Lucy Aldrich, sister-in-law to John D. Rockefeller Jr. and daughter of Rhode Island Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, joked in a letter to her sister that she had an easy out …