National Security

National Security

episodes

Interviews with scholars of national security about their new books.

God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America with Jacob Ware (Columbia UP, 2024)

October 10, 2026

God, Guns, and Sedition

Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware

In this episode, I spoke with Jacob Ware, co-author, with Bruce Hoffman, of God, Guns and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America, published in 2024 …

Assassins and Secret Listeners: Britain's Invisible Armies, 1939-45 with Alistair Moffat (Birlinn, 2026)

October 1, 2026

Assassins and Secret Listeners

Alistair Moffat
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Throughout Britain, all day, every day and in the dead of night, the secret listeners went about their solitary work. Hands on headphones, these men a…

Compromised Coalitions: The Paradox of Postconflict Power Sharing in Africa with Alexander Noyes (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

September 29, 2026

Compromised Coalitions

Alexander Noyes

When an election turns violent and neither side will concede, why is the usual answer to put both sides in the same government? Alex Noyes has spent n…

The Return of the Great Powers with Brendan Simms (Basic Books, 2026)

September 29, 2026

The Return of the Great Powers

Brendan Simms
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

From the dawn of the modern era to the end of the Cold War, global history was defined by rivalries between Great Powers. In the West, this meant the …

Stefano Recchia, "Strategies for Approval: Building Support for Military Intervention at the UN Security Council" (Yale UP, 2025)

September 20, 2026

Strategies for Approval

Stefano Recchia

When powerful states go to war, why do they bother asking permission? In Strategies for Approval: Building Support for Military Intervention at the UN…

Francesca Lessa and Sebastián Santana, "Operation Condor: The Pact That Terrorized a Continent" (Storia, 2025)

September 11, 2026

Operation Condor

Francesca Lessa and Sebastián Santana, Translated by Alejandro Reyes
Hosted by Pamela Fuentes

In Operation Condor: The Pact That Terrorized a Continent (Storia, 2025), Francesca Lessa uncovers the shadowy machinery behind one of the most chilli…

Meghan Garrity, "Mass Expulsion: The Politics of Forced Population Removal" (Oxford UP, 2026)

September 5, 2026

Mass Expulsion

Meghan M. Garrity
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, governments around the world have expelled, en masse, more than 30 million people. Yet despite its preva…

Reinhold Kramer and Tom Mitchell, "'PS: Burn after Reading': The Kellock-Taschereau Commission and Soviet Espionage" (U Toronto Press, 2026)

August 29, 2026

'PS: Burn after Reading'

Reinhold Kramer and Tom Mitchell
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

After Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko defected in 1945, Canada was shocked by the revelation that its own citizens were engaged in espionage for…

Edward Goldring, "Purges: How Dictators Fight to Survive" (Cornell UP, 2026)

August 24, 2026

Purges

Edward Goldring
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Purges: How Dictators Fight to Survive (Cornell University Press, 2026) by Dr. Edward Goldring delves into one of the key tactics that autocrats deplo…

Steve Feldstein, "Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare" (St. Martin's Press, 2026)

August 23, 2026

Bytes and Bullets

Steve Feldstein

Steve Feldstein's Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare (St. Martin's Press, 2026) opens with a juxta…

A. J. Murphy, "Pentagon Capitalism: How the Cold War US Military Modeled Itself on Private Business" (Harvard UP, 2026)

August 21, 2026

Pentagon Capitalism

A. J. Murphy
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The strategic landscape of the Cold War generated political support for a permanent US military force of unprecedented scale. Faced with the problem o…

Jacob Hagstrom, "Asymmetric Warfare: Politics and Cultures of Violence in the Modern Era" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

August 18, 2026

Asymmetric Warfare

Jacob Hagstrom

The forces that fight asymmetric wars are so distinct that one side avoids direct military confrontation in favor of political, social, or otherwise u…

Hossam el-Hamalawy, "Counterrevolution in Egypt: Sisi's New Republic" (Verso Books, 2026)

August 14, 2026

Counterrevolution in Egypt

Hossam el-Hamalawy
Hosted by Alec Fiorini

Counterrevolution in Egypt: Sisi's New Republic (Verso Books, 2026) is a rare and comprehensive examination of the structures, hierarchies, and method…

Monalisa Adhikari, "A Post-Liberal Peace: How Emergent Powers Are Reshaping Global Conflict Management" (Cornell UP, 2026)

August 2, 2026

A Post-Liberal Peace

Monalisa Adhikari
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In A Post-Liberal Peace: How Emergent Powers Are Reshaping Global Conflict Management (Cornell UP, 2026), Dr. Monalisa Adhikari shows how rising power…

Lisa Blaydes and Samuel Helfont eds., "Ba‘thist Iraq Through Archives: Reflections, Explorations, and Opportunities" (Stanford UP, 2026)

July 29, 2026

Ba‘thist Iraq Through Archives

Lisa Blaydes and Samuel Helfont
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The opening of Iraq's Ba'th Party archives revolutionized the study of Iraqi politics and history, offering scholars unprecedented access to the i…

Andrew N. Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor eds., "The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives" (Cornell UP, 2025)

July 28, 2026

The Greater Second World War

Andrew N. Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor
Hosted by Mark Baker

Andrew Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor, The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives (Cornell University Press, 2025) This ambitious edited collection …

Claire Hubbard-Hall, "Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2024)

July 27, 2026

Her Secret Service

Claire Hubbard-Hall
Hosted by Luca Trenta

Since the inception of the Secret Service Bureau back in 1909, women have worked at the very heart of British secret intelligence - yet their contribu…

Rory Cormac, "Fakers: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 17, 2026

Fakers

Rory Cormac
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Fakers: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line (Oxford UP, 2026) reveals the rise and fall of the mavericks runn…

Kirill Shamiev, "Imperfect Equilibrium: Civil-Military Relations in Russian Defense Policymaking" (Oxford UP, 2026)

June 26, 2026

Imperfect Equilibrium

Kirill Shamiev
Hosted by Leo Bader

Why has Russia's military struggled to adapt to the challenges of contemporary warfare? Despite years of attempts to improve its military capabilities…

Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes, "War at Arm's Length: How America Can Build Effective Partners Through Military Assistance" (Yale UP, 2026)

June 12, 2026

War at Arm's Length

Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes

An in-depth examination of how the United States can build more effective partner militaries. Military assistance has a bad reputation. Large-scale a…