IR Talk

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IR Talk is a podcast on the history, theory, and practice of international relations. Each week, Elan Kluger, a high school student passionate about international relations interviews a historian, lawyer, ambassador, political scientist, or someone else somehow involved in international relations. Listen along for inside look into the way international relations actually works.

Elan Kluger


    • Apr 21, 2022 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 38m AVG DURATION
    • 25 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from IR Talk

    S2 E15: Bonus Episode - Henry Kissinger with Professor Jeremi Suri

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2022 45:47


    Professor Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of numerous books including Henry Kissinger and the American Century, The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office and many other excellent works. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: Henry Kissinger and the American Century The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente Liberty's Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama

    S2 E14: Bonus Episode - Israel's Moment with Professor Jeffrey Herf

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2022 53:18


    Note: This episode was recorded on March 3, 2022 so any reference to political events are from that time. Professor Jeffrey is distinguished professor of history at the University of Maryland. He is the author of numerous books on Germany as well as Israel, including Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left 1967-1989, and his latest Israel's Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945-1949 which was published on April 14th, the release date of this episode. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: Israel's Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945–1949 Putin's Continuities: From ‘Israelis as Nazis' to ‘Denazifying' Ukraine (Times of Israel) Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture, and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left, 1967–1989

    S2 E13: Bonus Episode - The uses of history with Professor Daniel Sargent

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2022 54:21


    Professor Sargent is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California at Berkeley, where he holds a dual appointment with the history department and the Goldman School of Public Policy. Professor Sargent is the author of the brilliant A Superpower Transformed: The Remaking of American Foreign Relations in the 1970s. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: Forum on the Importance of the Scholarship of Ernest May A Superpower Transformed: The Remaking of American Foreign Relations in the 1970s Pax Americana: Sketches for an Undiplomatic History Myths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International Ambition The Origins of Alliances Rebecca Herman

    S2 E12: Bonus Episode - The End of Ambition with Professor Mark Atwood Lawrence

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2022 45:24


    Professor Lawrence is the Director of the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas, as well an Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author and editor of numerous books including The Vietnam War: A Concise International History, and The End of Ambition: The United States and the Third World in the Vietnam Era which is the subject of our conversation this week. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: The End of Ambition The Vietnam War: A Concise International History Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam Mission Intolerable: Harrison Salisbury's Trip to Hanoi and the Limits of Dissent against the Vietnam War Too Late or Too Soon? Debating the Withdrawal from Vietnam in the Age of Iraq

    S2 E11: Season 2 Finale

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2022 31:17


    This is the finale for Season 2 of IR Talk. Tune in for every answer to the question of "Did Athenians Students in the time of the Peloponnesian War know more than current students?" Make sure to look out for a few bonus episodes that will be released during the next few weeks!

    S2 E10: German-Israeli Relations 1949-1969 with Professor Lorena De Vita

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2022 37:19


    Professor Lorena De Vita is an Assistant Professor in the History of International Relations at the University of Utrecht. She is the author of Israelpolitik: German-Israeli Relations, 1949-1969. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: Israelpolitik: German–Israeli Relations, 1949-69 New Bottles for New Wine: A Pericentric Framework for the Study of the Cold War Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the Present Jena Center for 20th Century History The Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History

    S2 E9: Economic Diplomacy and International Adoption with Dr. Diane Kunz

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2021 47:57


    Dr. Diane Kunz is the Executive Director of the Center for Adoption Policy. She has also taught diplomatic history at Yale, Columbia, and Duke. Prior to her diplomatic history work, Dr. Kunz was a corporate lawyer, working at White & Case and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. She is the author of numerous books including Butter and Guns: The Economic Diplomacy of the Cold War and a forthcoming work on the diplomatic, economic, and social history of US international adoption. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: Butter and Guns: America's Cold War Economic Diplomacy The Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis The Battle for Britain's Gold Standard in 1931 Center for Adoption Policy Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography The Republic of Vietnam, 1955–1975: Vietnamese Perspectives on Nation Building

