The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

I just gave a talk to a section of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs—a great group of a couple dozen Gen Z’ers, at a nice little bar in Wellington. What started out as shooting the shit about foreign policy turned into a live show of the podcast.In this live show, I put three propositions on the table—Un-Diplomatic regulars will be at least somewhat familiar with all these themes: 1) Sino-US rivalry is not a struggle for hegemony or domination; 2) US grand strategy is one of primacy, and the requirements of primacy today conflict with the requirements of peace in Asia and the Pacific; 3) The root-cause of our problems with China is inequality—at multiple levels, but especially within China.Along the way, we talk about policy thinking as a practitioner versus as an IR scholar; speaking truth to power; job prospects for Gen Z; why New Zealand’s priority ought to be preventing another Gallipoli; and more! Shout out to Tom Preston and Celia McDowell for putting this on.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

This episode doesn’t just have a theme, it has a thesis. Have you wondered how precisely the Pentagon manages to siphon so much taxpayer money year after year? How the military-industrial-congressional complex functions in practice? Why US primacy is so expensive yet perpetually in crisis? This episode with William Hartung and Julia Gledhill is something of a tutorial for understanding Pentagon bloat and corruption—which are deeply intertwined. US defense strategy has been hot garbage for, well, as long as I’ve been alive. It’s never been well conceived, sets impossible standards that it uses to request evermore funds when it fails to meet them, and heightens the very threats it aims to guard against. As we discuss in this episode, a key cause of this strategic ineptitude is Pentagon graft and the ability to buy its way out of the kinds of tradeoffs that would impose discipline on strategy-making.Bill and Julia’s piece in The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/pentagon-debt-ceiling-bill/Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

In this cross-over episode with the Security Dilemma podcast, Van speaks with Patrick Fox and John Allen Gay of the John Quincy Adams Society about a range of issues: dissident thinking and intellectual diversity in foreign policy; how to think about China and deterrence; what’s wrong with a "foreign policy for the middle class”; fissures in the progressive movement on foreign policy; and more! Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comSubscribe to the Security Dilemma Podcast: https://jqas.org/security-dilemma/John Quincy Adams Society: https://jqas.org

Part II of my conversation with Jonathan Kirshner about his new book, An Unwritten Future: Realism, Uncertainty, and World Politics. Kirshner explains how classical realists think about the “national interest"; distinctions between realist and progressive political economy; what he doesn’t like about the “Thucydides’ Trap,”; the poverty of offensive realism; and how classical realism understands everything from British appeasement of Hitler to the Vietnam War.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

Part I of my two-part conversation with Jonathan Kirshner about his new book, An Unwritten Future: Realism, Uncertainty, and World Politics. Kirshner explains why classical realism is a misunderstood intellectual tradition. We get into: Why realism recruits dead people into their intellectual tradition; what we can learn from Thucydides, and why an armchair understanding of the Peloponnesian War does more harm than good; why realist pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy; why international relations has somewhat lost its way; how we should think about the “national interest"; and distinctions between realist and progressive political economy.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

What's the difference between centered and de-centered international orders? How do small states navigate geopolitics without becoming pawns? What does it look like to have a world in which there is no hegemon, and how is it sustained? And why was 15th century maritime Southeast Asia a different international order than the Sino-centric "tributary system" in what is now Northeast Asia? Dr. Manjeet Pardesi joins the show to share new research that sheds light on all these questions and more. A tour-de-force of historical international relations, what it means to take a relational view of world politics, and small-state strategies in Asia. Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comManjeet's article in Global Studies Quarterly (open access!): https://academic.oup.com/isagsq/article/2/4/ksac072/6947856

What's wrong with liberal hegemony? What does it mean for New Zealand to have an "independent foreign policy?" Why did New Zealand's Prime Minister recently visit China? And why are the interests of New Zealand's leading dairy supplier far from the same thing as the interests of the nation? In this cross-over episode, Van sits down with the good folks at the 1 of 200 Podcast to discuss an unusual intersection of US foreign policy pathologies with those of New Zealand.Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comListen to the 1 of 200 Podcast: https://www.1of200.nz/podcastKyle Church on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyleDChurchBranko Marcetic on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BMarchetich

