A New Age of Danger
With Eliot on the road again Eric hosts Andrew Hoehn, Senior VP and Director of Research at the RAND Corporation, and Thom Shanker (formerly New York Times national security reporter and editor) Director of the Project for Media and National Security at George Washington University. The authors of Age of Danger: Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats (Ne...
56m Jun 15, 2023
56m
Escalation, Deterrence, and Leadership
Eric and Eliot welcome back friend of the show Kori Schake, the Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and a veteran of government service at the White House, Defense Department and State Department (where she served as Deputy Director of Policy Planning). They discuss Kori's recent visit to Ukraine, the Biden Administration's management of escalatio...
57m Jun 08, 2023
57m
Memorial Day, Election Day, and a Birthday
Eric and Eliot share reflections on Memorial Day (and the proper way to observe it), analyze the Turkish election results and Turkey's future course as a regional power, discuss the rise of religious authoritarianism and populism around the globe, and mark Henry Kissinger's one hundredth birthday with a discussion of his complex and complicated legacy as a statesman. Shield of the Republic is ...
53m Jun 01, 2023
53m
Eliot Cohen: Foreign Correspondent
Eric and Eliot mark the latter’s return from his European travels with dark musings about why they have not yet been sanctioned by the Russian government. They also discuss Finland’s adaptation to NATO membership, the differing perspectives of the Nordic and Baltic states, whether or not the neutrality of the “global south” in the Russo-Ukraine war is consequential, and Ukraine’s post-Bakhmut p...
54m May 25, 2023
54m
The October Farce
Will Inboden, the Executive Director of the William Clements Center for National Security and Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Texas Austin (and editor of the Texas National Security Review) joins Eric to discuss the alleged "October Surprise" in 1980 -- the long bruited charge that Reagan campaign manager Bill Casey colluded with Iranian intermediaries to forestall th...
48m May 18, 2023
48m
The Next Phase of War
While Eliot is still in Europe, Eric welcomes former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (1998-2000) Stephen Pifer to the show. Steve is affiliated with the Stanford Center on International Security and Cooperation and is a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has served at the US Embassies in Warsaw, Moscow and London, was senior director at the NSC and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Sta...
44m May 15, 2023
44m
Potential for Regime Change in Ankara
A solo Eric welcomes Gönül Tol, the founding Director of the Turkey Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC to discuss her new book, Erdogan's War: A Strongman's Struggle at Home and in Syria, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023) and her perspective on the upcoming Turkish elections on May 14. They discuss the complex inter-relationship between Erdogan's foreign policy and hi...
59m May 04, 2023
59m
Piecing Together Russia's Road to War
With Eliot traveling for both business and family celebrations, Eric hosts historian, journalist and novelist Owen Matthews whose new book, Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia's War Against Ukraine, has just been published in the US by Harper Collins. Owen has been a journalist with The Moscow Times and served as the Newsweek Bureau Chief in Moscow and Istanbul. He is author of seve...
1hr Apr 27, 2023
1hr
It's Our Country, We Want it Back
While Eliot is on travel Eric welcomes LTG Sami Sadat whose poignant op-ed in the New York Times in August 2021 about the fall of Afghanistan described his personal feelings of betrayal by the US. He is a major figure in the National Geographic documentary Retrograde now airing on Disney+. They discuss the Biden Administration's recent "Interim Report on Lessons Learned from the Afghanistan Wit...
48m Apr 21, 2023
48m
The Drivers of Illiberalism
Eliot and Eric welcome Francis Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). One of America's most distinguished public intellectuals he is the author of several books including the End of History and the Last Man and, more recently, Liberalism and its Discontents. They discuss the impact of the war on Ukraine on...
59m Apr 13, 2023
59m
They Weren't Stupid and They Weren't Criminals
Eric and Eliot host Melvyn P. Leffler, the Edward Stettinius Professor of History at the University of Virginia to discuss his new book, Confronting Saddam: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq. Mel describes why he decided to write the book and his findings that Bush rather than a cabal of neoconservatives was that key decision maker and that he adopted a strategy of coercive diplomacy to d...
1hr 6m Apr 07, 2023
1hr 6m
Presidential Transitions & the Freedom Agenda
Eliot and Eric welcome back Duke Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Director of the Program on American Grand Strategy, Peter Feaver, pinch-hitting for Meghan O'Sullivan (whose illness prevented her from joining us) to discuss Hand Off, a book that Peter and Meghan (along with SOTR guest Will Inboden) edited consisting of all the Bush 43 Administration's NSC transition memos p...
59m Mar 31, 2023
59m
The Endgame in Afghanistan & Christian Nationalism
Eric flies solo in this episode (while Eliot is traveling in Europe) and hosts guest Paul D. Miller, Professor of Practice in International Affairs at Georgetown University and former NSC Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Bush 43 Administration. They discuss the recent Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report on the collapse of the Afghan National Defen...