    S2 E8: James & Sarah Polk and the Mexican-American War with Professor Amy Greenberg

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2021 34:23


    Professor Amy Greenberg is the George Winfree Professor of History and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of numerous books including A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico and Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation: Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico James K. Polk, Vol. 1: Jacksonian, 1795-1843 James K. Polk, Volume II: Continentalist, 1843-1846 Our Sister Republics: The United States in an Age of American Revolutions The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 Met His Every Goal? James K. Polk and the Legends of Manifest Destiny

    S2 E7: Brent Scowcroft and the National Security Council with Professor Bartholomew Sparrow

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2021 42:33


    Professor Bartholomew Sparrow is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of numerous books including The Strategist: Brent Scowcroft and the Call of National Security which is the subject of our conversation this week. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: The Strategist: Brent Scowcroft and the Call of National Security The National Security Council Jacob Burckhardt Uncertain Guardians: The News Media as a Political Institution

    S2 E6: The Helsinki Accords with Professor Michael Morgan

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2021 62:26


    Professor Michael Morgan is an Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of The Final Act: The Helsinki Accords and the Transformation and the Cold War. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: The Final Act: The Helsinki Accords and the Transformation and the Cold War S1 E7: John Lewis Gaddis Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan A Diplomatic Revolution by Matthew Connelly Power and Protest by Jeremi Suri The Sino-Soviet Split by Lorenz Luthi Robert Bothwell Strategies of Containment by John Lewis Gaddis The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Paul Kennedy Brutality in an Age of Human Rights British Empire by Brian Drohan The Regime Change Consensus by Joseph Stieb

    S2 E5: The Global Interior with Professor Megan Black

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2021 44:08


    Professor Megan Black is an Associate Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: The Global Interior William Appleman Williams Ian Tyrell Kurk Dorsey Bernath Lecture Melanie McAlister Monica Kim Stuart Schrader Amy Offner Genevieve Clutario

    S2 E4: Dual Citizenship with Professor Peter Spiro

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2021 40:35


    Professor Peter J. Spiro is the Charles R. Weiner Professor of Law at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University. He is the author of numerous books on citizenship and international law including At Home in Two Countries, the subject of our conversation today. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: At Home in Two Countries The New Sovereigntists: American Exceptionalism and Its False Prophets Citizenship by Dimitry Kochenov Morton Halperin Charles Maier Robert Keohane

    S2 E3: The Life and Times of Arthur Schlesinger Jr. with Richard Aldous

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2021 40:49


    Professor Richard Aldous is the Eugene Meyer Professor of British History at Bard College. Prior to that, he taught for 15 years at University College Dublin, where he was the chair of the history department. He's the author of numerous books including works on Reagan and Thatcher's relationship, a dual biography of Disraeli and Gladstone and the subject of our conversation Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian. The following are books and articles pertinent to our conversation today: Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian Journals: 1952-2000 The Age of Jackson Orestes Brownson: A Pilgrim's Progress The Age of Roosevelt A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House Perils of the Court Historian Patrick Geoghegan The Secret Life of the Savoy: and the D'Oyly Carte family Operation Moonglow: A Political History of Project Apollo The Fiume Crisis: Life in the Wake of the Habsburg Empire A Question of Leadership

    S2 E2: The Virgin, the Dynamo, and Henry Adams with Professor David Brown

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2021 37:46


    Professor David Brown is the Horace E. Raffensperger professor of history at Elizabethtown College. The following books and people are pertinent to this episode: Richard Hofstadter: An Intellectual Biography The Idea of the Two Party System The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It Everyman His Own Historian The Last American Aristocrat: The Brilliant Life and Improbable Education of Henry Adams The History of United States During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison The Education of Henry Adams Mont Saint Michel and Chartres The Degradation of the Democratic Dogma The Law of Civilization and Decay James Finley

    S2 E1: Scientific History and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. with Professor Luke Nichter

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2021 57:07


    Professor Luke Nichter is a Professor of History and James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University. The following books and articles are pertinent to this episode: The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War White House Years by Henry Kissinger IR Talk Episode with Professor Thomas Schwartz Richard Nixon and Europe: The Reshaping of the Postwar Atlantic World

    Season 2 Trailer

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2021 2:30


    Thank you for listening! To leave a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts here is the link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ir-talk/id1566057626 My email address is: elankluger@gmail.com The video for the "Daisy" Ad can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riDypP1KfOU

    Ep. 8 Season Finale

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2021 2:03


    This is the final of season 1. Make sure to leave a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts and see you in mid August 2021 for the beginning of season 2.