Van sat down with China watcher Carla Freeman (US Institute of Peace) to explore this thing Xi Jinping announced last year called the “Global Security Initiative,” which turned into a larger discussion about how China thinks about security and international order generally. The catalyst was a piece she wrote with Alex Stephenson. We get into: What China’s “relational” thinking about world politics really means in practice; How Chinese security thinking affects the global South; How US choices affects Sino-Russian ties; How Made in China 2025 looks in hindsight; The aspects of international order China likes most; and more!Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

Opposition parties carried the day in Thailand's recent multiparty elections on May 14. The Move Forward Party, led by Pita Limjaroenrat, and Phue Thai party of Thaksin Shinawatra's family, won a sizeable majority, with the military's coalition parties losing resoundly. What does the recent election mean for the country's path forward? Will the military's election commission let the opposition form a government, or will it stage another coup like in 2014? Has Thai society finally moved on from the Yellow Shirt-Red Shirt divide that paralyzed the country's politics for the past two decades? Hunter Marston sits down with ANU professor Greg Raymond and University of Sydney professor Aim Sinpeng to discuss Thailand's democratic crossroads.Support the pod by subscribing to our newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

What does it mean to write with not just logos but pathos? How has racial violence in America shaped the identity of Asian-Americans? Why is the "model minority" myth so problematic? And what possibilities emerge from recognizing that people of different nationalities share a common repression? Van speaks with Gaiutra Bahadur about her experience growing up around anti-Indian racism in New Jersey and how that sheds light on all these questions and more.Gauitra's essay, "Unmaking Asian Exceptionalism": https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/unmaking-asian-exceptionalism-bahadur/Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

The award-winning, New York Times best-selling author, Nick Turse, has done some deep investigations at the intersection of Southeast Asia; the intellectual bankruptcy of US geopoliticking; and Henry Kissinger’s direct role in the slaughter of 150,000 civilians in Cambodia. A wild story and some great journalism. Van Jackson sat down with Nick to talk about it all. They also swap anecdotes about their personal run-ins with Kissinger. A must-listen.Nick’s story in The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/2023/05/23/kissinger-phone-call-transcripts/Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

What makes neoconservatives different from Cold War liberals? Why did Francis Fukuyama's "The End of History and the Last Man" lament the end of the Cold War? What's classical liberalism? And how do liberals like Fukuyama size up our current historical moment? Dr. Daniel Bessner joins the pod for all that and more. Bessner on Fukuyama: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/francis-fukuyama-liberalism-discontents/Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Subscribe to the American Prestige podcast: https://www.americanprestigepod.com

How does the narrative of a Blue Pacific complicate strategic narratives about the "Indo-Pacific?" How do the nations of the Pacific Islands region think about security? What role does the Pacific Islands Forum play in regional security? Why do most Pacific states try so hard to avoid "choosing" between the United States and China? And what would Pacific governments do if Guam determined it wanted to be its own independent nation? Van Jackson sits down with Sandra Tarte (University of the South Pacific) to discuss all that and more."Bringing the Blue Pacific and Indo-Pacific Narratives Together: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/bringing-blue-pacific-indo-pacific-narratives-togetherSubscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

From a freelance journalist in Southeast Asia to becoming a “foreign policy person,” and how to publish your first book. Can authoritarian countries practice meritocracy? How can we make sense of good governance and public trust in authoritarian governments like Vietnam when support for western democracies seems to be at an all-time low? How China’s rise has challenged democracy’s global appeal, and what does it mean if the United States reverts to MAGA autocracy? Hunter Marston speaks to Charles Dunst about his new book, Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comDefeating the Dictators: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/charles-dunst/defeating-the-dictators/9781399704434/Honorable mention to Ali Wyne's book: https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Great-Power-Opportunity-Revitalizing-Competition/dp/1509545549

Why is it that we're spending more money and resources than ever on this thing we call “national security,” and yet not only does the world feel perpetually insecure; it feels like insecurity is getting worse for most of us? That's what the new organization Security in Context sets out to address. Van Jackson is part of bridging the gap between policy and critical scholars, and will be co-directing Security in Context's project on Multipolarity, Great-Power Competition, and the Global South. This is his short interview with their podcast host, Anita Fuentes, talking about his background, how his view of security evolved, and why he's part of Security in Context.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comSecurity in Context site: https://www.securityincontext.comSecurity in Context video interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNpHI4kD_qM

