Power Problems

Great Power competition is back. How will international relations change in an era when new actors are challenging the status quo. In Part I of our great power special, Trevor Thrall and Emma Ashford are joined by Joshua Shifrinson, author of Rising Titans, Falling Giants, a book on great power rise and decline. Joshua Shifrinson's bio Joshua Shifrinson, Rising Titans, Falling Giants "The Return of Great Power Competition" David Edelstein, Over the Horizon Stacie Goddard, When Might Makes Right Paul MacDonald and Joseph Parent, Twilight of the Titans

From trade to immigration, the Trump administration takes a much broader view of national security than prior administrations. Cato Senior Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh joins Trevor Thrall and Emma Ashford to talk about the links between immigration and national security. Show Notes: Alex Nowrasteh’s bio Alex Nowrasteh, “Incarcerated Immigrants in 2016: Their Numbers, Demographics, and Countries of Origin,” Immigration Research and Policy Brief, June 4, 2018 Alex Nowrasteh, “How Trump Is Really Changing Immigration: Making It Harder for People to Come Here Legally,” Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2018 Alex Nowrasteh, “Terrorism and Immigration: A Risk Analysis,” Policy Analysis

Trevor Thrall and Emma Ashford are joined by Cato colleague Eric Gomez for a discussion of the year in review, and a preview of 2019. From nuclear weapons and North Korea to the U.S.-Saudi relationship, it’s been a wild year. Show Notes: Eric Gomez's bio

Attorney and Cato Institute adjunct scholar Scott Lincicome joins Trevor Thrall and Emma Ashford to discuss the Trump administration’s trade strategy and the role of international trade in U.S. foreign policy. Scott Lincicome’s bio Scott Lincicome, The “Protectionist Moment” That Wasn’t: American Views on Trade and Globalization, Free Trade Bulletin Scott Lincicome, "Doomed to Repeat It: The Long History of America’s Protectionist Failures, Policy Analysis

In a special crossover episode, Trevor and Emma sit down with the hosts of the Free Thoughts podcast for a wide-ranging discussion of how libertarians view foreign policy. Free Thoughts Podcast Emma Ashford, "Libertarianism, Restraint and the Bipartisan Future," Texas National Security Review, November 30, 2018

In the second half of our election special, Trevor Thrall and Emma Ashford are joined by Jake Sullivan, a former senior advisor to Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, to discuss the future of foreign policy in the Democratic party. Jake Sullivan bio Dan Nexon, “Toward A Neo-Progressive Foreign Policy,” Foreign Affairs Bernie Sanders, “Building a Global Democratic Movement to Counter Authoritarianism,” Speech at SAIS Peter Beinart, “Shield of the Republic: A Democratic Foreign Policy for the Trump Age,” The Atlantic Please take our listener survey

Bryan McGrath, Deputy Director of the Center for American Seapower at the Hudson Institute, joins Trevor and Emma to discuss the evolution of conservative foreign policy during the Trump era. Please take a listener survey Bryan McGrath bio Henry Nau, Conservative Internationalism (Princeton University Press 2015) Eliot Cohen, The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force (Basic Books 2018) Robert Kagan, The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World (Knopf 2018)

Elizabeth Rosenberg, a sanctions expert at the Center for a New American Security joins Trevor and Emma to discuss the Trump administration’s eclectic approach to sanctions policy, and the impact of looming Iran sanctions. Elizabeth Rosenberg bio Elizabeth Rosenberg, The EU Can’t Avoid U.S. Sanctions on Iran, Foreign Affairs, October 10, 2018 Jacob J. Lew and Richard Nephew, The Use and Misuse of Economic Statecraft, Foreign Affairs, October 15, 2018 Emma Ashford, Not-So-Smart Sanctions, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2016 Cato Unbound, Do Economic Sanctions Work?, November 2014

Bonus Episode! Harvard’s Steven Walt joins Emma Ashford and guest host Caroline Dorminey to discuss his new book, The Hell of Good Intentions, and why America’s foreign policy failures helped to elect Donald Trump. Stephen Walt bio Stephen Walt, The Hell of Good Intentions Cato Book Event, The Hell of Good Intentions Stephen Walt, The Donald vs. The Blob, Foreign Policy, May 16, 2018 Thrall and Friedman, U.S. Grand Strategy in the 21st Century - The Case for Restraint

