World Affairs Councils Podcast

WACA's Cover to Cover webinar on Thursday, October 28, at 2:00-3:00 PM ET, features Carla Power, journalist and author. In Home, Land, Security: Deradicalization and the Journey Back from Extremism, Carla Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what radicalized young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society?  Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Summary from Penguin Randomhouse. The discuss will be moderated by Patrick Ryan, President of the Tennessee World Affairs Council.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover from Wednesday, April 28, 2021, featuring co-authors Robin Broad, Professor of International Development at American University, and John Cavanagh, Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Studies.  The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country from Corporate Greed At a time when countless communities are resisting powerful corporations—from Flint, Michigan, to the Standing Rock Reservation, to Didipio in the Philippines, to the Gualcarque River in Honduras—The Water Defenders tells the inspirational story of a community that took on an international mining corporation at seemingly insurmountable odds and won not one but two historic victories. In the early 2000s, many people in El Salvador were at first excited by the prospect of jobs, progress, and prosperity that the Pacific Rim mining company promised. However, farmer Vidalina Morales, brothers Marcelo and Miguel Rivera, and others soon discovered that the river system supplying water to the majority of Salvadorans was in danger of catastrophic contamination. With a group of unlikely allies, local and global, they committed to stop the corporation and the destruction of their home. Based on over a decade of research and their own role as international allies of the community groups in El Salvador, Robin Broad and John Cavanagh unspool this untold story—a tale replete with corporate greed, a transnational lawsuit at a secretive World Bank tribunal in Washington, violent threats, murders, and—surprisingly—victory. The husband-and-wife duo immerses the reader in the lives of the Salvadoran villagers, the journeys of the local activists who sought the truth about the effects of gold mining on the environment, and the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of the corporate mining executives and their lawyers. The Water Defenders demands that we examine our assumptions about progress and prosperity, while providing valuable lessons for those fighting against destructive corporations in the United States and across the world.  

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover from Wednesday, March 3, at 2:00-3:00 PM ET, featuring Charles Kupchan, Professor of International Affairs in the School of Foreign Service and Government Department at Georgetown University, and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Isolationism: A History of America’s Efforts to Shield Itself From the World In his Farewell Address of 1796, President George Washington admonished the young nation “to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” Isolationism thereafter became one of the most influential political trends in American history. From the founding era until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States shunned strategic commitments abroad, making only brief detours during the Spanish-American War and World War I. Amid World War II and the Cold War, Americans abandoned isolationism; they tried to run the world rather than run away from it. But isolationism is making a comeback as Americans tire of foreign entanglement. In this definitive and magisterial analysis—the first book to tell the fascinating story of isolationism across the arc of American history—Charles Kupchan explores the enduring connection between the isolationist impulse and the American experience. He also refurbishes isolationism’s reputation, arguing that it constituted dangerous delusion during the 1930s, but afforded the nation clear strategic advantages during its ascent.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover on Thursday, February 18, at 2:00-3:00 PM ET, featuring Kathryn Stoner, Deputy Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, and at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, all at Stanford University. Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order Stoner shows that Russia is neither as weak as we think, nor as strong as its leadership would like it to be viewed. This book directs a spotlight on the interac­tion between domestic politics and foreign policy to explain Russian power and purpose in the twenty-first century. From Russia's seizure of Crimea to its military support for the Assad regime in Syria, the country has reasserted itself as a major global power. Stoner offers an eye-opening reassessment of the country, identifying the actual sources of its power in international politics and why it has been able to redefine the post-Cold War global order. 

WACA's Cover to Cover webinar on Thursday, January 21, at 4:00-5:00 PM ET, featured Secretary Michael Chertoff, Former Secretary of Homeland Security (2005-2009). This webinar was moderated by Bryan Cunningham, Executive Director of the Cybersecurity Policy & Research Institute at UCI. Exploding Data: Reclaiming Our Cyber Security in the Digital Age The most dangerous threat we—individually and as a society and country—face today is no longer military, but rather the increasingly pervasive exposure of our personal information; nothing undermines our freedom more than losing control of information about ourselves. And yet, as daily events underscore, we are ever more vulnerable to cyber-attack. In this bracing book, Michael Chertoff makes clear that our laws and policies surrounding the protection of personal information, written for an earlier time, need to be completely overhauled in the Internet era. This event was hosted by WAC Orange County with promotional partners including: World Affairs Councils of America, Los Angeles WAC & TH, and WAC San Diego.

