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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-89066 Report 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-89134 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Newsletter: 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  Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomatic 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=19 Andrew Nachemson Tweet: https://twitter.com/ANachemson/status/1624723853363773440 Leonard Bernardo: https://twitter.com/leonardbenardo1/status/1627867024591360001 Olufemi Taiwo on racial capitalism in Hammer & Hope Magazine: https://hammerandhope.org/article/issue-1-article-8 Atlantic 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=412s Buy 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=8-1 Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Buy 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=180s Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/undiplomatic Buy 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/undiplomatic Newsletter: 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/undiplomatic Un-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-doctrine Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Buy 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-geopolitics Ideology 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-geopolitics Ideology 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/undiplomatic Subscribe 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-china Caroline Orr Bueno Tweet: https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1595085571214704640 Derek Grossman Tweet: https://twitter.com/DerekJGrossman/status/1597027014070132738?t=WVDEWoo1ElP9S99ibxbCEg&s=19 Martin Konecny Tweet: https://twitter.com/martinkonecny/status/1597189961505452032?s=46&t=a6i-ZML4mjfkdyEsNenLow Jake 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.com Nostalgia Trap Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nostalgiatrap/posts Dangerous 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/1462766445121650696 Ben Scott Tweet: https://twitter.com/Ben_G_Scott/status/1460444100008628224 Mike McFaul Tweet: https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1462624691680514060?t=krF4h150FaPW08quGY0H4A&s=19 Law Boy Esq. Tweet: https://twitter.com/The_Law_Boy/status/1462193648586698759?t=j3TbRRLJqxnM9UhEJqDXlA&s=19 Lowy Institute Essays on Order in Asia: https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/indo-pacific-operating-system/#articles Contributors: Hunter Marston, Gaby Magnuson, Ciara Mitchell