51m Mar 23, 2023
51m
The Russo-Ukrainian Race For Adaptability Under Fire
Eliot and Eric welcome retired Australian Major General Mick Ryan, author of The Future of Warfare, Futura Doctrina newsletter on Substack, and former head of the Australian War College. They discuss the ongoing fighting around Bakhmut, the prospects for both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries respectively in the weeks and months ahead, how this conflict might end, and the utility of science ...
48m Mar 09, 2023
48m
Both Victory and Security Guarantee for Ukraine
Eliot and Eric chew over the developments in Ukraine. They consider divisions within and among West European governments, the question of what defeat of Russia and victory for Ukraine means in practical terms, the lingering overestimation of Russian possibilities and underestimation of Ukrainian potential on the battlefield, and the potential role of China providing lethal aid to Russia. They c...
56m Mar 02, 2023
56m
The Missing Element
Eric and Eliot are joined by former New York Times reporter and editor Philip Taubman, current lecturer at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation, and the author of In The Nation's Service: The Life and Times of George P. Shultz (Stanford University Press, 2023). They discuss the character of George Shultz, his role in executing the Reagan Administration's strat...
59m Feb 23, 2023
59m
Erdoğan’s Earthquake
Eliot and Eric host Henri Barkey, the Bernard and Betha Cohen Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University and adjunct fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. They discuss Henri's recent article on Turkey's forthcoming election, the nature of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarianism, the impact of the recent earthquake on Erdogan's standing with the Turki...
1hr 10m Feb 17, 2023
1hr 10m
The Looming Balloon Gap
Eric and Eliot are on their own. They talk about Ukraine, the China Balloon episode, and developments in Turkey and whether or not that relationship is a harbinger of a new day in U.S multilateralism. They ask if the U.S. find new mechanisms like AUKUS to supplement its bilateral relationships in the Indo-Pacific and will it resort to "mini-lateralism" in Europe with countries in the East who a...
48m Feb 10, 2023
48m
Neglect of Responsibility
Eliot and Eric host Robert W. Kagan, the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Of Paradise and Power, The Return of History, The World America Made, and The Jungle Grows Back to discuss his new book The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941. They discuss the irresponsibility of American policy making after World Wa...
1hr 6m Feb 03, 2023
1hr 6m
Losing Sleep Over Germany
Eliot and Eric welcome Constanze Stelzenmuller, the Director of the Center on the United States and Europe and the Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and Transatlantic Relations at the Brookings Institution. They discuss the current row over Germany providing Leopard Tanks to Ukraine, the political constraints on German Chancellor Olof Scholz, the role of Cold War ostpolitik on contemporary policy de...
1hr 2m Jan 27, 2023
1hr 2m
Superpowered Arms
Eric and Eliot welcome John Maurer, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies at Air University in Alabama and author of Competitive Arms Control, Nixon, Kissinger and SALT, 1969-1972 (Yale University Press, 2022). They discuss the competitive and cooperative approaches to arms control, interagency deliberations and conflicts in the Nixon Adminis...
51m Jan 19, 2023
51m
The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy (with Michael Mandelbaum)
Eric and Eliot welcome their SAIS colleague Michael Mandelbaum to talk about his recent book, The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy. Among other topics, they discuss realism and idealism in U.S. policy, the historical origins of American policymakers’ traditional reliance on the economic instruments of national power, the prospects for U.S. policy towards Russia-Ukraine, China, and Iran, bas...
59m Jan 13, 2023
59m
Divided They Stood
Eliot and Eric welcome the husband and wife team of Peter Baker of New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker to discuss their new book, The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2022. They discuss the chronic dysfunction of the Donald Trump national security team, the relationships among James Mattis, H.R. Master, John Kelly, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and other senior officials, Trum...
59m Jan 06, 2023
59m
A Good Year For Authoritarians?
Eliot and Eric look forward to the holidays and review the last year. They talk about the historical significance of the war in Ukraine, the current situation, and possible outcomes. They discuss whether or not this has been a good year for authoritarians around the world and review the situation in China, the prospects for U.S.-China relations (specifically concerning Taiwan), and the popular ...
59m Dec 23, 2022
59m
Reagan's Peace
Eric and Eliot welcome William Inboden to discuss his new book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War and the World on the Brink. They discuss the existing historical literature on Reagan's Presidency and foreign policy, this new book's contribution to the literature, the complexity of the world that Reagan and his colleagues faced in the 1980's, the role of individuals like Secretaries o...
50m Dec 09, 2022
50m
The World Order
Eric and Eliot welcome Georgetown Professor Emeritus Robert Lieber to discuss his new book, Indispensable Nation. They discuss the nature of the "rules-based" international order, the unique role that U.S. policy plays in sustaining the order, the true disruptive challenges to the order, the nature of political opposition to a robust U.S. foreign policy, political "realism" and its flaws, as we...