WACA's Cover to Cover conference call on Wednesday, December 9, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featured Glenn Robinson, Associate Professor at Naval Postgraduate School and President of WAC Monterey Bay on his book, Global Jihad: A Brief History. Most violent jihadi movements in the twentieth century focused on removing corrupt, repressive secular regimes throughout the Muslim world. But following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a new form of jihadism emerged - global jihad - turning to the international arena as the primary locus of ideology and action. With this book, Glenn Robinson develops a compelling and provocative argument about this violent political movement's evolution.

Listen now to WACA's KNOW NOW conference call on Wednesday, December 2, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Firoz Peera, board member and past Chair of the World Affairs Council of Charlotte.  The Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) is China’s ambitious multi-decade project to create a modern day version of the ancient Silk Road, a powerful route that provided the foundation for the very first wave of globalization across a vast Eurasian landscape. Mr. Peera will discuss the nature & scope of the BRI and its geo-strategic implications in this new age of great power rivalry. Peera is a board member and past Chair of the World Affairs Council of Charlotte. With a strong interest in history and geopolitics, he has been an avid watcher of China’s ascendency to superpower status.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call from Thursday, August 6, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Lesley Blume, award-winning journalist, historian, and New York Times bestselling author, on her book Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-Up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World. Just days after the U.S. decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. But even before the surrender, the U.S. government and military had begun a secret propaganda and information suppression campaign to hide the devastating nature of these experimental weapons. The cover-up intensified as Occupation forces closed the atomic cities to Allied reporters, preventing leaks about the horrific long-term effects of radiation which would kill thousands during the months after the blast. For nearly a year the cover-up worked - until New Yorker journalist John Hersey got into Hiroshima and managed to report the truth to the world. Released on the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, Fallout is an engrossing detective story, as well as an important piece of hidden history that shows how one heroic scoop saved - and can still save - the world.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call from Thursday, July 16, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and an Associate Fellow of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program, on his book Qatar and the Gulf Crisis.   In 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, launching an economic blockade by land, air and sea. Well into its second year, the standoff in the Gulf has no realistic end in sight. With the Bahraini and Emirati criminalisation of expressing support for Qatar, and the Saudi labelling of detainees as ‘traitors’ for their alleged Qatari links, bitterness has been stoked between deeply interconnected peoples. The adviser to the Saudi crown prince advocating a moat to physically separate Qatar from the Arabian Peninsula illustrates the ongoing intensity - and irrationality - of the crisis. Ulrichsen offers an authoritative study of this international standoff, from both sides.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call from Tuesday, June 23 at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Mira Rapp-Hooper, Stephen A. Schwarzman Senior Fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Fellow at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center. Shields of the Republic: The Triumph and Peril of America’s Alliances Mira Rapp-Hooper reveals the remarkable success of America’s unprecedented system of alliances developed during the Cold War. Today, China and Russia seek to break America’s alliances through conflict and non-military erosion. Meanwhile, U.S. politicians and voters are increasingly skeptical of alliances’ costs and benefits and believe we may be better off without them. But what if the alliance system is a victim of its own quiet success? Rapp-Hooper argues that America’s national security requires alliances that deter and defend against military and non-military conflict alike.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call from Thursday, May 14, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Michael Klare, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Arms Control Association and Professor Emeritus of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College, on his book All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon's Perspective on Climate Change Of all major institutions in American society, none take climate change as seriously as the U.S. military and the Pentagon. Drawing on previously obscure reports and government documents, renowned security expert Michael Klare shows that the U.S. military sees the climate threat as imperiling the country on several fronts at once. The military now regards climate change as one of the top threats to American national security, and is busy developing strategies to cope with it.

Listen now to WACA's KNOW NOW conference call from Thursday, May 21, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Ambassador Luis Moreno, former U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, on U.S.-Latin America relations. Ambassador Moreno was in conversation with Armen Babajanian, Executive Director of the World Affairs Council of San Antonio. U.S. interest in Latin America has grown significantly over the years and political, socio-economic, and cultural factors have influenced the conduct of American diplomacy in the region. What does the future hold for U.S.-Latin America relations and what impact will these relationships have on their respective economies and political structures? Listen as Ambassador Moreno and Armen Babajanian take an in depth look into Latin America, a region comprised of more than 30 countries with varying economies, leadership styles, and roles in the international arena.  

