
Advertise on podcast: The International Security Podcast
Rating
5from
This podcast has
26 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
International SecurityExplicit
No
Date created
2019/10/25
Latest episode
2026/02/02
Average duration
34 min.
Release period
139 days
Description
Leading scholars provide insight on urgent policy debates. Jeff Friedman of Dartmouth College interviews contributors to the premiere peer-reviewed journal of security studies. They offer sophisticated, authoritative analyses of contemporary, theoretical, and historical security issues from the role of China in the world and cyber in international security to the long history of ethnic cleansing in Europe. The podcast is produced at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. International Security is a quarterly journal edited at the Belfer Center and published by MIT Press.
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Check latest episodes from The International Security Podcast podcast
9 – The Rules-Based International Order
2026/02/02
Guests: Marc Trachtenberg is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.
International Security Article: Marc Trachtenberg, “The Rules-Based International Order: A Historical Analysis,” International Security, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Fall 2025), pp. 7–54, https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC.a.11.
Originally released on February 2, 2026
8 – Airpower and the Sino-American Contest for Military Primacy in Asia
2025/10/10
Guests: Nicholas Anderson is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Daryl Press is Faculty Director of the Davidson Institute and Professor of Government at Dartmouth College.
International Security Article: Nicholas D. Anderson and Daryl G. Press, “Access Denied? The Sino-American Contest for Military Primacy in Asia,” International Security, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Summer 2025), pp. 118–151, https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC.a.7.
Originally released on October 10, 2025
7 – The Realist Debate over How to Respond to China
2025/06/24
Guests: Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.
International Security Article: Stephen M. Walt, “Hedging on Hegemony: The Realist Debate over How to Respond to China,” International Security, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Spring 25), pp. 37–70, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00508.
Originally released on June 24, 2025
6 – Putin’s Preventive War
2025/03/31
Guests: Barry R. Posen is Ford International Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the MIT Security Studies Program, which he directed from 2006 to 2019.
International Security Article: Barry R. Posen, “Putin's Preventive War: The 2022 Invasion of Ukraine,” International Security, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Winter 2024/25), pp. 7–49, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00501.
Originally released on March 31, 2025
5 – Competing Visions of Restraint
2025/02/19
Guests: Miranda Priebe is a senior political scientist and director of the Center for Analysis of U.S. Grand Strategy at RAND. John Schuessler is Associate Professor of International Affairs and Co-Director of the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
International Security Article: Miranda Priebe, John Schuessler, Bryan Rooney, and Jasen Castillo, “Competing Visions of Restraint,” International Security, Vol. 49, No. 2 (Fall 2024), pp. 135–169.
Originally released on February 19, 2025
4 – Do Autocrats Need a Foreign Enemy?
2024/11/12
Guests: Henry Hale is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. Adam Lenton is Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University.
International Security Article: Henry E. Hale and Adam C. Lenton, “Do Autocrats Need a Foreign Enemy? Evidence from Fortress Russia,” International Security, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Summer 2024), pp. 9–50.
Originally released on November 7, 2024
3 – Fatalism and War
2024/10/10
Guests:
Dominic Tierney is Claude Smith Professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College.
International Security Article: Dominic Tierney “The Iron Dice: Fatalism and War,” International Security, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Summer 2024), pp. 51–90.
Originally released on October 10, 2024
2 - Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe
2024/06/18
Guests:
Şener Aktürk is Professor of International Relations at Koç University in Istanbul, Türkiye.
International Security Article: Şener Aktürk, “Not So Innocent: Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe,” International Security, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Spring 2024), pp. 87–136.
Originally released on June 18, 2024.
1 - A ‘Nuclear Umbrella’ for Ukraine?
2024/03/20
Guest:
Matthew Evangelista is President White Professor of History and Political Science at Cornell University.