What is multipolarity? Is the unipolar moment totally over? What is a great power?How do nukes fit into these questions? And how do the left, the right, and the restrainers metabolise these questions? Dr. Benjamin Zala and Dr. Van Jackson talk about all this and more in Part II of their conversation.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comThird Nuclear Age article by Andrew Futter and Ben Zala: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-international-security/article/strategic-nonnuclear-weapons-and-the-onset-of-a-third-nuclear-age/91EEB3B77D348252815F9F7B59DB8A32Thinking clearly about China's nuclear expansion: https://www.duckofminerva.com/2021/11/whos-afraid-of-chinas-nukes.htmlThe limits of strategy under multipolarity: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/p/what-happens-when-you-do-primacyThird Nuclear Age project site: https://thethirdnuclearage.comBen Zala's book, National Perspectives on a Multipolar Order: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526159373/

What is the nuclear revolution and why can't we agree on it? What is the Third Nuclear Age, why is it problematic as a concept, and what special dangers or opportunities might it hold? How important is multipolarity, and what counts as a pole? What counts as "emerging technologies" and how do they affect the risks of nuclear war? Is arms control possible in advanced conventional (non-nuclear) weaponry? And why is China expanding its nuclear arsenal? Dr. Benjamin Zala and Dr. Van Jackson talk about all this and more in the first of two episodes on the topic.Third Nuclear Age article by Andrew Futter and Ben Zala: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-international-security/article/strategic-nonnuclear-weapons-and-the-onset-of-a-third-nuclear-age/91EEB3B77D348252815F9F7B59DB8A32Thinking clearly about China's nuclear expansion: https://www.duckofminerva.com/2021/11/whos-afraid-of-chinas-nukes.htmlThe limits of strategy under multipolarity: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/p/what-happens-when-you-do-primacyThird Nuclear Age project site: https://thethirdnuclearage.comBen Zala's book, National Perspectives on a Multipolar Order: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526159373/Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

The legendary New Leftist and historian Michael Kazin joins the pod to talk about his recent essay in Dissent, "Reject the Left-Right Alliance in Ukraine." We also talk he ended up on the New Left, socialism in the Democratic Party, why he supported Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, the politics of being anti-war, the role of World War I in leftist historical memory, and his recent book What It Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party.Dissent Essay: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/reject-the-left-right-alliance-against-ukraineWhat It Took To Win Book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374200237/whatittooktowinWar Against War Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/War-Against-War/Michael-Kazin/9781476705910Follow Michael Kazin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mkazinSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comBuy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomaticNow on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast

What Fareed Zakaria doesn't get about the dollar supremacy debate. Why American exceptionalists can't see Asian arms-racing clearly. Why AUKUS is controversial, in Australia, New Zealand, and across Asia. A Rorschach test on the corrosive US-Saudi Arabia relationship. And what the battle against LGBTQ persecution in Uganda says about all of us.Fareed Zakaria's dollar supremacy debate segment: https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1640058728752840707 Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomaticBen Zala's Tweet: https://twitter.com/DrBeeZee/status/1640598052254924803Matthew Sussex in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/time-to-grow-up-australias-national-security-dilemma-demands-a-mature-debate-202040F Moudouthe's Tweet: https://twitter.com/F_Moudouthe/status/1638597420035571714?cxt=HHwWhIC88f_qu70tAAAAEvan Laksmana's Tweet: https://twitter.com/EvanLaksmana/status/1640253266507321344

How do African Americans view America's role in the world? What does it mean when Black Americans say the US should "keep out" of foreign interventions? What explains Black Republican hawkishness? What is the Suge Knight theory of national inclusion? Does Kanye West have anything to do with Democrats losing Black voters, or it Democratic Party hawkishness? Van sits down to discuss all this and more with Dr. Christopher Shell. Report on How Black Americans Feel About the Possible Use of Military Force in Ukraine and Taiwan: https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/02/21/how-black-americans-feel-about-possible-use-of-military-force-in-ukraine-and-taiwan-pub-89066Report on How Do Black Americans Feel About the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/03/02/how-do-black-americans-feel-about-wars-in-afghanistan-and-iraq-pub-89134Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastNewsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