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call from Wednesday, May 6 at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Dr. Nina Ansary, UN Women Global Champion for Innovation and Visiting Fellow at The London School of Economics Centre for Women, Peace & Security.  Anonymous Is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality Anonymous Is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality takes readers on a 4,000-year historic journey to expose the roots and manifestations of institutionalized gender discrimination; dismantle centuries of historical bias through biographical profiles of fifty extraordinary, yet forgotten women innovators; and challenge ingrained stereotypical assumptions to advance an unconventional argument for equality and inclusivity.

Listen now to WACA's KNOW NOW conference call from Tuesday, April 28, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Ambassador (ret.) Kathleen Stephens, President and CEO of the Korea Economic Institute. Ambassador Stephens joined WACA President and CEO Bill Clifford to discuss the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on South Korea, U.S.-South Korea relations, and U.S. policy in Asia. 

Listen to WACA's KNOW NOW conference call from Wednesday, April 15, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Mohammed Ali Abdallah, Political Advisor for U.S. Affairs to the Prime Minister of Libya (leader of the U.S.-UN-recognized Government of Libya). The conflict and violence that has handcuffed Libya's progress post-revolution continues to plague Libyans’ efforts to revitalize and rebuild the war-torn country.  In cooperation with the international community, Libyans established the interim Government of National Accord to unite the country’s factions and build a stable civil society. In April 2019, Khalifa Haftar and his forces launched an attack on Tripoli to overthrow the GNA, instigating a war that over the past year has killed more than 2,200 people, displaced over 200,000, and made oil-rich Libya the center of an international proxy. One year after Haftar began his advance on Tripoli, listen as Mr. Abdallah and WACA President and CEO Bill Clifford discuss the state of the war in Libya, the role of external powers, and prospects for resolution.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call from Thursday, April 9 at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Daniel Markey, Senior Research Professor and Director of the School of Advanced International Studies' Global Policy Program at Johns Hopkins University. China's Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia Under the ambitious leadership of President Xi Jinping, China is zealously transforming its wealth and economic power into potent tools of global political influence. But China's foreign policy initiatives, even the vaunted "Belt and Road," will be shaped and redefined as they confront the ground realities of local and regional politics outside China. In China's Western Horizon, Daniel Markey anticipates that China's deepening involvement will play to the advantage of regional strongmen and exacerbate the political tensions within and among Eurasian states.

WACA's KNOW NOW conference call Thursday, March 26, at 2:00-2:30 pm ET, featuring Dr. Jonathan Quick, Senior Fellow at Management Sciences for Health, on COVID-19 and global epidemics. Dr. Quick was in conversation with WorldBoston President and CEO Mary Yntema.  In January 2018, Dr. Quick spoke at WorldBoston's Great Decisions series on the topic of "Global Health: Progress and Challenges," having recently published his book The End of Epidemics: The Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop It. As the book says, "Somewhere in nature, a killer virus is boiling up in the bloodstream of a bird, bat, monkey, or pig, preparing to jump to a human being. This not-yet-detected germ has the potential to wipe out millions of lives over a matter of weeks or months." Listen to Dr. Quick and Mary Yntema discuss what has changed since his Great Decisions talk, how effective local and global efforts have been in combating COVID-19, and what we can expect in the coming weeks and months.

WACA's Cover to Cover conference call on Thursday, March 19, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET featured Susan Sloan, associate director of a global advocacy organization, on her new book: A Seat at the Table: Women, Diplomacy, and Lessons for the World Many countries face challenges of migration, terrorism, climate change, and the spread of fast-paced technology. Those who are sitting around the table will change the course of history and redefine how we solve critical problems. Join WACA for a conversation with Susan Sloan as she shares stories from women ambassadors spanning the globe, the impact of gender-diversified leadership, and why varied voices lead to stronger resolutions and enhanced team dynamics. 