International Security Article:
This podcast is based on Matthew Evangelista, “A ‘Nuclear Umbrella’
for Ukraine? Precedents and Possibilities for Postwar European Security,” International Security, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Winter 2023/24), pp. 7–50, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00476.
Originally released on March 20, 2024.
17-The Little-Known History of Radiological Weapons
2021/06/22
Guests:
Sarah Bidgood is Director of the Eurasia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Usha Sahay is Senior Editor at POLITICO Magazine, where she focuses on foreign affairs and global issues. She is also the host of “A Most Terrible Weapon,” a podcast produced by War on the Rocks about the dawn of the nuclear age. Previously, she was Managing Editor of War on the Rocks.
International Security Article:
This podcast is based on Samuel Meyer, Sarah Bidgood, and William C. Potter, “Death Dust: The Little-Known Story of U.S. and Soviet Pursuit of Radiological Weapons,” International Security, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Fall 2020), pp. 51– 94.
Related Readings:
Alex Wellerstein, “Death Dust, 1941,” Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, March 7, 2014.
Usha Sahay, “A Most Terrible Weapon,” War on the Rocks, 2020.
Sarah Bidgood, Sam Meyer, and William Potter, “It’s Time to Prohibit Radiological Weapons,” European Leadership Network, February 1, 2021.
Kyle Mizokami, “Russia Is Still Testing Its Terrifying Apocalypse Torpedo,” Popular Mechanics, April 14, 2021.Originally released on June 22, 2021.
16-Concealing and Revealing Clandestine Military Capabilities
2021/06/22
Guests:
Austin Long is Vice Deputy Director for Strategic Stability in the Joint Staff J5 at the U.S. Department of Defense.
Ernest J. Herold is Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies—Americas and a retired Colonel in the U.S. Army. He was previously the Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment at NATO and Business Development Executive for NATO, U.S. European Command, and U.S. Africa Command at IBM.
International Security Article:
This podcast is based on Brendan Rittenhouse Greene and Austin Long, “Conceal or Reveal? Managing Clandestine Military Capabilities in Peacetime Competition,” International Security, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Winter 2019/20), pp. 48–83.
Related Readings:
Robert C. Toth, “Change in Soviets’ Sub Tactics Tied to Spy Case: Material Reportedly Available to Walkers May Have Tipped Kremlin to Vessels’ Vulnerability,” Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1985.
Erica D. Borghard, “Chinese Hackers are Stealing U.S. Defense Secrets: Here is How to Stop Them,” Net Politics blog, Council on Foreign Relations, March 11, 2019.
Daniel Gonzales et al., “Unclassified and Secure: A Defense Industrial Base Cyber Protection Program for Unclassified Defense Networks” (Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND, 2020).Originally released on June 22, 2021.
15-Technology, Diplomacy, and the North Korean Nuclear Crisis
2021/05/06
Guests:
Christopher Lawrence is Assistant Professor of Science, Technology and International Affairs at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Ankit Panda is the Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is also editor-at-large at the Diplomat and a contributing editor at War on the Rocks.
International Security Article:
This podcast is based on Christopher Lawrence, “Normalization by Other Means—Technological Infrastructure and Political Commitment in the North Korean Nuclear Crisis,” International Security, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Summer 2020), pp. 9–50.
Related Readings:
“North Korean Nuclear Negotiations: 1985–2019,” Council on Foreign Relations.Kelsey Davenport, “The U.S.-North Korean Agreed Framework at a Glance,” Arms Control Association, July 2018.Kim Tong-Hyung, “Moon Urges Biden To Learn from Trump’s N. Korea Diplomacy,” Associated Press, January 18, 2021.Patricia M. Kim, “North Korea Conducted More Missile Tests. What Happens Next?” Monkey Cage blog, Washington Post, March 27, 2021.Christopher Lawrence, “‘Transactional’ Nuclear Diplomacy May Provide a Path toward ‘Grand Bargains’ with Iran and North Korea,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, April 29, 2021.Betsy Klein, “Biden Administration Completes North Korea Review Process, Will Pursue ‘Calibrated’ Diplomacy,” CNN, April 30, 2021.Ankit Panda, “What Biden Should Know about North Korea’s New Nuclear Plans,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, January 15, 2021.Originally released on May 6, 2021.