For the pod's first movie night, Van, Colette Shade, and Matt Duss discuss the 1998 cult political comedy, Bulworth. Did Bulworth presage Bernie Sanders? Where are the Bulworth Democrats today? How did the War on Terror set back the progressive movement 20 years? Why do reactionaries sometimes find hip-hop attractive? What does it say that politicians aren't safe among the people they represent? Could a movie like this be made today? Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Watch Bulworth: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/bulworth

We're trying to do more to spotlight interesting journal article-based academic research in a non-boring way. So today Van sits down with Dr. Samantha Leigh Payne to talk about her new history on fears of an Atlantic revolution in the Reconstruction Era. How did the US civil war alter global power politics? What role did the US civil war play in the abolition of slavery elsewhere? What role did slaves themselves play in the revolutionary potential of that post-civil war moment? And what role is their for violence in progressive world making?Sam's article, "'A General Insurrection in the Countries with Slaves': The U.S. Civil War and the Origins of An Atlantic Revolution, 1861-1866": https://academic.oup.com/past/article/257/1/248/6490596 Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomatic

Kate and Hunter are back with Van. What's up with the "Rage Against the War Machine" protests? Is it really antiwar? Working class versus middle class--what's the diff? Cambodia versus economic statecraft. Biden's parochial progressivism. Congressional competency on foreign policy. And the nonsensical, unaccountable, dictator-loving Biden doctrine for the Middle East. Also this episode: a quick primer on racial capitalism!Ryan Morgan Tweet: https://twitter.com/ryanheadedsouth/status/1624536732182904837?t=uCCF0KcAD7K4xoEzSCmJug&s=19Andrew Nachemson Tweet: https://twitter.com/ANachemson/status/1624723853363773440Leonard Bernardo: https://twitter.com/leonardbenardo1/status/1627867024591360001Olufemi Taiwo on racial capitalism in Hammer & Hope Magazine: https://hammerandhope.org/article/issue-1-article-8Atlantic Council Speech on the "Biden doctrine for the Middle East": https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/transcript/brett-mcgurk-sets-out-the-biden-doctrine-for-the-middle-east/

Van does battle with voices ranging from John Mearsheimer and Robert Kagan to Joseph Nye and Hillary Clinton in this book launch at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy for his book, Pacific Power Paradox: American Statecraft and the Fate of the Asian Peace. Must listen! Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoVm4MrK4aU&t=412sBuy Pacific Power Paradox: https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Power-Paradox-American-Statecraft/dp/0300257287/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KE1Q04ZJVROB&keywords=pacific+power+paradox&qid=1676789479&sprefix=%2Caps%2C759&sr=8-1Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomatic

Part II of Van's interview with Dr. Matthew Specter, discussing his new book, The Atlantic Realists. Was Hans Morgenthau a Leftist? Is great-power competition just offensive realism? Is realism a resource for progressives or cosmopolitans? Tun in to find out!Buy the Book: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=28906 Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomatic

Van's interview with Dr. Matthew Specter discusses his new book, The Atlantic Realists. They get into the diverse understandings of the realist tradition, trace its roots to imperial competition in the 19th century, the bizzare intellectual inspirations the Nazis found in US history, whether realism is useful for progressives and the left, and some surprising history about a cast of characters ranging from Hans Morgenthau to Alfred Thayer Mahan to Carl Schmitt. Buy the Book: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=28906 Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomatic

What is the real nature of the "China problem?" How did Sino-US detente and collaboration become great-power competition and rivalry? What did Obama's pivot to Asia have to do with all of it? And why did Van end up a critic of the national security state? In this special cross-over episode with the Realignment Podcast, Van goes into all that and more.Realignment Podcast Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCY1cQJ1-uk&t=180sUn-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomaticBuy Pacific Power Paradox: https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Power-Paradox-American-Statecraft/dp/0300257287/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YCZJIRZIH61H&keywords=pacific+power+paradox&qid=1674864781&sprefix=%2Caps%2C271&sr=8-1

What is empathy, and why is it important in making strategy? Why is "strategic empathy" so problematic? Can empathy be institutionalized? How did neoliberals steer empathy wrong? Dr. Claire Yorke sits down with Van to chat about all that and more. Claire Yorke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClaireYorke Claire's review essay on empathy and strategy: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomaticNewsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