Listen now to WACA's KNOW NOW conference call from Wednesday, February 26, at 2:00-2:30 pm ET, featuring Felipe Muñoz, Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombia-Venezuela Border. Mr. Muñoz will be in conversation with WACA Chief Operating Officer Liz Brailsford.As a consequence of the economic and political collapse in Venezuela, more than 1.6 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees have crossed the border and fled to Colombia seeking safety and opportunities for their future. The government of Colombia is going to extraordinary lengths to provide humanitarian relief to this unprecedented influx of migrants and making tremendous efforts to integrate the migrants into society. Listen to the conversation with Felipe Muñoz to learn more about the magnitude of the crisis, the efforts undertaken by the Government of Colombia, and the role that the U.S.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call from Wednesday, February 19 at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Professor Yael (Yuli) Tamir, President of Shenkar College and an adjunct professor at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. Why Nationalism Around the world today, nationalism is back—and it’s often deeply troubling. Populist politicians exploit nationalism for authoritarian, chauvinistic, racist, and xenophobic purposes, reinforcing the view that it is fundamentally reactionary and antidemocratic. But Yael (Yuli) Tamir makes a passionate argument for a very different kind of nationalism—one that revives its participatory, creative, and egalitarian virtues, answers many of the problems caused by neoliberalism and hyperglobalism, and is essential to democracy at its best.

Andrew Bacevich, President of the Quincy Institute and Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at Boston University, on his new book: The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory. When the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Washington establishment felt it had prevailed in a world-historical struggle. History, having brought the United States to the very summit of power and prestige, had validated American-style liberal democratic capitalism as universally applicable. Listen to the conversation with Andrew Bacevich as he explains how, within a quarter of a century, the United States ended up with gaping inequality, permanent war, moral confusion, and an increasingly angry and alienated population, as well, of course, as the strangest president in American history.

Angela Stent, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings Institution and Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies at Georgetown University, and Jill Dougherty, SFS Centennial Fellow at Georgetown University, Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and CNN Contributor, discuss Stent's book Putin's World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest. We all now live in a paranoid and polarized world of Putin's making, and the Russian leader, through guile and disruption, has resurrected Russia's status as a force to be reckoned with. Stent helps Americans understand how and why the post-Cold War era has given way to a new, more dangerous world, one in which Russia poses a challenge to the U.S. in every corner of the globe -- and one in which Russia has become a toxic and divisive subject in U.S. politics. Listen to the conversation with Angela Stent and Jill Dougherty about Russia's role on the global stage.

WACA's Cover to Cover conference call on Thursday, November 21, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featured Marina and David Ottaway, Middle East Fellows at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. A Tale of Four Worlds: The Arab Region After the Uprisings First came the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire following World War I; then, in the 1950s and '60s, the Nasser-inspired wave of Arab nationalism and socialism. The Arab world's third great political cataclysm of the past 100 years has also brought permanent changes, but not as its activists had hoped: the 2011 uprisings. Their consequences have differed greatly from area to area, splintering the Arab region into four different worlds. Join Marina and David Ottaway as they discuss the profound upheavals that have shaken - and continue to transform - Arab and global politics.

WACA's Cover to Cover conference call on Wednesday, October 9, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featured Hope Harrison, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, The George Washington University. After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the Present The history and meaning of the Berlin Wall remain controversial, even three decades after its fall. Drawing on an extensive range of archival sources and interviews, this book profiles key memory activists who have fought to commemorate the history of the Berlin Wall and examines their role in the creation of a new German national narrative. This revelatory work also traces how global memory of the Wall has impacted German memory policy, and it depicts the power and fragility of state-backed memory projects, and the potential of such projects to reconcile or divide.

February's Cover to Cover features author Sarah Chayes on his new book, Thieves of State, on Wednesday, February 18, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET. Sarah Chayes is an American author and world renown speaker. 

May's Cover to Cover features author Chris Woods on his new book, Sudden Justice: America's Secret Drone, on Wednesday, May 13, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET. Chris Woods is an American investigative journalist who specializes in conflict and national security issues. 

June's Cover to Cover features author Walter Laqueur on his new book, Putinism: Russia and Its Future with the West, on Sunday, June 18, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET. Walter Laqueur is an American historian, journalist and political commentator. 

June's Cover to Cover features author Russell Gold on his new book, The Boom, on Thursday, June 12, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET. Russell Gold is an American reporter for Wall Street Journal and the author of The Boom.

August's Cover to Cover features author Barry Posen on his new book, Restraint: A New Foundation for U.S. Grand Strategy, on Tuesday, August 12, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET. Barry Posen is an American professor of Political Science at MIT. 

October's Cover to Cover features author Chris Hill on his new book, Outpost: A Diplomat at Work, October 6, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET.  Chris Hill is an American diplomat, currently charged with the Chief Advisor to the Chancellor for Global Engagement and Professor of the Practice in Diplomacy at the University of Denver.

