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National Security
Military History December 4, 2022

Agents of Subversion

The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China

John Delury

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China (Cornell University Press, 2022) by Dr. John Delury reconstructs the remarkable story of a …

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Interviews with scholars of national security about their new books.

World Affairs November 29, 2022

Planet in Peril

Humanity's Four Greatest Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them

Michael Bess

Hosted by Vladislav Lilic
Michael Bess is the Chancellor's Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. His fifth and most recent book is Planet in Peril: Humanity’s Four Greatest Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them …
International Horizons November 29, 2022

What will be the Role of Europe in the Changing World Order?

A Discussion with Sigmar Gabriel

Sigmar Gabriel

Hosted by International Horizons
The transatlantic relationship, arguably the bedrock of the world’s post-World War II international security architecture, came under significant threat during Donald Trump’s tenure in office, as Trump complained about European …
World Affairs November 29, 2022

Backfire

How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests

Agathe Demarais

Hosted by Mathias Fuelling
Sanctions have become the go-to foreign policy tool for the United States. Coercive economic measures such as trade tariffs, financial penalties, and export controls affect large numbers of companies and …
European Politics November 25, 2022

Governing the EU in an Age of Division

Dalibor Roháč

Hosted by Tim Jones
"An important distinction exists between the politics of rules at which the EU is quite adept and the politics driven by events - which requires improvisation, risk-taking and alertness to …
Economics November 22, 2022

Trafficking Data

How China Is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty

Aynne Kokas

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
On August 6, 2020, the Trump Administration issued a ban on TikTok in the United States, requiring that the owner, Beijing-based Bytedance, sell the company to American investors or shut …
Military History November 16, 2022

Dying to Learn

Wartime Lessons from the Western Front

Michael A. Hunzeker

Hosted by Samuel Canter
In Dying to Learn: Wartime Lessons from the Western Front (Cornell UP, 2021), Michael Hunzeker develops a novel theory to explain how wartime militaries learn. He focuses on the Western …
Anthropology November 14, 2022

Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism?

Children's Television and Globalized Multicultural Education

Naomi A. Moland

Hosted by Sharonee Dasgupta
Sesame Street has taught generations of Americans their letters and numbers, and also how to better understand and get along with people of different races, faiths, ethnicities, and temperaments. But …
Women's History November 11, 2022

Not the Camilla We Knew

One Woman's Life from Small-Town America to the Symbionese Liberation Army

Rachael Hanel

Hosted by Rebecca Turkington
How could an artist and former social worker from small-town Minnesota become one of the most wanted domestic terrorists in the United States? Camilla Hall was a pastor's daughter who …
Economics November 11, 2022

Divided Environments

An International Political Ecology of Climate Change, Water and Security

Jan Selby, Gabrielle Daoust, and Clemens Hoffmann

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
What are the implications of climate change for twenty-first-century conflict and security? Rising temperatures, it is often said, will bring increased drought, more famine, heightened social vulnerability, and large-scale political …
Critical Theory November 4, 2022

Red List

MI5 and British Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century

David Caute

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh
In the popular imagination MI5, or the Security Service, is know chiefly as the branch of the British state responsible for chasing down those who pose a threat to the …
Lies Agreed Upon November 2, 2022

Shaken and Stirred

On "From Russia With Love" (1963), "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), "Goldeneye" (1995), and "Skyfall" (2012)

Hosted by Lia Paradis and Brian Crim
We couldn’t do a season on the Cold War without talking about Bond . . . James Bond. He was there from the beginning and has of course survived into …
Early Modern History October 26, 2022

Anatomy of Torture

Ron E. Hassner

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Does torture "work?" Can controversial techniques such as waterboarding extract crucial and reliable intelligence? Since 9/11, this question has been angrily debated in the halls of power and the court …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones October 18, 2022

The Future of Cold War

A Discussion with Sergey Radchenko

Sergey Radchenko

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Are we in a new cold war? And if so, is the US up against China or Russia? Join Owen Bennett Jones for a discussion with Sergey Radchenko, the Wilson …
Sociology October 13, 2022

Police, Provocation, Politics

Counterinsurgency in Istanbul

Deniz Yonucu

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
In Police, Provocation, Politics: Counterinsurgency in Istanbul (Cornell University Press, 2022), Deniz Yonucu presents a counterintuitive analysis of contemporary policing practices, focusing particular attention on the incitement of counterviolence, perpetual …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones October 11, 2022

The Future of the Taliban

A Discussion with Ahmed Rashid

Ahmed Rashid

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Are the Afghan Taliban now unbeatable? They have had two remarkable victories, first seeing off the Soviets and then the Americans. But while Afghans may be prepared to fight for …
Russian and Eurasian Studies October 6, 2022

Russian 'Hybrid Warfare'

Resurgence and Politicization

Ofer Fridman

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
When Russia occupied the Crimea in 2014, a term appeared called “hybrid warfare” to describe the doctrine and strategies of the Russian military. One consistent issue was that there was …
Political Science October 5, 2022

After Authoritarianism

Transitional Justice and Democratic Stability

Monika Nalepa

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Transitional justice – the act of reckoning with a former authoritarian regime after it has ceased to exist – has direct implications for democratic processes. Mechanisms of transitional justice have …
Catholic Studies September 30, 2022

The KGB and the Vatican

Secrets of the Mitrokhin Files

Sean Brennan

Hosted by Allison Isidore
One of the greatest ironies of the history of Soviet rule is that, for an officially atheistic state, those in the political police and in the Politburo devoted an enormous …
Political Science September 26, 2022

Governing Abroad

Coalition Politics and Foreign Policy in Europe

Sibel Oktay

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty
From Austria to New Zealand, coalition governments often pave the road to foreign policy. In Western Europe, nearly 90 percent of postwar governments include two or more political parties. Israel …