Does Southeast Asia matter? How does SE Asia view and respond to great power competition, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and tensions in the Taiwan Strait? And how can the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) work to solve the crisis in Myanmar in 2023 under Indonesia’s chairmanship? With regular co-host Hunter Marston to discuss these issues are special guests Elina Noor (Asia Society Policy Institute, Washington, DC), Evan Laksmana (National University of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy), and friend of the pod Sebastian Strangio (The Diplomat).Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomaticUn-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Un-Diplomatic on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_42j11ZVmlF5jVbqdVcdog

How's Biden doing on foreign policy? Where is the "Biden doctrine" going wrong? Matt Duss and Stephen Wertheim--leading voices in progressive foreign policy--come on the pod to hit all the issues with Van and Kate--Ukraine-Russia, a disastrous defense strategy, Iran, Saudi-Yemen war, China, Afghanistan and counter-terrorism, and more. Matt and Stephen's essay in The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/article/169598/better-biden-doctrineNewsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomatic

In Part II of Van's sit-down w/ Professor Daniel Immerwahr (author of How to Hide an Empire), they talk about Daniel's recent chapter about the politics and ideology of George Lucas's Star Wars. Was the Galactic Republic really an empire the entire time? What made Star Wars a Vietnam movie? What's the deal with the Ewok? And what's wrong with Lucas's version of anti-imperialism?Are We Really Prisoners of Geography?: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/10/are-we-really-prisoners-of-geography-maps-geopoliticsIdeology in US Foreign Relations (the volume containing "Galactic Vietnam"): https://cup.columbia.edu/book/ideology-in-u-s-foreign-relations/9780231201810

Why do geopoliticians blow off climate change and environmental degradation? Is geography really an insurmountable force? What do "geopolitical risk consultants" really do? And what should we make of the fact that geopolitics has its origins in imperialism? What did Nazis, in particular, see appealing in geopolitics? Van sits down w/ Professor Daniel Immerwahr (author of How to Hide an Empire) to discuss a new essay in The Guardian long reads section. They also talk about Daniel's recent chapter about the politics and ideology of George Lucas's Star Wars. Are We Really Prisoners of Geography?: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/10/are-we-really-prisoners-of-geography-maps-geopoliticsIdeology in US Foreign Relations (the volume containing "Galactic Vietnam"): https://cup.columbia.edu/book/ideology-in-u-s-foreign-relations/9780231201810

What does war and violence abroad do to politics at home? Why were early Cold War intellectuals obsessed with who "lost China?" And what did the realists of the 1940s and 1950s believe about not just the limits of American power but how US hegemony might be the road to fascism in America? John Delury sits down with Van to discuss all that and more as part of his new book, Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China. Buy the book: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501765971/agents-of-subversion/Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomaticSubscribe to our newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

In this interview episode, Van sits down with Professor Jeanne Morefield to discuss critiques of liberalism and empire. Why does liberalism seem to always be obsessed with crisis and triumphalism, often at once? What is the shared DNA of Edwardian imperialism, neoconservatism, and liberal internationalism? Why has G. John Ikenberry's theoretical project of liberal hegemony recently pivoted from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt as the standard bearer? And isn't liberal hegemony just a ruling class ideology? Lots of controversy on the table. Jeanne's latest book: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442260283/Unsettling-the-World-Edward-Said-and-Political-Theory Empires without Imperialism book: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Empires_Without_Imperialism/869LjwEACAAJ?hl=en Ikenberry Readings: Survival piece: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00396338.2021.1956187 Foreign Affairs piece: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/why-american-power-endures-us-led-order-isnt-in-decline-g-john-ikenberry A World Safe for Democracy book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300271010/a-world-safe-for-democracy/

In this interview episode, Van sits down with Professor Jeanne Morefield to discuss critiques of liberalism and empire. Why does liberalism seem to always be obsessed with crisis and triumphalism, often at once? What is the shared DNA of Edwardian imperialism, neoconservatism, and liberal internationalism? Why has G. John Ikenberry's theoretical project of liberal hegemony recently pivoted from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt as the standard bearer? And isn't liberal hegemony just a ruling class ideology? Lots of controversy on the table. Jeanne's latest book: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442260283/Unsettling-the-World-Edward-Said-and-Political-Theory Empires without Imperialism book: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Empires_Without_Imperialism/869LjwEACAAJ?hl=en Ikenberry Readings: Survival piece: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00396338.2021.1956187 Foreign Affairs piece: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/why-american-power-endures-us-led-order-isnt-in-decline-g-john-ikenberry A World Safe for Democracy book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300271010/a-world-safe-for-democracy/

