In many circumstances, the United States is going to care about this stuff much more than the European Union is. And Iran, I think, is a great case of that. The EU trade was around but it isn't anything enormous either. But there are other things which Europe is much, much more worried about and in particular what they are worried about his Russia. There has been a recent paper by the European Council on Foreign Relations talking about ways in which Europe could deter United States actions.
The one concept most valuable for understanding the news today might be Henry Farrell’s theory of weaponized interdependence. Whether it’s China’s influence over the NBA, the US ban of Huawei, or whether social media should be regulated on a global scale, Henry Farrell has played a key role articulating how global economic networks can enable state coercion.
Tyler and Henry discuss these issues and more, including what a big tech breakup would mean for security and privacy, why political economics suggests Facebook’s Oversight Board won’t work, what Italy might reveal about China’s future, his family connection to Joyce, his undying affection for My Bloody Valentine, why Philip K. Dick would have reveled in QAnon, why Twitter seems left-wing, and being a first generation academic blogger.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded October 7th, 2019 Other ways to connect