New Books in Diplomatic History

Patryk I. Labuda, "International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability" (Oxford UP, 2023)

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1990s, the promise of justice for atrocity crimes was associated with the revival of international criminal tribunals (ICTs). More recently, ho...

Eileen Kane et al., "Russian-Arab Worlds: A Documentary History" (Oxford UP, 2023)

20 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The roots of the Arab world’s current Russian entanglements reach deep into the tsarist and Soviet periods. To explore those entanglements, Russian...

Yaacov Nir, "Establishment and History of the Cyprus Detention Camps for Jewish Refugees (1946-1949)" (Cambridge Scholars, 2024)

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Yaacov Nir's Establishment and History of the Cyprus Detention Camps for Jewish Refugees (1946-1949) (Cambridge Scholars, 2024) explores the nature ...

How to Be a Good Statesman: Johnny Burtka on Political Leadership from Xenophon to Churchill

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We have a preponderance of books on leadership in business; yet, despite broad dissatisfaction with our political leaders, almost none on how to be a ...

Rachel Blumenthal, "Right to Reparations: The Claims Conference and Holocaust Survivors, 1951–1964" (Lexington, 2021)

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Right to Reparations: The Claims Conference and Holocaust Survivors, 1951–1964 (Lexington, 2021) examines the early years of the Claims Conference,...

Stephanie Chasin, "British Jews and Imperial Service: Nationalism, Pan-Islamism and Zionism in Mandate Palestine and Colonial India" (I. B. Tauris, 2023)

17 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the wake of the devastating WWI, three Jews headed the most valuable territory in the British Empire in addition to a strategically important new a...

Alina Nychyk, "Ukraine Vis-à-Vis Russia and the EU: Misperceptions of Foreign Challenges in Times of War, 2014-2015" (Ibidem Press, 2023)

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ukraine Vis-à-Vis Russia and the EU: Misperceptions of Foreign Challenges in Times of War, 2014-2015 (Ibidem Press, 2023) investigates the making of...

Andrew J. Kirkendall, "Hemispheric Alliances: Liberal Democrats and Cold War Latin America" (UNC Press, 2022)

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hemispheric foreign policy has waxed and waned since the Mexican War, and the Cold War presented both extraordinary promises and dangerous threats to ...

Ruth A. Morgan, "Climate Change and International History: Climate Diplomacy in the Global North and South Since 1950" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Exploring how climate change has configured the international arena since the 1950s, Climate Change and International History: Negotiating Science, G...

On America’s Blind Spot Towards the Palestinians

09 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In their handling of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process over the decades, U.S. officials have displayed a “systemic blind spot” by alleviating ...

Priyasha Saksena, "Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia" (Oxford UP, 2023)

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia (Oxford UP, 2023), Dr Priyasha Saksena interrogates the centuries...

Michael Poulshock, "Power Structures in International Politics" (Low 8, 2023)

05 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Power Structures in International Politics (Low 8, 2023) presents an original perspective on the dynamics underlying world events, approaching inter...

Eline van Ommen, "Nicaragua Must Survive: Sandinista Revolutionary Diplomacy in the Global Cold War" (U California Press, 2024)

02 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nicaragua Must Survive: Sandinista Revolutionary Diplomacy in the Global Cold War (University of California Press, 2023) tells the story of the San...

Philip Giurlando and Daniel F. Wajner, "Populist Foreign Policy: Regional Perspectives of Populism in the International Scene" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023)

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The focus of the research on populism as a category of political analysis has mostly been on domestic politics and can be traced back to the 1960s. On...

Ned Richardson-Little, "The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany (Cambridge UP, 2020), Ned Richardson-Little exposes t...

Peter Harmsen, "Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze" (Casemate, 2015)

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Harmsen's book Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze (Casemate, 2015) describes one of the great forgotten battles of the 20th century. At...

Michael Kimmage, "Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability" (Oxford UP, 2024)

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One war, three collisions: Russia with Ukraine, Europe, and the US. On the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Michael Kimmage analyses th...

The Future of the Chinese Military: A Discussion with James A. Siebens

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For all the talk of China being a peaceful country with no aggressive intentions, it has behaved like most other rising powers – spending lots of mo...

Ricky W. Law, "Transnational Nazism: Ideology and Culture in German Japanese Relations, 1919-1936" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In his new book, Transnational Nazism: Ideology and Culture in German Japanese Relations, 1919-1936 (Cambridge University Press, 2019), associate prof...

Vytautas Jankauskas and Steffen Eckhard, "The Politics of Evaluation in International Organizations" (Oxford UP, 2023)

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Evaluation has become a key tool in assessing the performance of international organisations, in fostering learning, and in demonstrating accountabili...