45m Nov 23, 2022
45m
Revolution
Eric and Eliot welcome Council on Foreign Relations Fellow Ray Takeyh to discuss the ongoing popular uprising in Iran. They talk about Ray’s article on Iran’s next revolution in the current issue of Commentary, the state of play in the protests, the weaknesses of the regime, comparisons between the 1979 Revolution, the 2009 election protests, and the current situation. Along with political diss...
1hr 1m Nov 10, 2022
1hr 1m
Civilian Control
Eric and Eliot welcome Duke University professor, Peter Feaver, to discuss the state of civil-military relations, the recent statement on the subject by former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretaries of Defense, the damage done to civil-military relations under Trump, and how to repair the damage. They also discuss with Peter, who drafted the 2006 National Security Strategy docume...
58m Oct 27, 2022
58m
Happy Birthday Mr. Dictator
Eric and Eliot discuss Ukraine’s birthday gift to Vladimir Putin, likely Russian responses, and Eliot’s Atlantic article on Putin’s nuclear threats. Eric eats his words about Liz Truss, and they discuss the relative merits of Nero Wolfe and Daniel Silva for escapist reading. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virg...
49m Oct 13, 2022
49m
The Liz Truss Buttress
Eric welcomes Eliot back from his sojourn in Poland and Ukraine. They discuss U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss’s early appointments on national security and the review of Britain’s defense policy she has ordered, Biden’s appointment of a new Ambassador to Russia, Eliot’s impressions of Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky. They also analyze Vladimir Putin’s speech and mobilization order and discuss Eric...
51m Sep 29, 2022
51m
Why Russia's Military Got Ukraine So Wrong
Eric and Eliot discuss what they have been writing lately (links below), the situation in Ukraine, the reasons for why Russia analysts got things wrong while military historians got them right, prospects for a renewed Iran nuclear agreement, and whether or not the the United States can handle two near peer adversaries at the same time. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by...
59m Sep 13, 2022
59m
Imperial Russia, Past and Present (with John Herbst)
Eric welcomes back Eliot from travels and illness to host John Herbst who was the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine during the Orange Revolution. They discuss Russia’s imperial past and present, the Biden Administration’s 3 billion dollar military assistance package, the course of the war, the assassination of Darya Dugina, and the prospects for diplomacy and grade the Administration’s efforts to mana...
53m Aug 27, 2022
53m
Peak China and the Lessons of the Cold War (with Hal Brands and Michael Beckley)
While Eliot is away on vacation, Eric hosts authors Hal Brands and Michael Beckley whose new book, Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, drops next week. They discuss the concept of "peak China," why conflict with China may be coming sooner than we think, and what lessons for strategic competition with China we can learn from the U.S.-Soviet Cold War experience, and they evaluate the Bid...
48m Aug 11, 2022
48m
Did America Get China Wrong? (with Professor Aaron Friedberg)
Eric and Eliot host long time friend and colleague Professor Aaron Friedberg of Princeton to discuss Aaron’s new book Getting China Wrong. They cover why we have persistently underestimated China’s rise as a revisionist power, the failures of the West’s “engagement” strategy, the elements of a different approach to China, dividing Russia and China, and the sorry state of academic political scie...
1hr 5m Jul 29, 2022
1hr 5m
High Stakes in Ukraine (with Bill Kristol and Daniel Fried)
Eric and special guest host Bill Kristol discuss the war in Ukraine with former Ambassador to Poland and former Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried. They assess the military situation, the economic dimension of the conflict, what more can be done on sanctions, the prospects for European unity, and the danger of Putin deploying nuclear weapons to Belarus and the stakes...
51m Jul 15, 2022
51m
Wearing Russian Sanctions like a Badge of Honor (with David Kramer)
Eric and Eliot return with special guest David Kramer, the Managing Director of Global Policy at the George W. Bush Institute and former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and who incidentally has just been sanctioned by the Russian government (wear it as a badge of honor David!). They discuss the status of the war in Ukraine, the nature of the Russian regime, ...
48m Jun 30, 2022
48m
Hiatus
Eric and Eliot will be taking a short hiatus to travel. In the meantime, please send us your feedback and suggestions at shieldoftherepublic@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
1m Jun 10, 2022
1m
Putin's War and European Politics (with Nick Cohen)
Eric and Eliot welcome Guardian columnist and Spectator blogger Nick Cohen (no relation to Eliot) and author of the several books including What's Left? They discuss the impact of Putin's war on Ukraine on European politics, the role of anti-Communism and anti-Fascism in post-war Europe, the transformation of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer, why Russian money in London was unable to purchas...