WACA's Cover to Cover conference call on Wednesday, September 25, at 2:00-2:30 pm ET, featured former Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission Tom Wheeler, Visiting Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future Network revolutions of the past have shaped the present and set the stage for the revolution we are experiencing today. In this fascinating book, former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler puts past revolutions into the perspective of today, when rapid-fire changes in networking are upending the nature of work, personal privacy, education, the media, and nearly every other aspect of modern life. Outlining “What’s Next,” he describes how artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, and the need for cybersecurity are laying the foundation for a third network revolution.

WACA's KNOW NOW conference call on Thursday, September 19, at 3:00-3:30 pm ET, featured Oussama Romdhani, Editor in Chief of The Arab Weekly and former Tunisian Communications Minister. On Sunday, September 15, Tunisians will go to the polls to elect their next president - a vote that will have regional and international implications. Considering the unsettled situations in Libya and Algeria, the success or failure of Tunisia's third democratic contest since the 2011 uprising could have a bearing on regional stability. Join WACA for a conversation with Oussama Romdhani and WAC Dallas/Fort Worth President & CEO Jim Falk about why the Tunisian elections matter and how the new Tunisian president can ensure the future stability and economic recovery of Tunisia. 

Listen to WACA's KNOW NOW conference call featuring Dean C. Alexander, Director of the Homeland Security Research Program and Professor of Homeland Security at the School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration at Western Illinois University. Family affiliated terrorism, from the role of patriarchs to ISIS brides, poses significant and long lasting security threats to the international community. Author of several books on the subject, Professor Alexander is an expert on the issues surrounding global terrorism and the ways to combat these threats both foreign and domestic. Join WACA for a conversation with Prof. Alexander and former Peoria WAC President and WACA National Board Member Don Samford about the implications of family terror networks and countering international political violence.

Listen to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call featuring former CIA Chief of Counterintelligence Jim Olson, Professor of the Practice, Texas A&M University. To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence The United States is losing the counterintelligence war. Foreign intelligence services, particularly those of China, Russia, and Cuba, are recruiting spies in our midst and stealing our secrets and cutting-edge technologies. In To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence, Olson offers a wake-up call for the American public and also a guide for how our country can do a better job of protecting its national security and trade secrets. Join Mr. Olson and WAC Dallas/Fort Worth President and CEO Jim Falk as they discuss Olson's recent book: To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence.

The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un The behind-the-scenes story of the rise and reign of the world’s strangest and most elusive tyrant, Kim Jong Un, by the journalist with the best connections and insights into the bizarrely dangerous world of North Korea. Anna Fifield, Beijing Bureau Chief at The Washington Post, reconstructs Kim’s past and present with exclusive access to sources near him and brings her unique understanding to explain the dynastic mission of the Kim family in North Korea. The archaic notion of despotic family rule matches the almost medieval hardship the country has suffered under the Kims. Few people thought that a young, untested, unhealthy, Swiss-educated basketball fanatic could hold together a country that should have fallen apart years ago. 

WACA's KNOW NOW conference call on Tuesday, July 16, at 2:00-2:30 pm ET, featuring Dr. Mehdi Noorbaksh, Vice President of the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg. Iran has resumed enrichment of uranium and the U.S. has blamed Iran for attacking an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. Many worry current tensions could escalate, leading to a wider conflagration in the region. Join Dr. Noorbaksh and WAC Harrisburg President and CEO Joyce Davis as they discuss the current state of U.S.-Iran relations and the potential impact of increasing belligerence between the countries.

On June's Cover to Cover, Sheila Smith, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations discusses her new book: Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power. Japan has one of Asia’s most technologically advanced militaries and yet struggles to use its hard power as an instrument of national policy. The horrors of World War II continue to haunt policymakers in Tokyo, while China and South Korea remain wary of any military ambitions Japan may entertain. In Japan Rearmed Sheila Smith argues that Japan is not only responding to increasing threats from North Korean missiles and Chinese maritime activities but also reevaluating its dependence on the United States. No longer convinced that they can rely on Americans to defend Japan, Tokyo’s political leaders are now confronting the possibility that they may need to prepare the nation’s military for war.