As Emma Ashford returns to the podcast, she and Trevor Thrall join Cato colleague John Glaser to review the Trump administration’s take on U.S. foreign policy in 2018. David E. Sangar, "North Korea’s Trump-era Strategy. Keep Making A-Bombs, but Quietly," New York Times, September 16, 2018 Peter Harrell, "Is the US Using Sanctions Too Aggressively?," Foreign Affairs, September 11, 2018 Michael Hirsch, "John Bolton Is Living the Dream — for Now," Foreign Policy, September 28, 2018 Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley, "The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies," Bloomberg Businessweek, October 4, 2018 Michael Hirsch, "Surprise! Trump’s Disruptive Foreign Policy Could Be Working," Politico, October 2018

Patrick Porter joins Sahar Khan and Trevor Thrall to discuss the debate over the past, present, and future of the liberal international order. Porter is a professor of international security and strategy at the University of Birmingham, UK and a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. He researches how power and ideas shape U.S. and U.K. defense and foreign policy, and how both shape conflicts both the United States and United Kingdom are involved in. Patrick Porter bio Patrick Porter, "A World Imagined: Nostalgia and Liberal Order," June 2018 Patrick Porter, “Why America's Grand Strategy Has Not Changed: Power, Habit, and the U.S. Foreign Policy Establishment," International Security, May 4, 2018. "Liberal International Order: Past, Present, and Future," Cato Event, September 20, 2018 Bruce Jentleson, “The Post-Liberal International Order World: Some Core Characteristics,” Lawfare Blog, September 9, 2018 Michael J. Mazarr, “The Real History of the Liberal Order: Neither Myth Nor Accident,” Foreign Affairs, August 7, 2018 Rebecca Friedman Lissner and Mira Rapp-Hooper, “The Day After Trump: American Strategy for a New International Order,” The Washington Quarterly, June 2018 Jake Sullivan, “The World After Trump: How the System Can Endure,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2018

Vanda Felbab-Brown is a senior fellow in the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. She is also the director of the Brookings project “Improving Global Drug Policy: Comparative Perspectives and UNGASS 2016” and co-director of “Reconstituting Local Orders.” She is an expert on international and internal conflicts and nontraditional security threats, including insurgency, organized crime, urban violence, and illicit economies. Vanda Felbab-Brown bio The Extinction Market: Wildlife Trafficking and How to Counter It World Wildlife Fund, “Illegal Wildlife Trade" U.S. Agency for International Development, "Combating Wildlife Trafficking" Jody Rosen, "Animal Traffic," New York Times Style Magazine Charlote Epstein, "The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of an Anti-Whaling Discourse

Barbara Slavin of the Atlantic Council joins Sahar Khan and Trevor Thrall to discuss developments in Iran and America’s Iran policy. Barbara Slavin bio Barbara Slavin, “US Policies Undercut ‘Support’ for ‘Iranian Voices'" Barbara Slavin, “Renewed Sanctions Will Hurt Iran’s Economy But U.S. Benefits Uncertain" Barbara Slavin, “Mullahs, Money, and Militias" Emma Ashford and John Glaser, "Unforced Error: The Risks of Confrontation with Iran"

C. Christine Fair is a Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor in the Peace and Security Studies Program within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She joins Sahar Khan and Trevor Thrall to discuss the ongoing Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and its implication on the Trump administration’s policy toward South Asia. C. Christine Fair’s bio International Crisis Group, “The Long Haul ahead for Myanmar’s Rohingya Refugee Crisis,” May 16, 2018 Council on Foreign Affairs, “The Rohingya Crisis,” Backgrounder, April 20, 2018 Krishnadev Calamur, “The Misunderstood Roots of Burma’s Rohingya Crisis,” The Atlantic, September 25, 2017 Sahar Khan, “Ethnic Cleansing vs. Genocide,” Cato @ Liberty, November 29, 2017

U.S. counterterrorism has been a mixture of unilateral policies and multilateral partnerships. Stephen Tankel of American University joins us today to discuss the trajectory of U.S. counterterrorism strategy under the Trump administration. Stephen Tankel’s bio John Glaser's bio Stephen Tankel, With Us and Against Us: How America's Partners Help and Hinder the War on Terror Stephen Tankel, “https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/09/11/fighting-terrorism-takes-a-global-effort-how-have-3-u-s-presidents-fared-16-years-after-911/?utm_term=.3964cbb11a04,” Monkey Cage, September 11, 2017 Joshua A. Geltzer and Stephen Tankel, “Whatever Happened to Trump’s Counterterrorism Strategy,” The Atlantic, March 1, 2018 Stephen Tankel, “Donald Trump’s Shadow War,” Politico, May 9, 2018