    Ep. 7 History, George Kennan, and Grand Strategy with Professor John Lewis Gaddis

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2021 52:24


    Professor John Lewis Gaddis is the Robert A. Lovett chair of Naval and Military History at Yale University. He has received the Bancroft Prize, Pulitzer Prize, and National Humanities Medal. The following are his books and articles mentioned and alluded to in the podcast: The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past George F. Kennan: An American Life On Grand Strategy Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy during the Cold War The United States and the Origins of the Cold War 1941-1947 Expanding the Data Base: Historians, Political Scientists, and the Enrichment of Security Studies The Long Peace: Elements of Stability in the Postwar International System International Relations Theory and the End of the Cold War

    Ep. 6 The History and Politics of Trade with Dr. William Bernstein

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2021 32:49


    Dr. William Bernstein is a trained neurologist and writes and advises on finance. He is the author of numerous books including A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World which is the subject of our conversation.

    Ep. 5 The Life of Henry Kissinger with Professor Thomas A. Schwartz

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2021 43:47


    Professor Thomas A. Schwartz is a distinguished professor of history at Vanderbilt University. He also holds appointments as professor of political science and professor of European studies at that institution. He is the author most recently of Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography, which is the subject of our conversation. For further information on Henry Kissinger see this Encyclopedia Britannica entry: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Kissinger

    Ep. 4 The Life and Faith of John Foster Dulles with Professor John Wilsey

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2021 39:44


    Professor John Wilsey teaches church history at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of three books, One Nation Under God: An Evangelical Critique of Christian America, American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea and God's Cold Warrior: The Life and Faith of John Foster Dulles which is the subject of our conversation.

    Ep. 3 The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill with Professor Molly Worthen

    Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2021 44:17


    Professor Molly Worthen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researches and teaches American religious history. She is the author of two books, Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism and The Man on Whom Nothing was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill. In the podcast we discuss the life of the subject of Professor Worthen's biography, Charles Hill. Important Links: The Death of a Grand Strategist The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill Grand Strategies: Literature, Statecraft, and World Order Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism

    Ep. 2 Nuclear Strategy with Professor Mark Bell

    Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2021 40:10


    Professor Mark Bell teaches researches international relations at the University of Minnesota focusing on nuclear weapons, American and British foreign policy and international relations theory. He was previously a graduate student at MIT where he got his PhD. And before that received a master's in public policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard as a Frank Knox fellow, prior to that, graduated with a first class degree in politics, philosophy and economics from St. Anne's College, Oxford. He has a new book out titled Nuclear Reactions: How Nuclear Armed States Behave from Cornell University Press which can downloaded for free due to an open access grant from the University of Minnesota here: https://www.amazon.com/Nuclear-Reactions-Nuclear-Armed-Cornell-Security-ebook/dp/B08LMCS8KK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1620501196&sr=8-1

    Ep. 1 Diplomacy with Wenchi Yu

    Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2021 31:24


    Today on the podcast we have Wenchi Yu. Wenchi Yu is a fellow at the Ash Center at the Kennedy School at Harvard. Before that she was Head of Corporate Engagement for Goldman Sachs in Asia. Prior to that she worked at the US Department of State in the Secretary of State's Office, as a senior adviser on global women's issues.

    Trailer: Introducing IR Talk with Elan Kluger

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2021 1:49


    IR Talk is a podcast about international relations theory and practice. Elan Kluger will be interviewing guests involved with both the theory and the practice of international relations. The show will launch the first week in May, 2021.

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