There is a high risk that someone will use, by accident or design, one or more of the 17,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. Many thought such threats ended with the Cold War, but they remain an ongoing nightmare. Author of the books Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late, Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats, Joe Cirincione is one of the leading experts in the country on U.S. nuclear weapons. Join Cirincione, President of the Ploughshares Fund, as he discusses the major nuclear weapons threats the world faces today and the debate over the best policies to counter them with Tennessee WAC's Patrick Ryan. 

The Arctic has been warming almost twice as quickly as the rest of the planet and its effects can be felt worldwide. Research thus far shows the warming Arctic impacts weather patterns as far away as mid-latitude areas like California by weakening the jet stream. Colder water in the Pacific Northwest is becoming more acidic and unstable for farming shellfish, while melting permafrost and coastal erosion in Alaska is causing infrastructure collapse and loss of biodiversity. Join the World Affairs Councils of America and former Lt. Gov and Chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission Fran Ulmer for a conversation about the arctic, climate change, and the intersections of environmental science and policy. Read more about Hon. Fran Ulmer. 

Air pollution prematurely kills seven million people every year, including more than one hundred thousand Americans. It is strongly linked to strokes, heart attacks, many kinds of cancer, dementia, and premature birth, among other ailments. In Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution, Beth Gardiner travels the world to tell the story of this modern-day plague, taking readers from the halls of power in Washington and the diesel-fogged London streets she walks with her daughter to Poland’s coal heartland and India’s gasping capital. In a gripping narrative that’s alive with powerful voices and personalities, she exposes the political decisions and economic forces that have kept so many of us breathing dirty air. This is a moving, up-close look at the human toll, where we meet the scientists who have transformed our understanding of pollution’s effects on the body and the ordinary people fighting for a cleaner future.In the United States, air is far cleaner than it once was. But progress has failed to keep up with the science, which tells us that even today’s lower pollution levels are doing real damage. And as the Trump administration rips up the regulations that have brought us where we are, decades of gains are now at risk. Elsewhere, the problem is far worse, and choking nations like China are scrambling to replicate the achievements of an American agency—the EPA—that until recently was the envy of the world.

Photojournalism often succeeds where words fail. From powerful, iconic, and polarizing images, like Nick Ut's Vietnam-era "Napalm Girl" to three-year-old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi lying face down on a sandy beach in Turkey - these images tell stories with vivid urgency. Constantine, author of the Exiled to Nowhere book and exhibit, discusses the challenges and ethical implications of documenting war and atrocity with WorldOregon's Tim DuRoche. Constantine has spent much of the past fifteen years living and working in Asia. In 2005, he began work on his long-term project, Nowhere People. Constantine has spent the past 10 years documenting stateless communities in eighteen countries, including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Dominican Republic, Ukraine, Serbia, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, and Lebanon. His work has been featured in various publications including the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, The Atlantic, The New Republic, CNN, and Al-Jazeera.

Appointed by His Excellency Mohammad Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Before her appointment as the Spokesperson, H.E. Lolwah joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Minister Plenipotentiary. She also served as the Director of Planning and Quality at Qatar Tourism Authority and as a Research Project Manager at Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development. Her Excellency will provide an update on the U.S.-Qatar strategic dialogue and Qatar's foreign policy.

Over the course of more than three decades as an American diplomat, William J. Burns played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time—from the bloodless end of the Cold War to the collapse of post–Cold War relations with Putin’s Russia, from post–9/11 tumult in the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran. In The Back Channel, Burns recounts, with novelistic detail and incisive analysis, some of the seminal moments of his career. Drawing on a trove of newly declassified cables and memos, he gives readers a rare inside look at American diplomacy in action. His dispatches from war-torn Chechnya and Qaddafi’s bizarre camp in the Libyan desert and his warnings of the “Perfect Storm” that would be unleashed by the Iraq War will reshape our understanding of history—and inform the policy debates of the future. Burns sketches the contours of effective American leadership in a world that resembles neither the zero-sum Cold War contest of his early years as a diplomat nor the “unipolar moment” of American primacy that followed.Ultimately, The Back Channel is an eloquent, deeply informed, and timely story of a life spent in service of American interests abroad. It is also a powerful reminder, in a time of great turmoil, of the enduring importance of diplomacy.

