The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

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

Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire, discusses geopolitics in an entertaining podcast with topics including the origins of geopolitics, the influence of geography, the dangers of environmental determinism, China's artificial island building, false predictions in geopolitics, and the credibility of geopolitical risk analysis.

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/