Tobias Straumann, "1931: Debt, Crisis, and the Rise of Hitler" (Oxford UP, 2019)

17 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What can we learn from the financial crisis that brought Hitler to power? How did diplomatic deadlock fuel the rise of authoritarianism? Tobias Straum...

Ian Saxine, "Properties of Empire: Indians, Colonists, and Land Speculators on the New England Frontier" (NYU Press, 2019)

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Properties of Empire: Indians, Colonists, and Land Speculators on the New England Frontier (NYU Press, 2019), Ian Saxine, Visiting Assistant Profes...

Rachel Applebaum, "Empire of Friends: Soviet Power and Socialist Internationalism in Cold War Czechoslovakia" (Cornell UP, 2019)

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The familiar story of Soviet power in Cold War Eastern Europe focuses on political repression and military force. But in Empire of Friends: Soviet Po...

How to Stage a Coup and Ten Other Lessons from the World of Secret Statecraft

14 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do states engage in secret statecraft and covert action? How different are these secret and covert state activities in real world settings compare...

"War is what you make of it" with Neta Crawford of Oxford University and the Costs of War Project

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Co...

Daniel Immerwahr, "How to Hide an Empire: The History of the Greater United States" (FSG, 2019)

11 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

“Is America an Empire?” is a popular question for pundits and historians, likely because it sets off such a provocative debate. All too often, how...

Timothy A. Sayle, "Enduring Alliance: A History of NATO and the Postwar Global Order" (Cornell UP, 2019)

11 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization regularly appears in newspapers and political science scholarship. Surprisingly, historians have yet to devote ...

Ana Lucia Araujo, "The Gift: How Objects of Prestige Shaped the Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

11 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Gift: How Objects of Prestige Shaped the Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism (Cambridge University Press, 2023) explores how objects of presti...

Klaus Schmider, "Hitler's Fatal Miscalculation: Why Germany Declared War on the United States" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hitler's decision to declare war on the United States has baffled generations of historians. In this revisionist new history of those fateful months, ...

Wendy Cheng, "Island X: Taiwanese Student Migrants, Campus Spies, and Cold War Activism" (U Washington Press, 2023)

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode, which is co-hosted with Tandee Wang, features a conversation with Dr. Wendy Cheng, author of Island X: Taiwanese Student Migrants, Camp...

Matthew Kruer, "Time of Anarchy: Indigenous Power and the Crisis of Colonialism in Early America" (Harvard UP, 2021)

07 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A gripping account of the violence and turmoil that engulfed England’s fledgling colonies and the crucial role played by Native Americans in determi...

Beatrice Heuser, "War: A Genealogy of Western Ideas and Practices" (Oxford UP, 2022)

03 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

War is often thought of mainly the concern of professional soldiers and maybe politicians as well. However, philosophers and theorists of varying type...

Kiribati in the Chinese Pacific: A Discussion with Rodolfo Maggio

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is Kiribati in the American lake, Indo-Pacific or Chinese Pacific? In this Episode, Julie Yu-Wen Chen talks to Rodolfo Maggio, a senior researcher at ...

Erin R. Graham, "Transforming International Institutions: How Money Quietly Sidelined Multilateralism at the United Nations" (Oxford UP, 2023)

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Drawing on historical institutionalism and interpretive tools of international law, Transforming International Institutions: How Money Quietly Sideli...

Anna Reid, "A Nasty Little War: The West's Fight to Reverse the Russian Revolution" (Basic Books, 2024)

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In A Nasty Little War: The Western Fight to Reverse the Russian Revolution (Basic Books, 2024), award-winning reporter Anna Reid tells the extraordi...

Adrian Goldsworthy, "Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry" (Basic Books, 2023)

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For almost seven centuries, two powers dominated the region we now call the Middle East: Rome and Persia. From the west: The Roman Republic, later the...

Simon Shuster, "The Showman: The Inside Story of the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky" (William Morrow, 2024)

20 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since Simon Shuster's November 2023 Time cover story ("Nobody believes in our victory like I do - Nobody"), anyone with an interest in the war in Ukra...

Democracy, Great Powers, and the Russia-Ukraine War. A Discussion with Stefan Wolff

17 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How helpful is the democracy-authoritarianism binary when it comes to our understanding of contemporary conflict? What is the state of the Russia-Ukra...

Uri Kaufman, "Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East" (St. Martin's Press, 2023)

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

October 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a conflict that shaped the modern Middle East. The War was a trauma for Israel, a dange...