Van, Kate, and Hunter unpack the mass uprisings in China, situating them in the context of ongoing worker struggles. They probe weaponized anti-semitism. They discuss the origins of Sino-US rivalry and the analytical perils of American exceptionalism. And. bring forth tons of data showing the difference between left and right radicalism. Dove and Crane Collective Statement: https://www.doveandcrane.com/statements/dcc-statement-on-foxconn-and-the-protests-against-covid-zero-in-mainland-chinaCaroline Orr Bueno Tweet: https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1595085571214704640Derek Grossman Tweet: https://twitter.com/DerekJGrossman/status/1597027014070132738?t=WVDEWoo1ElP9S99ibxbCEg&s=19Martin Konecny Tweet: https://twitter.com/martinkonecny/status/1597189961505452032?s=46&t=a6i-ZML4mjfkdyEsNenLowJake Werner's piece in The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/china-biden-taiwan-democracy/?custno=&utm_sou[…]_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%2011.21.2022&utm_term=daily

In this episode, Van chats with David Parsons, host of The Nostalgia Trap. They talk about his upbringing in Ventura, California during the 1990s, why he's obsessed with '90s pop culture and film, the nightmarish state of being a perpetual precarious academic historian, and what got him into the podcast game. They also discuss his fascinating book, Dangerous Grounds: Antiwar Coffeehouses and Military Dissent in the Vietnam Era.Nostalgia Trap: https://nostalgiatrap.comNostalgia Trap Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nostalgiatrap/postsDangerous Grounds Book: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469632018/dangerous-grounds/

What is neoliberalism and why did developing democracies embrace labor repression? Why is military Keynesianism both dangerous and unsustainable? What are the causes of inflation right now, and how does monetary policy undermine the Biden presidency? And what happened to the "East Asian model" of economic development? In this political economy episode, Van Jackson sits down with Adam Dean and Tim Barker to talk about all that and more.

Where have all the peace intellectuals gone? How do you make enemies into friends? What's it like to be mixed-race in national security? Should we do away with economic sanctions entirely? Is it easier to shape the world than to shape China? What's Russia's freaking problem? Seva Gunitsky Tweet: https://twitter.com/SevaUT/status/1462766445121650696Ben Scott Tweet: https://twitter.com/Ben_G_Scott/status/1460444100008628224Mike McFaul Tweet: https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1462624691680514060?t=krF4h150FaPW08quGY0H4A&s=19Law Boy Esq. Tweet: https://twitter.com/The_Law_Boy/status/1462193648586698759?t=j3TbRRLJqxnM9UhEJqDXlA&s=19Lowy Institute Essays on Order in Asia: https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/indo-pacific-operating-system/#articlesContributors: Hunter Marston, Gaby Magnuson, Ciara Mitchell

In this special one-off episode of the pod, Van Jackson joins a panel hosted at Australian National University's Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, alongside Greg Raymond, Ian Hall, and Yun Jiang. The topic: "Whataboutism" and the China debate.The great American political scientist Seymour Lipset once said, “they that know only one country, know no countries”. This panel addresses the issue of comparisons in our political discourse, and in particular “whataboutism” - the response China critics often make when it is pointed out that other countries have committed egregious actions similar in kind, if not scale, to China. By this, they mean that the comparison raised is a distraction from dealing with China’s actions. But this approach arguably sits uneasily with our desires to avoid double standards. This panel of experts will discuss the ethical and political aspects of “whataboutism”, with a focus on China. Speakers: Ian Hall is a Professor in International Relations and the acting Director of the Griffith Asia Institute at Griffith University. He is also an Academic Fellow of the Australia India Institute and a co-editor (with Sara Davies) of the Australian Journal of International Affairs. Van Jackson is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, and a Senior Associate Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies in Wellington, New Zealand. Yun Jiang is the inaugural AIIA China Matters Fellow. Prior to this, she was the co-founder and editor of China Neican, and a managing editor of the China Story blog at the Australian Centre on China in the World. Moderator Gregory Raymond is a lecturer in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs researching Southeast Asian politics and foreign relations. He is the author of Thai Military Power: A Culture of Strategic Accommodation (NIAS Press 2018) and the lead author of The United States-Thai Alliance: History, Memory and Current Developments (Routledge, 2021).

