The Un-Diplomatic Podcast
Van Jackson
Global power politics, for the people. Hosted by Van Jackson, Julia Gledhill, and Matt Duss. The views expressed are theirs alone (not those of any institution or employer).
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 10, 2021 • 1h 7min
From Bro Culture to Fascism, Genocidal Democracy in Myanmar, QAnon is NOT Left, South Korean Illiberalism | Ep. 81
The debate about South Korean illiberalism that nobody wants you to hear. Why bro culture incubates fascism. The coup in Myanmar is NBD compared to genocide. QAnon is no friend of the left. And why hustling is nonpartisan.Emma Ashford, Kate Kizer, and TX Hammes debating Grand Strategy: https://inkstickmedia.com/after-the-apocalypse-us-grand-strategy/Dan Nexon Tweet: https://twitter.com/dhnexon/status/1356334701733150721Tom Pepinsky Tweet: https://twitter.com/TomPepinsky/status/1356242023586660353?s=19Hunter Marston Tweet: https://twitter.com/hmarston4/status/1356343684032200704?s=19Contributors: Ciara Mitchell, Gaby Magnuson, Pete McKenzie, Jake Dellow
Feb 3, 2021 • 1h 1min
The Global Far Right is a Protestant Reformation for Idiots, Think Tank Dark Money, Getting Real on The Indo-Pacific Game | Ep. 80
Why the threat of our time is the global far right, and what it has in common with the protestant reformation. What's wrong and right about the Indo-Pacific and the Quad. Dark money in think tanks. Kim Jong Un's authoritarian savvy. The real meaning of the Third World--or, is Marco Rubio a white supremacist? Also this episode: Why Trump has changed how we teach international relations.Sensible Human 96 Tweet: https://twitter.com/sensiblehuman96/status/1351296226235453442?s=11Patrick Iber Tweet: https://twitter.com/patrickiber/status/1351921439759339523?s=11Paul Poast Tweet on Teaching IR: https://mobile.twitter.com/ProfPaulPoast/status/1352970521110048769Aaron Connelly Tweet: https://twitter.com/ConnellyAL/status/1351750108895821828?s=20Kishore Mahbubani on the Quad and the real game in Asia: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/27/anti-china-alliance-quad-australia-india-japan-u[…]dium=email&utm_campaign=29615&utm_term=Editors%20Picks%20OC&Van Jackson on bro culture and the Capitol insurrection: https://inkstickmedia.com/the-liberal-internationalist-origins-of-right-wing-insurrection/Contributors: Gaby Magnuson, Jake Dellow, Pete McKenzie, and Ciara Mitchell
Dec 17, 2020 • 58min
Galactic Gaslighting, Futurism v. Moneyballing, Japan's Five-Eyes Controversy, Obama's Drone Reckoning | Ep. 79
Futures studies versus moneyball--the problem with prediction. A supply-side theory of Obama's drone strike addiction. Telling lies about a Galactic Federation with aliens. Should Japan join the Five-Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership? How to get out of Afghanistan. Why the Indo-Pacific is too big for a single strategy. Also this episode: The movies that made Van Jackson and the team. Jeffrey Lewis's Tweet: https://twitter.com/ArmsControlWonk/status/1334533169547075584?s=19Annette Joseph: https://twitter.com/AnnetteJosephG/status/1336321130303467520?s=19Ankit Panda's Tweet: https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1336774686152286210James Palmer's Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeijingPalmer/status/1336722893829443585Contributors: Pete McKenzie, Gaby Magnuson, Jake Dellow, Ciara Mitchell
Dec 9, 2020 • 60min
The Asia Tsar Question, McDonald's Peace Theory is Over, The Truth about Liberal IR, Israel's Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone of Death | Ep. 78
Does President Biden need an Asia Tsar? Why McDonalds peace theory is over. The truth about liberal international relations theory. Israel's grass-mowing theory of deterrence. The difference between Taiwan and China. Also this episode: What does Denzel Washington's Training Day have to do with Asian security?Paul MacDonald Tweet: https://twitter.com/pkmacdonald/status/1333778364151238657Sarah Cooper Tweet: https://twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1333639291902300161Caitlin Talmadge Tweet: https://twitter.com/ProfTalmadge/status/1333818338355527680?s=19Aram Hur Tweet: https://twitter.com/aramhur/status/1333820575513530373?s=19Paul Musgrave on McDonalds Peace Theory: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/26/mcdonalds-peace-nagornokarabakh-friedman/Contributors: Pete McKenzie, Ciara Mitchell, Gaby Magnuson, Jake Dellow
Nov 25, 2020 • 1h 7min
Grand Strategic Farce, How the US Lost Asia, The "Free Chosun" Question, Student Debt Cancellation | Ep. 77