Council on Foreign Relations' Thomas J. Bollyky  Plagues and the Paradox of Progress: Why the World Is Getting Healthier in Worrisome Ways Plagues and parasites have played a central role in world affairs, shaping the evolution of the modern state, the growth of cities, and the disparate fortunes of national economies. This book tells that story, but it is not about the resurgence of pestilence. It is the story of its decline. For the first time in recorded history, virus, bacteria, and other infectious diseases are not the leading cause of death or disability in any region of the world. People are living longer, and fewer mothers are giving birth to many children in the hopes that some might survive. And yet, the news is not all good. Recent reductions in infectious disease have not been accompanied by the same improvements in income, job opportunities, and governance that occurred with these changes in wealthier countries decades ago. There have also been unintended consequences. In this book, Thomas Bollyky explores the paradox in our fight against infectious disease: the world is getting healthier in ways that should make us worry. Bollyky interweaves a grand historical narrative about the rise and fall of plagues in human societies with contemporary case studies of the consequences. Bollyky visits Dhaka—one of the most densely populated places on the planet—to show how low-cost health tools helped enable the phenomenon of poor world megacities. He visits China and Kenya to illustrate how dramatic declines in plagues have affected national economies. Bollyky traces the role of infectious disease in the migrations from Ireland before the potato famine and to Europe from Africa and elsewhere today. Historic health achievements are remaking a world that is both worrisome and full of opportunities. Whether the peril or promise of that progress prevails, Bollyky explains, depends on what we do next. Read more from Bollyky here: Foreign Affairs: Health Without Wealth - The Worrying Paradox of Modern Medical Miracles  Financial Times

In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was progressively captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatened to destabilize the entire international order. These populist nationalists seek direct charismatic connection to “the people,” who are usually defined in narrow identity terms that offer an irresistible call to an in-group and exclude large parts of the population as a whole. Demand for recognition of one’s identity is a master concept that unifies much of what is going on in world politics today. The universal recognition on which liberal democracy is based has been increasingly challenged by narrower forms of recognition based on nation, religion, sect, race, ethnicity, or gender, which have resulted in anti-immigrant populism, the upsurge of politicized Islam, the fractious “identity liberalism” of college campuses, and the emergence of white nationalism. Populist nationalism, said to be rooted in economic motivation, actually springs from the demand for recognition and therefore cannot simply be satisfied by economic means. The demand for identity cannot be transcended; we must begin to shape identity in a way that supports rather than undermines democracy. Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment is an urgent and necessary book—a sharp warning that unless we forge a universal understanding of human dignity, we will doom ourselves to continuing conflict. 

December's Cover to Cover featured a conversation with Stephen Tankel, professor at American University and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, on his new book, With Us and Against Us: How America's Partners Help and Hinder the War on Terror. Tankel analyzes the factors that shape counterterrorism cooperation, examining the ways partner nations aid international efforts, as well as the ways they encumber and impede effective action. It offers a policy-relevant toolkit for improving counterterrorism cooperation, devising strategies for mitigating risks, and getting the most out of difficult partnerships.

A former career covert CIA operations officer, Valerie Plame worked to protect America’s national security and prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons. During her career with the CIA, Valerie managed top-secret covert programs designed to keep terrorists and rogue nation states from acquiring nuclear weapons. This involved decision making at senior levels, recruiting foreign assets, deploying resources around the world, managing multi-million dollar budgets, briefing US policy-makers, and demonstrating consistently solid judgment in a field where mistakes could prove disastrous to national security. She was also involved in covert cyber operations and counterterrorism efforts in Europe and the Middle East. Valerie sits on the boards of Global Data Security, a cyber security company that safeguards digital data streaming and extends that protection to email and attachments, and Starling Trust, a predictive behavioral analytics company that interprets and forecasts behavioral trends. She also serves on the nonprofit boards of Global Zero the United Way of Santa Fe County, and Postpartum Support International. Valerie is affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute, a trans-disciplinary scientific think tank created by two Nobel Prize winners to address the most compelling and complex problems in the world today.