Lyle Jeremy Rubin joins the podcast to talk about his new memoir "Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body: A Marine's Unbecoming." Lyle and Van discuss the way that hypocrisy radicalizes people, the trouble with imperialism, the psychosexual insecurities mixed into military life, how personal violence affects foreign policy, the Karate Kid, the paradoxically traumatizing lack of combat on the front lines of war, and much more. Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body: https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/...Guest Website: https://www.lylejeremyrubin.comPodcast: https://www.undiplomaticpodcast.comBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplom...Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comReadings:Aime Cesaire, Discourses on Colonialism: https://www.amazon.com/Discourse-Colonialism-Aimé-Césaire/dp/1583670254William James, "The Moral Equivalent of War": https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/James/James_1911_11.htmlNikhil Pal Singh, Black is a Country: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674019515Nikhil Pal Singh, Race and America's Long War: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520318304/race-and-americas-long-warChristopher Lasch, The True and Only Heaven: https://www.amazon.com/True-Only-Heaven-Progress-Critics/dp/0393307956

Central banks are using inflation to fight a class war. America's Pacific sphere of influence is making it paranoid--what ham-fisted skullduggery in the Marshall Islands reveals. Was George W. Bush more fascist than Trump? Taiwan policy is on militarist auto-pilot--why Chris Murphy is worried. Why red-scare propaganda is bad for democracy. What about an Un-Diplomatic newsletter (note: this episode was recorded just a few days before Van Jackson launched the Un-Diplomatic newsletter).Subscribe to our new newsletter! https://www.un-diplomatic.comMurtaza Hussain's Tweet: https://twitter.com/MazMHussain/status/1566465216275259392Seva Gunitsky's Tweet: https://twitter.com/SevaUT/status/1555655359683084293Senator Chris Murphy's Tweet: https://twitter.com/chrismurphyct/status/1565107656284684289?s=21&t=bF1yJ8IZr8wNAJRte2lRxwAlexander McCoy's YouGov Poll Tweet: https://twitter.com/AlexanderMcCoy4/status/1569343414432407554Contributors: Hunter Marston, Tejas Menon, Jake Dellow

This episode is from an original release in January 2022. Dr. Van Jackson sits down with John Feffer, co-director of the Foreign Policy in Focus project at the Institute for Policy Studies. They talk about John's new book, Right Across the World: The Global Networking of the Far-Right and the Left Response. They also talk about writing novels and plays as a foreign policy analyst, or doing foreign policy analysis as a playwright. Remembering the way arms control used to be a reactionary arguments against disarmament. Institute for Policy Studies: https://ips-dc.orgSplinterlands Trilogy of Novels: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1039-splinterlandsFoamers Novel: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Foamers-Berson-Jon-Scribner-New-York/231272502/bdRight Across the World Book: https://www.amazon.com/Right-Across-World-Networking-Far-Right/dp/0745341896

Why self-determination for Guam is better strategy than persisting as an American colony. Why oligarchic concentrations of wealth in the US and China need ethnonationalism...and why that's dangerous. The Atlantic Council scandal. Are we in a new Taiwan Strait crisis? Clarifying the #NotAMarxist thing. And what Brazilian jiu jitsu can and can't do for international relations. Contributors: Hunter Marston, Celia McDowall, Gaby MagnusonLev Nachman Tweet: https://twitter.com/lnachman32/status/1553480322695811073Daniel Denvir Tweet: https://twitter.com/DanielDenvir/status/1554511916487397377Sayaca Chatani Tweet: https://twitter.com/SayakaChatani/status/1545346494601244673?t=naUanTNn1Lp1UEwZhhARPw&s=19Christian Davies Tweet: https://twitter.com/crsdavies/status/1541596433299546113?s=20&t=QV_Wff9yeisoIF0jvU2ZvQNikhil Pal Singh article: https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2022/06/america-new-civil-war-crisis-industrial-complexGuam Decolonization Report: https://decol.guam.gov/wp-decol-content/uploads/2021/12/Decolonization-Newspaper-Insert-DIGITAL.pdf