55m May 23, 2022
55m
The War's Decisive Moment
Eric and Eliot dissect the war in Ukraine and discuss Eliot's articles in the Atlantic and Foreign Affairs. What is the new phase of the war? Are Russian forces exhausted, what is their strategy? How will the Ukrainians counter? Is the Biden package enough? Eliot asks Eric about the lessons of Ukraine for other parts of the world and his Bulwark article on ending the policy of strategic ambigui...
47m May 04, 2022
47m
Security in the Indo-Pacific (with Charlie Edel)
Eliot and Eric welcome Charlie Edel, Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to discuss security in the Indo-Pacific, the role of Australia, the AUKUS partnership, John Quincy Adams and U.S. foreign policy—do the "restrainers" read Adams correctly?—and the role of literature in understanding history. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the ...
54m Apr 28, 2022
54m
War, Myth-making, and Democracy (with Elizabeth Samet)
Eliot and Eric host Professor Elizabeth Samet of the US Military Academy to discuss her new book Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness. They examine the role of mythology in justifying US military action. Was World War II the "Good War" and was the "Greatest Generation" different from subsequent generations of Americans caught up in fighting the nation'...
50m Apr 12, 2022
50m
The Ancients Illuminate Modern Statecraft (with Barry Strauss)
Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Eliot and Eric talk with ancient historian extraordinaire Barry Strauss. They discuss his new book on Antony, Cleopatra, Octavian, and the Battle of Actium which served as the foundation of the Roman Empire. They discuss what a study of the ancients can tell us about st...
43m Mar 31, 2022
43m
Why can’t we admit that Ukraine is winning?
Eric and Eliot consider the first month of Russia-Ukraine War and Eliot's Atlantic article on why it has been so hard for some observers to admit that Ukraine is winning. They also talk about how the Russian military's failures to achieve its objectives might lead to stalemate, and how we should think about the risks of escalation and what is a theory of victory. Shield of the Republic is co-sp...
43m Mar 24, 2022
43m
Zelensky, Churchill, Reagan (with Andrew Roberts)
Eric and Eliot host British author and historian Andrew Roberts and discuss his revisionist account of King George III and how a good man was nonetheless the monarch under whom the American colonies were lost. They discuss his new podcast Secrets of Statecraft, the most important characteristics of leadership in wartime, and the role Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is playing today and i...
47m Mar 17, 2022
47m
Joe Biden, War President (with Kori Schake)
Eric and Eliot host Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute. They discuss civil-military relations, Joe Biden as a war President, the struggle over foreign policy in the GOP, and the impact of the war in Ukraine on the trajectory of U.S. national security policy. All three endorse a trillion dollar defense budget. Shield of the Republic is co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Af...
46m Mar 03, 2022
46m
Russia As a Pariah State
Eric and Eliot discuss Putin's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, what Eliot heard at the Munich Security Conference and in Poland last week, as well as what the West's theory of victory should be in the conflict over Ukraine, and how should the U.S. and the West more broadly should treat Russia now that it has become a pariah state. Shield of the Republic is co-sponsored by the Miller ...
46m Feb 25, 2022
46m
Neo-Maosim in China (with Jude Blanchette)
Eliot and Eric host CSIS's Jude Blanchette to discuss Neo-Maosim in China, the impact of Xi Jinping's personalistic authoritarianism on China's domestic and foreign policy, the Xi-Putin joint statement last week, and prospects for Sino-Russian relations, as well as Chinese science fiction and what it might tell us about Chinese society. Shield of the Republic is co-sponsored by the Miller Cente...
45m Feb 15, 2022
45m
Secret Origin Story
Eliot returns from travels to discuss the secret origin story of the Shield of the Republic podcast, a review of the Biden administration's national security policy in its first year, the difficulties that the President has faced in articulating a foreign policy, the deficiencies of his national security apparatus, the impact of the catastrophic departure from Afghanistan, the AUKUS decision, a...
54m Feb 02, 2022
54m
Heeding the Lessons of the Cold War (with Hal Brands & Bill Kristol)
Mystery guest host (Bill Kristol) joins Eric for a discussion with Johns Hopkins SAIS Professor Hal Brands about his new book the Twilight Struggle. They discuss the lessons of America's cold war strategic competition with the USSR for today's era of strategic competition with China and Russia—the role of strategy, economic competition, political warfare, and more. Shield of the Republic is c...
50m Jan 20, 2022
50m
Why the Bad Guys are Winning (with Anne Applebaum)
Historian, journalist, and essayist Anne Applebaum joins Eric and Eliot from Poland. They discuss Vladimir Putin's grand strategy, the conflict between democracy and authoritarianism, why the "bad guys are winning," as well as the state of American democracy and the January 6 insurrection. We hope all our listeners had a safe, healthy and happy holiday season and a happy new year. Shield of t...
48m Jan 04, 2022
48m