Society, Infected

This week, retired 4-star U.S. General, and Senior Fellow at Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Stanley McChrystal reflects on how to lead during a crisis, as well as tips on maintaining a productive working environment when working remotely – something he had to do when leading dispersed military forces across the Middle East. This may be the most generally applicable episode yet – everyone has something to learn from General McChrystal's experience. General (ret.) Stanley McChrystal is a former Commander of the International Security Assistance Force and Commander of United States Forces Afghanistan. His career in the U.S. Army spanned 34 years. Prior to his service in Afghanistan, he served as Director of the Joint Staff (2008-2009), where he assisted the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in managing the direction, operation, and integration of all combat land, naval, and air forces. He also commanded the Joint Special Operations Command (2003-2008), overseeing elite US military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world. He is now the Co-Founder of McChrystal Group LLC and is also chairperson of Service Year Alliance, a nonprofit organization working to make a year of paid, full-time service — a service year — a common expectation and opportunity for all young Americans. Other Resources“Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal assisting Missouri Gov. Parson’s COVID-19 response” Read Here “You Are Not Working From Home” Charlie Warzel, New York Times Read Here

This week, Matt and Tiffany welcome Suzanne Raine, affiliated lecturer at Cambridge University and former UK diplomat. Suzanne brings her broad expertise to this discussion of how COVID-19 will affect populism in Europe, if pandemic preparedness is part of national security, and how the pandemic might impact international development and terrorism. Suzanne Raine worked for 24 years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on foreign policy and national security issues. This included postings in Poland, Iraq and Pakistan. She specialized in counter-terrorism, holding a number of senior domestic appointments. She was also a senior member of the UK government assessment community. Suzanne has an MA in History from Cambridge. Other Resources“COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak and the EU's response” Council of the European Union Read More Here

Image Courtesy of Aljazeera News, “Iraq protesters blockade oilfield, rally in southern cities” In this episode, Matt, Tiffany, and guest co-host Matt Trevithick interview Emma Sky, former advisor to the Commanding General of US Forces in Iraq and NATO in Afghanistan, about the implications of COVID-19 for stability and governance in the Middle East. Emma Sky is the Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program and a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute, where she teaches Middle East politics. She is the author of the highly acclaimed The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq (2015) and In a Time of Monsters: Travelling in a Middle East in Revolt (2019).Sky served as advisor to the Commanding General of US Forces in Iraq from 2007-2010; as advisor to the Commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in 2006; as advisor to the US Security Co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process in 2005; and as Governorate Co-ordinator of Kirkuk for the Coalition Provisional Authority, 2003-2004. Other Resources“Coronavirus: Middle East faces uncertainty amid armed conflicts” Hashem Ahelbarra, Aljazeera Read More Here

This week on Society Infected, Tiffany and Matt sat down with Professor Nuno Monteiro to talk about the international relations implications of COVID-19 and how this global pandemic could shift the global balance of power.Nuno Monteiro is an associate professor of political science and the director of International Security Studies at Yale University. He has written about unipolarity, deterrence, nuclear proliferation, preventative war, and the philosophical foundations of international relations. Other Resources“Xi Jinping Won the Coronavirus Crisis” (Yanzhong Huang, Foreign Affairs) Click Here to Read More “Coronavirus: who will be winners and losers in new world order?” (Patrick Wintour, The Guardian) Click Here to Read More

In our first episode, we chat with Arne Westad, the Elihu Professor of History at Yale University about what history can teach us about COVID-19. Westad points us to 1918 and the effects of Spanish Influenza to underscore how a pandemic can change society. The 1918 Spanish Flu began the era of socialized medicine, as people realized that the health of everyone, rich or poor, was connected. Professor Arne Westad is a scholar of modern international and global history. He previously taught at Harvard University and London School of Economics, and is now at Yale. Professor Westad has published sixteen books, most of which deal with twentieth-century Asian and global history. Show Highlights: “…the Spanish Flu happened when a World War was still on, and much of the most disastrous consequences of the Spanish Flu happened because societies were already weakened by the effects of war... It hit, in a way, at the worst possible moment.”“Very often societies have handled epidemics and pandemics with the same kind of view that comes through in war time.”“I think the Spanish Flu contributed to the very abrupt stop of the last great wave of globalization that we saw in the late 19th and very early 20th century.”“There is no such thing as handling an epidemic individually... You have to handle it collectively.”Other Resources: Professor Westad recommended that we study how society has responded to pandemics in the past. If you are interested in this subject, we have linked some reading material below. “How can we save lives and the economy? Lessons from the Spanish Flu pandemic” (World Economic Forum) Click Here for the WEF How the 1918 Pandemic Frayed Social Bonds (The Atlantic) Click Here for The Atlantic