Ep 268: Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
How to Influence Democracy in the Information Age
An authoritarian regime can control information locally, and whereas a lot of this information is disseminated decentralized in democracies. But if you're focusing on your domestic narrative shaping, that doesn't come at a zero cost to an authoritarian regime. An authoritarian regime has to spend a mange's amount of resources in trying to shape domestic narratives. And despite all their supposed power in the information doman, you actually see russia being behind in this particular game.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not just a seminal moment in world history, but a teachable one. Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai join Amit Varma in episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss concepts and frameworks of foreign policy that can help us make sense of this turmoil. If this subject interests you, consider signing up for Takashshila's GCPP: Defence & Foreign Affairs course. Registration is open for the May Cohort. Also check out: 1. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy -- Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 2. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 3. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 4. Democracy in Pakistan -- Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Hamsini Hariharan.) 5. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6. Understanding Foreign Policy — Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai). 7. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane's newsletter (with RSJ). 8. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane's podcast (with Saurabh Chandra). 9. Selected episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on China: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 10. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Dhanya Rajendran Fights the Gaze -- Episode 267 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The End of History? -- Francis Fukuyama's essay. 13. The End of History and the Last Man -- Francis Fukuyama's book. 14. The Great Man Theory of History. 15. Russia's War on Ukraine: A Roundtable -- Bari Weiss speaks to Niall Ferguson, Walter Russell Mead and Francis Fukuyama. 16. Around the halls: Implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- Brookings roundup of expert views, including from Marvin Kalb. 17. Modi's Domination – What We Often Overlook — Keshava Guha. 18. The Median Voter Theorem. 19. Social Theory of International Politics -- Alexander Wendt on constructivism in international relations. 20. Hindutva -- VD Savarkar. 21. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel, discussing Hindutva among other things). 22. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 23. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 24. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S. 25. Rukmini Sees India's Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 26. Why I am a Hindu -- Shashi Tharoor. 27. The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of A Nation -- Granville Austin. 28. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De. 29. Three Conundrums -- Anticipating the Unintended #159 by RSJ and Pranay Kotasthane. 30. Through The Looking Glass -- Anticipating the Unintended #160 by RSJ and Pranay Kotasthane. 31. No man is an island entire of itself... -- Anticipating the Unintended #161 by RSJ and Pranay Kotasthane. 32. The Overton Window. 33. India's Strategies for a New World Order -- Anirudh Kanisetti, Anupam Manur, Pranay Kotasthane and Akshay Alladi. 34. The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence -- Daniel Drezner, Henry Farrell and Abraham L Newman. 35. Nuclear Power Can Save the World -- Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker. 36. Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The Idiot -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 38. 'Stop the war.' 44 Top Russian Players Publish Open Letter To Putin -- Sam Copeland. 39. Alexander Grischuk's emotional press conference after Russia invaded Ukraine. (Watch from 4:20.) 40. Power and International Relations -- David A Baldwin. 41. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers -- Paul M Kennedy. 42. The Power of Nations: Measuring What Matters -- Michael Beckley. 43. The game theory concept of Chicken. 44. India in the Nuclear Age -- Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon). 45. National Power After AI -- Matthew Daniels and Ben Chang. 46. Why liberal democracies have a distinct edge on cyber capability -- Nitin Pai. 47. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh.) 48. Can Democracy Survive in the Information Age? -- Eric Rosenbach and Katherine Mansted on the Authoritarian Information Paradox. 49. The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek. 50. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek.) 51. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas -- Natasha Dow Schüll. 52. Irresistible: Why We Can't Stop Checking, Scrolling, Clicking and Watching -- Adam Alter. 53. The Dark Psychology of Social Networks -- Jonathan Haidt and Tobias Rose-Stockwell. 54. The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium -- Martin Gurri. 55. Social media are turbocharging the export of America's political culture -- The Economist. 56. America in South Asia -- Episode 93 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 57. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 58. The India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 59. Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy -- Richard Hanania. 60. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. The Lessons of History -- Will and Ariel Durant. 62. Fallout of the Ukraine-Russia Conflict + -- A constantly evolving note by the Takshashila Institution. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free!
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