14-Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the Cheater’s Dilemma
2021/03/16
Guests:
Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo, where she also directs the Oslo Nuclear Project and the Peace and Conflict Studies Master’s Program.
Kori Schake is Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Dr. Schake has previously worked at the U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Security Council at the White House.
International Security Article:
This podcast is based on Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer, “Cheater's Dilemma: Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the Path to War,” International Security, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Summer 2020), pp. 51–89.
Related Readings:
Frank Ronald Cleminson, “What Happened to Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction?” Arms Control Today, Volume 33, September 2003.Duyeon Kim, “How To Tell if North Korea Is Serious about Denuclearization,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, October 29, 2018.Gregg Zoroya, “Whatever Happened to Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction?” USA Today, February 14, 2019.Eric Brewer, “How to Deal with the Nuclear Skeletons in Iran’s Closet,” War on the Rocks, December 21, 2020.Amanda Macias, “Biden Says Iran Must Return to Negotiating Table before U.S. Lifts Sanctions,” CNBC, February 7, 2021.Originally released on March 16, 2021.
13-What Allies Want: A Look at East Asia
2020/12/10
Guests:
Iain D. Henry is a Lecturer in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.
Abraham M. Denmark is the Director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Denmark previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia from 2015 to 2017.
International Security Article:
This podcast is based on Iain D. Henry, “What Allies Want: Reconsidering Loyalty, Reliability, and Alliance Interdependence,” International Security, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Spring 2020), pp. 45–83.
Related Readings:
Mark Bell, Joshua Kertzer, Björn Jerdén, Hemal Shah, Sharon Stirling, “Assessing the U.S. Commitment to Allies in Asia and Beyond,” German Marshall Fund of the United States, March 23, 2018.Michael Schuman, “Keep an Eye on Taiwan,” The Atlantic, October 10, 2020.Bonnie Glaser, Michael Green, Richard Bush, “Toward a Stronger U.S.-Taiwan Relationship,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, October 21, 2020.Patrick Porter and Joshua Shifrinson, “Why We Can’t Be Friends with Our Allies,” Politico, October 22, 2020.James Crabtree, “Biden Has a Serious Credibility Problem in Asia,” Foreign Policy, September 10, 2020.Sheila Smith, “America’s Frightening Choice,” East Asia Forum, November 3, 2020.Originally released on December 10, 2020.
12-Liberal Values, Material Interests, and the Inconsistencies of U.S. Democracy Promotion
2020/10/09
Guests:
Arman Grigoryan is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at Lehigh University.
Sarah Sewall is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center and Executive Vice President for Policy at In-Q-Tel. She previously served as the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights from 2014 to 2017.
International Security Article:
This podcast is based on Arman Grigoryan, “Selective Wilsonianism: Material Interests and the West’s Support for Democracy,” International Security, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Spring 2020), pp. 150–200.
Related Readings:
Sabrina Tavernise, “Protesters and Police Clash as Armenia Unrest Grows,” New York Times, March 2, 2008.
“How To Be Good Neighbours,” The Economist, March 1, 2014.
John J. Mearsheimer, “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault: The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2014.
Aaron David Miller, “Values vs. Interests: How Should America Deal with Bad Guys?,” The National Interest, May 2, 2017.
“Trump’s Strange Silence on Belarus,” Washington Post, August 21, 2020.
Podcast reviews
Read The International Security Podcast podcast reviews
AH1755 2019/11/08
Bringing to the Masses
Morgan’s approachable and relatable style and banter makes complex issues feel like a kitchen table conversation. It’s serious stuff without being so ...
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