In this deliciously radical episode, Dr. Van Jackson sits down with Malcolm Harris, author of Kids These Days: The Making of Millennials, and the forthcoming Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World. Malcolm explains how political economy made Millennials, what's wrong with thinking of yourself as human capital, the crisis of student debt, and how he moved from anti-war protests to the Occupy Movement. Malcolm also makes the case the Millennials will either be the first genuine to push American oligarchy off its ledge, or the first generation of true American fascists. Van and Malcolm also talk leftist strategy and revolution.Readings Mentioned During the Episode:Malcolm Harris, Kids These Days: The Making of MillennialsMalcolm Harris, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the WorldMalcolm Harris, "Bad Education," N+1 magazineHarry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly CapitalPaul Adler, "The Future of Critical Management Studies"Erik Olin-Wright, Envisioning Real UtopiasMelinda Cooper, Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social ConservativsmBarbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich, "Death of a Yuppie Dream"On Monopoly-Finance Capital: https://monthlyreview.org/2006/12/01/monopoly-finance-capital/

In this special episode, Dr. Van Jackson sits down as part of a guest lecture/seminar at the Catholic University of America with Dr. Andrew Yeo (CUA, Brookings Institution). They talk foremost about how we got North Korea policy so wrong and how to fix it, but in so doing they also talk about best practices of strategy, risk realism, and how Van's background shapes his thinking about war and national security generally.

If you pit human rights against security, you're doing foreign policy wrong. How to think about LGBTQIA-plus rights and strategy. Being realistic about China-Cambodia relations. Why Biden is still ambiguous about Taiwan. Dissecting what's wrong with the national security "Blob." The role of a PMC technocracy in a social democratic order. The importance of libraries to society. Peter Beinart v. the Blob: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/opinion/biden-the-blob-china-us.html?smid=tw-shareBlake Herzinger on Cambodia: https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/06/10/cambodia-navy-china-bombing/ Kelsey Atherton Tweet: https://twitter.com/AthertonKD/status/1531685221682356231JP Bristol Tweet: https://twitter.com/JPierreBrissot/status/1528754834953932803?t=Dl2ib1LBBfQV5_xCU-lVlg&s=19Buffy the Psych Prof Tweet: https://twitter.com/drpsybuffy/status/1533459570747744258?s=21&t=lSlEy8gkkjW9U7yl0y-yKwAdam Mahoney Tweet: https://twitter.com/AdamLMahoney/status/1531851079276560384Contributors: Tejas Menon, Hunter Marston, Ciara Mitchell, Jake Dellow

What's the difference between good strategy and bad strategy? Why is understanding strategy as a theory of success so powerful? What is a framework for good strategy? And how grand is grand strategy? Dr. Van Jackson sits down with Dr. Jeff Meiser (University of Portland) to discuss. They also talk about Richard Rumelt's classic book, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy.

The deep dive on the Philippines presidential election and what it means that they elected Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. Have Democrats become the party of war? Yes, but maybe not for long. Is the right running a restraint foreign policy? Hell no. The prospects of a Putin nuclear war. Why new hip-hop is not as good as the old stuff. Military Keynesianism is a sucker's bet. Feminism and intersectional struggles for progressive--what the Handmaid's Tale is good for (and not).Contributors: Gaby Magnuson, Celia McDowall, Alex Auty, Hunter Marston

The realists versus leftists thing, again. Re-imagining international cooperation. Why peace and anti-militarism should be non-partisan. Oligarchs like Elon Musk will be the end of us all. The curious case of Kamala Harris's restrainer space policy. Our new YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_42j11ZVmlF5jVbqdVcdogMatt Duss Tweet: https://twitter.com/mattduss/status/1516046414723399680Eric Van Rythoven Tweet: https://twitter.com/EricVanRythoven/status/1517588528250724352Good Politic Guy Tweet: https://twitter.com/GoodPoliticGuy/status/1518318360005599232?t=16MadbdXfjW00QYCzo9RuQ&s=19James Palmer Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeijingPalmer/status/1514682777513377797?t=u55XQ1dALYpdSZaHqEP6xg&s=19Sam Haselby Tweet: https://twitter.com/samhaselby/status/1518906179711385602Tiziana Stella and Campbell Craig on international cooperation: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/04/18/is-international-cooperation-possible/Contributors: Tejas Menon, Gaby Magnuson, Hunter Marston, Ciara Mitchell