Horns of a Dilemma

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Sean McFate, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and professor of strategy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, discusses his book The New Rules of War: How America Can Win Against Russia, China, and Other Threats. McFate argues that the lack of strategic success achieved by the U.S. military over the last 30 to 40 years stems not from a lack of investment nor a lack of technology, but from the fact that the United States suffers from what he terms “victors curse.”   This talk took place at the University of Texas at Austin and was sponsored by the Clements Center.

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma we listen to a talk from Eli Lake, a national security journalism fellow at the Clements Center and a syndicated columnist on foreign affairs for Bloomberg. Lake shares his thoughts on what he describes as the “new non-interventionism,” comprised of those thinkers, scholars, and policy makers who oppose continued U.S. presence around the world in pursuit of a war on terror. 

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Doyle Hodges, executive editor of the Texas National Security Review, sits down with Hilary Matfess (a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University and a Peace Scholar Fellow at the United States Institute for Peace), and Robert Nagel (a postdoctoral research fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security), to discuss gender in conflict and the issues surrounding women in the field of security.

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Frank Gavin, chair of the editorial board of the Texas National Security Review, sits down with Philip Zelikow to discuss his new book, The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916 - 1917. Gavin and Zelikow explore the story of the peace talks and what might have happened had they succeeded. Moreover, Zelikow explores why this story has never been told. It is an interesting look into how history is shaped and how we understand the past.

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Paul Edgar, associate director of the Clements Center at the University of Texas at Austin, sits down with Gen. (ret.) David Petraeus, currently serving as the director of the KKR Global Institute. During the conversation, Petraeus discusses China and other challenges facing U.S. national security after the Trump administration.

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Prof. Sarah Paine of the U.S. Naval War College examines a variety of explanations for why the Cold War ended, when it did, and how it did. Paine does not arrive at a single answer but paints a much richer portrait of the fascinating events that led to a substantial shift in world order.

In this episode of Horns, Nina Jankowicz, , discusses her book, How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict. Jankowicz’s book covers Russian disinformation efforts in Estonia, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, and the United States. She argues that disinformation shouldn’t be viewed strictly from a technical perspective, since successful disinformation takes advantage of preexisting fissures and issues within society and exacerbates divisions and emotions surrounding them. An effective response to disinformation should have a strong human component, and it is impossible to mount an effect campaign against foreign disinformation when some portions of society engage in those same tactics.

The military is one of the most trusted institutions in American society. But the question of how the military views itself is different than that and one that has significant implications. Recently, the Texas National Security Review published an article titled, “From Citizen Soldier to Secular Saint: The Societal Implications of Military Exceptionalism,” that looks at the implications of military exceptionalism. The authors, Heidi Urben, Susan Bryant, and Brett Swaney sit down with Doyle Hodges, executive editor of the Texas National Security Review, to discuss their findings of servicemembers’ perception of themselves.

On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. This speech, known as “The Sinews of Peace” speech, became famous for the phrase that Churchill coined about the fall of the “Iron Curtain” across Europe.   To mark its 75th anniversary, the Clements Center assembled a panel to discuss the speech itself, the context in which it was given, and its enduring impact. The conversation is hosted by Will Inboden, executive director of the Clements Center, and features David Reynolds, professor of international history at Cambridge University, Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and Tim Riley, director of the National Churchill Museum.   You can listen to the speech at the National Churchill Museum.

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Paul Edgar, associate director of the Clements Center, sits down with Ray Takeyh to discuss his book, The Last Shah: America, Iran, and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty. Takeyh argues that, contrary to popular belief, the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq was not the most pivotal event in shaping Iran’s destiny. He argues that Mossadeq’s expulsion was the result, at least in large part, of disapproval of fellow Iranian elites rather than a strictly successful CIA coup. Instead, Takeyh states that understanding the rise of the revolution and the downfall of the Shah should focus more on the period in the early 1960s when Pahlavi became increasingly autocratic and separated from his advisers.