Jeffrey A. Friedman, "The Commander-in-Chief Test: Public Opinion and the Politics of Image-Making in US Foreign Policy" (Cornell UP, 2023)

14 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Americans frequently criticize US foreign policy for being overly costly and excessively militaristic. With its rising defense budgets and open-ended ...

Matthew Romaniello, "Enterprising Empires: Russia and Britain in Eighteenth-Century Eurasia" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In his new book Enterprising Empires: Russia and Britain in Eighteenth-Century Eurasia (Cambridge University Press), Matthew Romaniello examines the w...

Yaroslav Trofimov, "Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence" (Penguin, 2023)

09 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since February 2022, a string of books have been published about the war in Ukraine but, for the most part, these have been histories and political st...

Jonathan Scott, "How the Old World Ended: The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution, 1500-1800" (Yale UP, 2019)

31 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Scott is one of the most original interpreters of the early modern world. How the Old World Ended: The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution, 1500-...

Elena Schneider, "The Occupation of Havana: War, Trade and Slavery in the Atlantic World" (UNC Press, 2018)

27 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Histories of the British occupation of Havana in 1762 have focused on imperial rivalries and the actions and decisions of European planters, colonial ...

Julia F. Irwin, "Catastrophic Diplomacy: US Foreign Disaster Assistance in the American Century" (UNC Press, 2023)

27 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Catastrophic Diplomacy: US Foreign Disaster Assistance in the American Century (UNC Press, 2023) offers a sweeping history of US foreign disaster ass...

Marixa Lasso, "Erased: The Untold Story of the Panama Canal" (Harvard UP, 2019)

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many of our presumptions about the Panama Canal Zone are wrong; it was not carved out of uninhabited jungle, the creation of Lake Gatún did not flood...

Thomas A. Schwartz, "Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography" (Hill and Wang, 2020)

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past six decades, Henry Kissinger has been America's most consistently praised--and reviled--public figure. He was hailed as a "miracle worke...

Jeremy Yellen, "The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War" (Cornell UP, 2019)

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Yellen’s The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War (Cornell University Press, 2019) is a challenging transn...

Ilkay Yilmaz, "Ottoman Passports: Security and Geographic Mobility, 1876-1908" (Syracuse UP, 2023)

24 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In Ottoman Passports: Security and Geographic Mobility, 1876-1908 (Syracuse University Press, 2023), İlkay Yılmaz reconsiders the history of two ...

Huw Bennett, "Uncivil War: The British Army and the Troubles, 1966–1975" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Huw Bennett is a Reader in International Relations at Cardiff Unviersity. He specializes in strategic studies, the history of war, and intelligence st...

Philip Snow, "China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord" (Yale UP, 2023)

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Russia and China, the largest and most populous countries in the world, respectively, have maintained a delicate relationship for four centuries. In a...

Tom Buitelaar, "Assisting International Justice: Cooperation Between UN Peace Operations and the International Criminal Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo" (Oxford UP, 2023)

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Although the International Criminal Court (ICC) - as the only permanent international court that addresses crimes against humanity, genocide, and war ...

Randall Hansen, "War, Work, and Want: How the OPEC Oil Crisis Caused Mass Migration and Revolution" (Oxford UP, 2023)

16 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The oil shock of 1973 changed everything. It brought the golden age of American and European economic growth to an end; it destabilized Middle Eastern...

Gary J. Bass, "Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia" (Knopf, 2023)

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia (Knopf, 2023), a book ten years in the making, is the definitive account of t...

Louis-Alexandre Berg, "Governing Security After War: The Politics of Institutional Change in the Security Sector" (Oxford UP, 2022)

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Security assistance has become the largest component of international peacebuilding and stabilisation efforts, and a primary tool for responding to ci...

Have We Entered a New Era of African Politics and International Relations?

13 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is the recent resurgence of military coups reshaping politics in sub-Saharan Africa? Is faith in multiparty elections waning among citizens? And how d...

Michael W. Doyle, "Cold Peace: Avoiding the New Cold War" (Liveright, 2023)

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Michael W. Doyle's book Cold Peace: Avoiding the New Cold War (Liveright, 2023) offers an urgent examination of the world barreling toward a new Co...

Amy Matthewson, "Cartooning China: Punch, Power, & Politics in the Victorian Era" (Routledge, 2022)

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Amy Matthewson's Cartooning China: Punch, Power, & Politics in the Victorian Era (Routledge, 2022) explores the series of cartoons of China and...

Afsar Mohammad, "Remaking History: 1948 Police Action and the Muslims of Hyderabad" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The story Afsar Mohammad's book Remaking History: 1948 Police Action and the Muslims of Hyderabad (Cambridge UP, 2023) follows begins on August 15, ...

