Diplomatic Immunity

Season 3, Episode 7: Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, joins ISD Director of Programs and Research Kelly McFarland and Council of Foreign Relations Fellow Jennifer Davis for the final episode of season 3. They discuss a specific problem that the press secretary faces every day: disinformation from foreign adversaries who seek to undermine American democracy. Psaki was well-placed to speak to this issue, due to her experience of a highly personalized disinformation campaign from Russian-backed actors during her time as State Department spokesperson from 2013 to 2015. In addition to the particular impact of disinformation on women in the public eye, she discusses positive strategies to counter disinformation, the role of productive partnerships, and how to build trust from the podium.  Featured articles:  The New Weapon of Choice: Technology and Information Operations Today, ISD New Global Commons Working Group Report (October 2020) Democracy under Siege, Freedom House (February 2021) Episode recorded: November 17, 2021.  Produced by Alistair Somerville, Kelly McFarland, and Jennifer Davis. Thanks to Amanda Finney at the White House for her help with this episode.  Episode image: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks to reporters during a daily briefing on Wednesday, August 27, 2021 in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House. [White House/Yash Mori/Flickr] Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

Season 3, Episode 6: ISD Director of Programs and Research Kelly McFarland talks to Rebecca Katz, professor and director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security, who holds joint appointments in Georgetown University Medical Center and the School of Foreign Service, and Matt Boyce, PhD student in the Global Infectious Diseases program at Georgetown, about the COVID-19 pandemic and cities' responses. They discuss the public health and medical responses to COVID-19, vaccine development, the HIV and Malaria pandemics, and the ways in which city, state, and local governments have responded. Rebecca also draws on over 15 years experience working on infectious disease at the State Department.  The Rise of Metropolitanism: The International Order and Sub-National Actors, ISD New Global Commons Working Group Report (September 2019) The New Weapon of Choice: Technology and Information Operations Today, ISD New Global Commons Working Group Report (October 2020) Matt Boyce and Rebecca Katz (eds.), Inoculating Cities: Case Studies of Urban Pandemic Preparedness (Elsevier, 2021)  Rebecca Katz, "Case 342 - Global Governance of Disease," ISD Case Studies Library (2017) Episode recorded: October 28, 2021.  Episode image: Train guard [Liam Burnett-Blue/Unsplash]. Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Produced by Alistair Somerville and Kelly McFarland. For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

Season 3, Episode 5: For our next installment on global commons issues, ISD Director of Programs and Research Kelly McFarland talks to Beth Ferris, research professor in the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown and non-resident senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, about the impact of environmental change on migration. They discuss the ways in which climate change is driving internal displacement and international migration, the need for new vocabulary to describe this phenomenon and the people who experience it, and recent events in Afghanistan and other migration hot spots. Beth also provides a forecast on what she's hoping for from the forthcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.  We also hear from Jeremy Mathis, professor the Science, Technology, and International Affairs program and the Center for Security Studies in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, and Bibi La Luz Gonzalez of Eat Better Wa'ik—an anti-hunger NGO in Guatemala. Listen to previous episodes with Bibi and Jeremy on our website, or by searching for Diplomatic Immunity in your podcast app.   New Challenges to Human Security: Environmental Change and Human Mobility, ISD New Global Commons Working Group (April 2017) The New Arctic: Navigating the Realities, Possibilities, and Problems, ISD New Global Commons Working Group Report (July 2018) Peace Through Food: Ending the Hunger-Instability Nexus, ISD New Global Commons Working Group Report (August 2021) Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration, The World Bank (March 2018)  Report on the Impact of Climate Change on Migration, The White House (October 2021) Episode recorded: Interview with Beth Ferris: Friday, October 22, 2021; Interview with Bibi La Luz Gonzalez: Friday, September 24th, 2021; Interview with Jeremy Mathis: Monday, September 20th, 2021.  Episode image: Peace Through Food (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy)  Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Produced by Alistair Somerville and Kelly McFarland. Production Assistance by Emily Linn.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

Season 3, Episode 4: ISD Director of Programs and Research Kelly McFarland talks to Bibi La Luz Gonzalez of Eat Better Wa'ik—an anti-hunger NGO in Guatemala—and Johanna Mendelson Forman of the Stimson Center, a think tank based in Washington, DC. They discuss food security and hunger in the context of worsening conflict, climate change, and the effects of the pandemic around the world. Johanna participated in ISD's spring 2021 working group on the nexus between food insecurity, instability, and conflict. Bibi is an activist and organizer focused on hunger and human rights. Their insights help us to understand better the links between local solutions and global food systems in the quest for food security.  Featured articles: Peace Through Food: Ending the Hunger-Instability Nexus, ISD New Global Commons Working Group Report (August 2021) Event video: Covid, Conflict, and Climate: Food Insecurity Today and the Way Forward (ISD and the Stimson Center, September 14, 2021) Johanna Mendelson Forman, "Can food build peace? Challenges for life in the Anthropocene," The Diplomatic Pouch, September 13, 2021.  Episode recorded: Friday, September 24th, 2021.  Episode image: Peace Through Food (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy)  Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