Every day, Americans make decisions about their privacy: what to share and when, how much to expose and to whom. Securing the boundary between one’s private affairs and public identity has become a central task of citizenship. How did privacy come to loom so large in American life? Sarah Igo tracks this elusive social value across the twentieth century, as individuals questioned how they would, and should, be known by their own society. Privacy was not always a matter of public import. But beginning in the late nineteenth century, as corporate industry, social institutions, and the federal government swelled, increasing numbers of citizens believed their privacy to be endangered. Popular journalism and communication technologies, welfare bureaucracies and police tactics, market research and workplace testing, scientific inquiry and computer data banks, tell-all memoirs and social media all propelled privacy to the foreground of U.S. culture. Jurists and philosophers but also ordinary people weighed the perils, the possibilities, and the promise of being known. In the process, they redrew the borders of contemporary selfhood and citizenship. The Known Citizen reveals how privacy became the indispensable language for monitoring the ever-shifting line between our personal and social selves. Igo’s sweeping history, from the era of “instantaneous photography” to the age of big data, uncovers the surprising ways that debates over what should be kept out of the public eye have shaped U.S. politics and society. It offers the first wide-angle view of privacy as it has been lived and imagined by modern Americans. Sarah E. Igo is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Program in American Studies, as well as the inaugural Faculty Director of E. Bronson Ingram College.  She received her A.B. in Social Studies from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in History from Princeton University.  Professor Igo's primary research interests are in modern American cultural and intellectual history, the history of the human sciences, the sociology of knowledge, and the history of the public sphere. Her first book, The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public (Harvard University Press, 2007), explores the relationship between survey data—opinion polls, sex surveys, consumer research—and modern understandings of self and nation. An Editor’s Choice selection of the New York Times and one of Slate’s Best Books of 2007, The Averaged American was the winner of the President's Book Award of the Social Science History Association and the Cheiron Book Prize as well as a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Award of the American Sociological Association.  Igo has just published her second book, The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America (Harvard University Press, 2018).

More than 2 million Americans have served in Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001, and C.J. Chivers has reported from both wars from their beginnings. The Fighters vividly conveys the physical and emotional experience of war as lived by six combatants: a fighter pilot, a medic, a scout helicopter pilot, a grunt, an infantry officer and a Special Forces sergeant. Chivers captures their commitment and sense of purpose, their courage and ultimately their sacrifice, confusion and moral frustration as new enemies arise, and invasions give way to counterinsurgency duties for which they often were not prepared. The Fighters is a tour de force, a portrait of modern warfare that parts from slogans. It does for these troops what Stephen Ambrose did for the G.I.s of WWII and what Michael Herr did for the grunts in Vietnam. The Fighters presents a human side of the long arc of two wars, told with the empathy and understanding of an author who is himself an infantry veteran. C.J. Chivers is a reporter for The New York Times, where he works on the Investigations Desk and for The New York Times Magazine, covering conflict, crime, the arms trade and human rights, and other themes. His work also appears on the NYT’s At War and Lens blogs. He is a frequent contributor to Esquire and an occasional contributor to other publications, including Field & Stream, Popular Mechanics, Anglers Journal and more.  He is also the author of THE GUN (Simon & Schuster, 2010), a history of automatic arms and their influence on human security and war. The book was selected as a New York Times Editor’s Pick and a Best Book of 2010 by The Atlantic and The Washington Post.  

Our Woman in Havana chronicles the past several decades of US-Cuba relations from the bird’s-eye view of State Department veteran and longtime Cuba hand Vicki Huddleston, our top diplomat in Havana under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.After the US embassy in Havana was closed in 1961, relations between the two countries broke off. A thaw came in 1977, with the opening of a de facto embassy in Havana, the US Interests Section, where Huddleston would later serve. In her compelling memoir of a diplomat at work, she tells gripping stories of face-to-face encounters with Fidel Castro and the initiatives she undertook, like the transistor radios she furnished to ordinary Cubans. With inside accounts of many dramatic episodes, like the tumultuous Elián González custody battle, Huddleston also evokes the charm of the island country, and her warm affection for the Cuban people.

In Have the Mountains Fallen?: Two Journeys of Loss and Redemption in the Cold War, Jeffrey Lilley's new book puts the spotlight on Kyrgyzstan. He examines the threat and legacy of the Soviet empire through intersecting narratives of a captive people's aspiration for freedom. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: After the witnessing the collapse of the Soviet Union as a journalist in the 1990s, Jeff Lilley moved to Central Asia in 2004. During a three-year posting in Kyrgyzstan, he started reading the works of Chinghiz Aitmatov, slept in yurts, drank fermented mare's milk, and hiked in the country's beautiful mountains. Over the following ten years, as he worked in the field of democracy and governance in support of Washington, DC, and the Middle East, he continued researching Aitmatov while adding Altay's remarkable life story. He finished writing the book in 2016, shortly before returning to Kyrgyzstan to lead a British-funded parliamentary support program. Lilley is the coauthor of China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage and Diplomacy (Public Affairs, 2004).