Ibrahim Fraihat and Isak Svensson, "Conflict Mediation in the Arab World" (Syracuse UP, 2023)

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Isak Svensson (editor) and Laurie Nathan (contributor) about Conflict Mediation in the Arab World (Syracuse UP, 2023), a very im...

Robert B. Rakove, "Days of Opportunity: The United States and Afghanistan Before the Soviet Invasion" (Columbia UP, 2023)

03 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Long before the 1979 Soviet invasion, the United States was closely concerned with Afghanistan. For much of the twentieth century, American diplomats,...

On “Henry Kissinger and His World” with author Barry Gewen

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In my talk with Barry Gewen on his 2020 book, The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World (W. W. Norton, 2020), we explore the disp...

Sandra Destradi, "Reluctance in World Politics: Why States Fail to Act Decisively" (Bristol UP, 2023)

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why do international actors, including powerful states, often fail to develop clear foreign policies and instead adopt indecisive, ‘muddling-through...

D. L. d'Avray, "The Power of Protocol: Diplomatics and the Dynamics of Papal Government, c. 400-c.1600" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Power of Protocol: Diplomatics and the Dynamics of Papal Government, c. 400 – c.1600 (Cambridge University Press, 2023) by Dr. David d’Avray ...

Charles S. Maier, "The Project-State and Its Rivals: A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries" (Harvard UP, 2023)

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We thought we knew the story of the twentieth century. For many in the West, after the two world conflicts and the long cold war, the verdict was clea...

Henrietta Harrison, "The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators Between Qing China and the British Empire" (Princeton UP, 2021)

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators Between Qing China and the British Empire (Princeton UP, 2021) is a fascinati...

Brian D. Blankenship, "The Burden-Sharing Dilemma: Coercive Diplomacy in US Alliance Politics" (Cornell UP, 2023)

26 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Burden-Sharing Dilemma: Coercive Diplomacy in US Alliance Politics (Cornell UP, 2023) examines the conditions under which the United States is wi...

Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel, "Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States" (Polity, 2023)

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Russia and Ukraine have alternative histories and alternative destinies. After the Soviet Union collapsed - depending on who you spoke to – they wer...

The Idea of "Central Europe" from Naumann to Kundera

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Central Europe has long been infamous as a region beset by war, a place where empires clashed and world wars began. In The Middle Kingdoms: A New Hi...

Jenny Benham, "International Law in Europe, 700–1200" (Manchester UP, 2022)

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Was there international law in the Middle Ages? Using treaties as its main source, International Law in Europe, 700-1200 (Manchester University Pres...

Andrew Monaghan and Richard Connolly. "The Sea in Russian Strategy" (Manchester UP, 2023)

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The common perception of Russia's status as a great power is often portrayed as being based largely on land power. Being the largest country in the wo...

Providence and Power: Rabbi Meir Soloveichik on Jewish Statesmanship from King David to David Ben Gurion

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For thousands of years, the Jewish people lacked a political state; yet, what can we say about the Jewish tradition of statesmanship? What makes it di...

Marika Sosnowski, "Redefining Ceasefires: Wartime Order and Statebuilding in Syria" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Since 2012, ceasefires have been used in Syria to halt violence and facilitate peace agreements. However, in Redefining Ceasefires: Wartime Order and...

The US State Department and Ever-Changing Global Politics

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey interviews Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Bill Russo. Ass...

Antonis Klapsis et al., "The Greek Junta and the International System: A Case Study of Southern European Dictatorships, 1967-74" (Routledge, 2020)

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Greek Junta and the International System: A Case Study of Southern European Dictatorships, 1967-74 (Routledge, 2020) examines the international d...

Thomas Blake Earle, "The Liberty to Take Fish: Atlantic Fisheries and Federal Power in Nineteenth-Century America" (Cornell UP, 2023)

19 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In The Liberty to Take Fish: Atlantic Fisheries and Federal Power in Nineteenth-Century America (Cornell University Press, 2023), Dr. Thomas Blake E...

Bálint Madlovics and Bálint Magyar, "The Russia-Ukraine War, Volumes 1-2" (CEU Press, 2023)

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the CEU Press Podcast Series, host Bálint Madlovics sat down for a fascinating discussion on the impact of the war on Ukraine’s ...

The Future of World Disorder: A Discussion with Peter R. Neumann

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do confusions in the West threaten a new world disorder? It’s a question asked by Professor Peter R. Neumann of Kings College, London. He is the aut...