Season 3, Episode 3: ISD Director of Programs and Research Kelly McFarland talks about the Arctic with Sherri Goodman of the Wilson Center and Jeremy Mathis of the Science, Technology, and International Affairs program in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. Sherri and Jeremy discuss the deteriorating climate situation in the Arctic, security challenges, defense capabilities, geopolitical competition between the United States, Russia, and China, and the recent death of a Russian official on an exercise in the region. Featured articles: The New Arctic: Navigating the Realities, Possibilities, and Problems, ISD New Global Commons Working Group Report (July 2018) Sarah Kaplan and Andrew Ba Tran, "Nearly 1 in 3 Americans experienced a weather disaster this summer," The Washington Post, September 4, 2021 Episode recorded: Monday, September 20th, 2021.  Episode image: U.S.-Canada Fourth Joint Mission To Map the Continental Shelf in the Arctic Ocean. Views of the U.S.-Canada fourth joint mission to map the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean in August and September 2011. The 2011 joint mission employed the flagship icebreaker from each country, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent (LSSL), with each ship performing different functions and one ship breaking ice for the other [State Department photo/Public Domain]. Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

Season 3, Episode 2: ISD Director of Programs and Research Kelly McFarland talks to scholars of U.S. foreign policy Emma Ashford from the Atlantic Council and Charles Edel from the Wilson Center. Emma and Charlie debate some of the key questions in U.S. foreign policy on relations with China, Russia, and climate change, and the role of historical analogies in that process.  Featured articles and books: Charles Edel, Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (Yale University Press, 2019) Ernest May, "Lessons" of the Past: The Use and Misuse of History in American Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press, 1973) Emma Ashford, "Strategies of Restraint," Foreign Affairs, September/October 2021 Joshua Shifrinson and Stephen Wertheim, "Biden the Realist," Foreign Affairs, September 9, 2021 Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel Collins, "Competition With China Can Save the Planet," Foreign Affairs, May/June 2021 David Kang and Xinru Ma, "Power Transitions: Thucydides Didn’t Live in East Asia," The Washington Quarterly, Volume 41, 2018 - Issue 1 Episode recorded: Friday, September 10th, 2021.  Episode image: Deputy Secretary Sherman Meets with People’s Republic of China Appointed Ambassador to the U.S. Qin Gang at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on August 12, 2021 [State Department photo/Public Domain]. Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

Season 3, Episode 1: For the first episode of season 3, ISD Director of Programs and Research Kelly McFarland talks to Axios politics editor Glen Johnson. Glen guides listeners through the main challenges facing the Biden administration and global leaders today, from climate change to China, and helps set up our new season looking at challenges in the Global Commons. In addition to his career as a journalist, Glen served as a deputy assistant secretary of state for strategic communications under Secretary of State John Kerry from 2013 to 2017. He is also the author of a book, Window Seat on the World, about his experiences traveling with the secretary of state: https://www.glenjohnson.com/ Episode recorded: Tuesday, August 20th, 2021.  Episode image: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry steps aboard an Air Force jet as he prepares to depart from Andrews Air Force Base for a trip to Egypt, the Middle East, and Europe for consultations on Iraq and other regional matters on June 21, 2014. [State Department photo/Public Domain] Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

Season 3 of Diplomatic Immunity begins September 1. Learn more about ISD's New Global Commons research. Read ISD's latest working group report. Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

For our final summer bonus episode, Kelly McFarland spoke to Happymon Jacob and Rick Moss, authors of two new cases on back-channel diplomacy for ISD's case studies library. Happymon is an associate professor in the Centre for International Politics, Organisation & Disarmament in the School of International Studies at Nehru University in New Delhi. Rick is an associate professor in the Russian Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College's Center for Naval Warfare Studies. They discuss their respective case studies on the 2004-2007 India-Pakistan back channel and U.S.-Soviet back channels during the Cold War; the role of personalities in back-channel diplomacy; secrecy in diplomatic negotiations; compartmentalization of issues; and some of the broader pros and cons of back channels.  Instructors can register for an account with ISD's Faculty Lounge to access all our case studies free of charge.  Visit our website: casestudies.isd.georgetown.edu Episode recorded: August 3, 2021.  Featured books and articles: Happymon Jacob, Case 356: The Kashmir Back Channel: India-Pakistan Negotiations on Kashmir from 2004 to 2007 (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, August 2021) Rick Moss, Case 353: Circumventing the Foreign Policy Bureaucracy: Henry Kissinger, Anatoly Dobrynin, and Back-Channel Diplomacy (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, April 2021) Rick Moss, Nixon's Back Channel to Moscow: Confidential Diplomacy and Détente (University Press of Kentucky, 2017) Happymon Jacob, "India must directly engage with Taliban 2.0," The Hindu (paywalled), July 22, 2021 Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.

A bonus episode on U.S.-Russia relations from The Ambassadorial Series at the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Ambassador Tom Pickering, Chair of the ISD Board of Advisers and a seven-time U.S. ambassador, discusses his experiences as ambassador to the Russian Federation from 1993 to 1996 with Georgetown University's Jill Dougherty.  Watch all eight video conversations: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiPyUMZMRG090RRIITQCS4gBdaVOH_p99 Learn more about the series: https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/monterey-initiative-russian-studies/ambassadorial-series Image: U.S. Embassy Moscow Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.  For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to diplomacy@georgetown.edu.