Why is the State Department's Office of Policy Planning so obsessed with George Kennan...and China's ideology? The untold story of how America lost economic primacy in Asia, and why nobody talks about it now. What is IR theory good for? Why cancelling student debt matters. The non-interview at Australian National University. Also this episode: what should we think about the Free Chosun movement against North Korea? Alexander Lanoszka Tweet: https://twitter.com/ALanoszka/status/1328431684811968513?s=20John Lee Tweet: https://twitter.com/koreanforeigner/status/1328366779463200772?s=19Evan Feigenbaum Tweet: https://twitter.com/EvanFeigenbaum/status/1328063583058530307Suki Kim on the Free Chosun Movement: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/23/the-underground-movement-trying-to-topple-the-north-korean-regimeContributors: Jake Dellow, Ciara Mitchell, Gaby Magnuson
Nov 18, 2020 • 53min
China Squeezes Aussies, Kim Jong Un's Biden Surprise, Hawks Who Can't Fight, Hypersonic Missile Hype, | Ep. 76
Australians are getting economically coerced by China but not everyone knows why. Militarism is bad, but militarists who've never been in a fight are the worst. What North Korea has in store for Biden in 2021. A hypersonic missile arms race is coming to Asia, but is anyone paying attention? And if Trump were throw a coup, how would we know in advance? Also this episode: Van recommends some reading for budding IR scholars.John Culver Tweet: https://twitter.com/JohnCulver689/status/1326323417436581890?s=19James Palmer Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeijingPalmer/status/1325700686957391872?s=19Paul Musgrave Tweet: https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1325555760944787457?s=19Contributors: Gaby Magnuson, Pete McKenzie, Jake Dellow, Ciara Mitchell
Nov 11, 2020 • 55min
The Fascism Debate, Interviewing at Stanford, Think Tank Corruption, Jonah Ryan's Veep Wisdom | Ep. 75
What it's like to interview at Stanford University (!). What Veep's Jonah Ryan can teach aspiring Washington technocrats. On Trumpian fascism. Why elite think tanks are ripe for corruption. And what Larry David's "spite store" idea has to do with Trump's lame-duck foreign policy. Also this episode: What are international-relations theories good for?Dan Nexon Tweet: https://twitter.com/dhnexon/status/1322939398044950530Timothy Simon Tweet: https://twitter.com/timothycsimons/status/1323512882055663616Max Berger Tweet: https://twitter.com/maxberger/status/1324134130997731328?s=20Xiaoyu Pu: https://twitter.com/pu_xiaoyu/status/1322015679755689986?s=19Aila Matanock and Paul Staniland on Militias in America: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-10-29/militarization-us-politics?amp&__twitter_impression=trueContributors: Jake Dellow, Gaby Magnuson, Ciara Mitchell
Nov 2, 2020 • 1h
Taiwan is the O.G. China, Stanford's Hoover Controversy, Totalitarian Elon Musk, Milton Friedman and LL Cool J | Ep. 74
What makes Elon Musk a wannabe totalitarian? A new book on space expansionism paints a dark picture. Why Taiwan is the O.G. China. How to fit Milton Friedman and LL Cool J in the same sentence. Stanford University's Hoover Institution controversy. And resisting China's civil war narrative. Paul Musgrave Tweet: https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1321163306296659968Paul Musgrave Tweet:https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1321113451540979714?s=19Ruben Gallego Tweet: https://twitter.com/RubenGallego/status/1320750911040360449James Palmer Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeijingPalmer/status/1320605353365614592?s=19Contributors: Alex Auty, Jake Dellow, Gaby Magnuson
Oct 28, 2020 • 44min
Franz Fanon v. Ice Cube v. 50 Cent, Taiwan's No Pawn, China Fighting in the Pacific Islands, Exit from Hegemony | Ep. 73
What's 50 Cent's beef with Franz Fanon? And what makes Ice Cube different than 50 Cent? What to make of China's escalation of wolf-warrior diplomacy. The progressive debate about American foreign policy--opposing US power or US militarism? Also this episode--questioning Taiwan's future and how American hegemony ends. Alex Cooley and Dan Nexon Tweet: https://twitter.com/CooleyOnEurasia/status/1319027614305181699Rabbi Jill Jacobs Tweet: https://twitter.com/rabbijilljacobs/status/1319024272174624768?s=20Stephen Wertheim on military supremacy: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/opinion/america-global-power.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=HomepageContributors: Jake Dellow, Gaby Magnuson, Pete McKenzie, Ciara Mitchell
Oct 21, 2020 • 1h 9min
Washington's War against Peace, Rivalries are Dumb, Real Diversity, Literary Agent Lessons | Ep. 72
How Washington punishes those who support peace. What real diversity in foreign policy looks like. Why rivalries make people stupid, especially great-power ones. Why Vietnam is probably not Asia's next economic "miracle." And who needs a literary agent? Depends what you're trying to publish, and where. Hunter Marston Tweet: https://twitter.com/hmarston4/status/1316198014747197440?s=19Kirk Serpes Tweet: https://twitter.com/KirkSerpes/status/1315942319825121281?s=19Stephen Walt Tweet: https://twitter.com/stephenWalt/status/1316540827074785281?s=20Patrick Iber: https://twitter.com/PatrickIber/status/1315762866675474439Contributors: Alex Auty, Pete McKenzie, Gaby Magnuson, Jake Dellow