Natasha Wheatley, "The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty" (Princeton UP, 2023)

12 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Natasha Wheatley is an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University. Her bold and riveting debut monograph, The Life and Death of States: C...

Daniel Macfarlane, "Natural Allies: Environment, Energy, and the History of US-Canada Relations" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2023)

11 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

No two nations have exchanged natural resources, produced transborder environmental agreements, or cooperatively altered ecosystems on the same scale ...

Steven Simon, "Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East" (Penguin, 2023)

11 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A longtime American foreign policy insider’s penetrating and definitive reckoning with this country’s involvement in the Middle East The culminati...

Jieh-min Wu, "Rival Partners: How Taiwanese Entrepreneurs and Guangdong Officials Forged the China Development Model" (Harvard UP, 2022)

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Taiwan has been depicted as an island facing the incessant threat of forcible unification with the People’s Republic of China. Why, then, has Taiwan...

Malcolm D. Evans, "Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice" (Bristol UP, 2023)

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tac...

Hamas, Iran and Israel: The Perils of Overreaction

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of International Horizons, Colin Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Center, discusses the possible trajectories of the Israel...

Peter Layton, "Grand Strategy" (2018)

04 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With the revival of great power competition in international relations, the term "grand strategy" has also encountered a considerable revival from its...

Eleonora Mattiacci, "Volatile States in International Politics" (Oxford UP, 2022)

03 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An in-depth account of why countries' treacherous foreign policies often have harmless origins, how this predicament shapes international politics, an...

Norman Solomon, "War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine" (New Press, 2023)

28 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More than twenty years ago, 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan set into motion a hugely consequential shift in America’s foreign policy: a perpetual st...

Luke Moffett, "Reparations and War: Finding Balance in Repairing the Past" (Oxford UP, 2023)

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For thousands of years, reparations have been used to secure the end of war and to alleviate its deleterious consequences. While human rights law esta...

Itamar Rabinovich, "Middle Eastern Maze: Israel, the Arabs and the Region" (Brookings Institution Press, 2023)

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Navigating through the intricate web of Middle Eastern geopolitics, few are better equipped to provide insights than Itamar Rabinovich in his compelli...

From the Invention of the Passport to the Golden Passport

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey interviews Kristin Surak, professor at the London School of Economics, about her n...

Sparta, Athens, Ukraine, Israel: A Conversation with Paul Rahe on Proxy Wars

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Proxy wars like those in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine have played major roles in military history. Historian Paul Rahe takes us back to one o...

Michael Welsh, "Big Bend National Park: Mexico, the United States, and a Borderland Ecosystem" (U Nevada Press, 2021)

22 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

National Parks are sites where politics, cultures, and ecology converge. University of Northern Colorado historian Michael Welsh argues that, at Big B...

Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" (Vintage, 2006)

21 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s major motion picture, Oppenheimer, this Pulitzer Prize-winning biography explores the life and times of J. ...

Shellen Xiao Wu, "Birth of the Geopolitical Age: Global Frontiers and the Making of Modern China" (Stanford UP, 2023)

20 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From the 1850s until the mid-twentieth century, a period marked by global conflicts and anxiety about dwindling resources and closing opportunities af...

Cleric, Cadre, Businessman: China’s Development Strategy in Sri Lanka

20 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What does Buddhism have to do with harbors? Find out how China is leveraging religion in its foreign policy and why it is a vital part of China's soft...

Allison M. Prasch, "The World Is Our Stage: The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Allison M. Prasch, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has a new book that focuses on the w...

Javier Garcia Oliva and Helen Hall, "Constitutional Culture, Independence, and Rights: Insights from Quebec, Scotland, and Catalonia" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In Constitutional Culture, Independence, and Rights: Insights from Quebec, Scotland, and Catalonia (University of Toronto Press, 2023), Dr. Javier G...

Tom Gallagher, "Europe's Leadership Famine: Portraits of Defiance and Decay 1950-2022" (Scotview, 2023)

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Tom Gallagher about his new book Europe's Leadership Famine: Portraits of Defiance and Decay 1950-2022 (Scotview, 2023). Represe...

James J. A. Blair, "Salvaging Empire: Sovereignty, Natural Resources, and Environmental Science in the South Atlantic" (Cornell UP, 2023)

13 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Salvaging Empire: Sovereignty, Natural Resources, and Environmental Science in the South Atlantic (Cornell University Press, 2023) by Dr. James J. A....

Lucy Fulford, "The Exiled: Empire, Immigration and the Ugandan Asian Exodus" (Coronet, 2023)

13 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Uganda, August 1972. President Idi Amin makes a shocking pronouncement – the country’s South Asian population is being expelled. They have ninety ...