Horns of a Dilemma

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, we listen in on a talk given by Ambassador Dennis Ross, former special envoy to the middle east peace process. Ambassador Ross discusses his new book, “Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel’s Most Important Leaders Shaped its Destiny,” in which he describes four Israeli leaders who he asserts made decisions for the good of the state rather than their own political benefit. He discusses this in the broader context of the Israeli-Palestinian peace...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Alan McPherson, the Thomas J. Freany Jr. Professor of History and director of the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy of Temple University, comes to the University of Texas to talk about his book, Ghosts of Sheridan Circle. McPherson discusses the September 1976 car bomb assassination of the former Chilean ambassador to the United States Orlando Letelier, and human right activist Ronni Moffitt, at Sheridan Circle in Washington, D.C. Agents of...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, John Gans, director of communications and research at Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania, gives a talk at the University of Texas at Austin to discusses his book, White House Warriors: How the National Security Council Transformed the American Way of War. In this talk, Gans focuses on the career and the accomplishments of a single NSC staffer, who ultimately perished during his duties in Bosnia. He uses the story of Nelson Drew as a...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Amanda Sloat, a Robert Bosch senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, talks about Brexit. Sloat details the path of how Britain got to this point, as well as the number of efforts on the part of Theresa May and Boris Johnson to find a solution that would be amenable both to the British Parliament and to the European Union. Her insights help to understand both the long-term implications of Brexit, as well...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Aaron O’Connell, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, and Paul Edgar, associate director of the Clements Center for National Security, moderate a conversation with retired Gen. Robert Neller, the 37 Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. During the discussion, Neller focuses on the future of the Marines, the future of war, and vital threats to American national interests. This talk took place at the University of...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archives Centre and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, comes to the University of Texas to discuss his book, How Churchill Waged War: The Most Challenging Decision of the Second World War. Packwood explores issues that are lesser known than Churchill’s famous oratorical skills, such as how he organized for success in dealing with the unique challenges that confronted him as he assumed the premiership, how...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Will Inboden, executive director of the Clements Center, sits down with a panel of experts to discuss the origins and possible outcomes of the Brexit referendum. Will is joined by Michael Mosser, assistant professor of international relations and global studies at the University of Texas at Austin, Lorinc Redei, lecturer and graduate adviser for the Global Policy Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin, and Amanda Sloat, a Robert Bosch...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Charlie Laderman, lecturer in international history at the War Studies Department at King's College, discusses his book Sharing the Burden: The Armenian Question, Humanitarian Intervention, and Anglo-American Visions of Global Order. Laderman talks about the mass killing and death of Armenians during the period that preceded and shortly followed the independence of the Turkish Republic. The subject of this episode focuses on the question of how this...

In this episode of Horns of Dilemma, Calder Walton, assistant director of the Applied History Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, talks about election meddling in the past, present, and future. He describes the history of KGB interference in U.S. elections and how the U.S. has countered it. Walton discusses how the KGB found that they just couldn't just construct a lie out of whole cloth. Instead, they had to build on pre-existing divides that existed in America. KGB...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Darren Dochuk, associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, discusses his new book, Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America. Dochuk explores how oil grafted itself to the soul of the United States and became part of its identity. He uses the term "wildcat Christianity" to describe the actions of oil prospectors who used the profits from their ventures to support Christian missionary endeavors around the world...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Will Inboden, executive director of the Clements Center, sits down with Professor Paul Pope and Dr. Kiril Avramov of the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas and Dr. Calder Walton, assistant director of the Applied History Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, to discuss the history of influence operations and active measures by the Soviet Union and Russia. Their wide-ranging discussion covers everything from Soviet...

Sovereignty as a concept conveys that a single entity has the legitimate authority to exercise governance over a particular territory. So, how can an exclusive individual right be shared? John Ciorciari, associate professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center and the International Policy Center, explores these questions at a talk he recently gave at the University of Texas. Specifically, he asks what...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, TNSR's executive editor, Doyle Hodges, sits down with Laurie Blank, clinical professor of law and director of the International Law Clinic at Emory University, and Bobby Chesney, James Baker Chair in the Rule of Law and World Affairs and director of the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas, Austin. They discuss the field of national security law broadly, including why Americans have turned increasingly to law to...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, John Gans, director of communications and research at Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania, sits down with several members of the University of Texas faculty to discuss his new book, White House Warriors: How the National Security Council Transformed the American Way of War. The discussion is led by William Inboden, editor-in-chief of the Texas National Security Review and director of the Clements Center, Steve Slick, director of the...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, retired General Amos Yadlin sits down with Steve Slick, director of the Intelligence Studies Project, to discuss Middle East security and Israeli security concerns. Slick and General Yadlin also engage in a conversation about the role of Israel in the middle east, the future of Israel, and questions regarding security in the region. General Yadlin served in the Israeli Armed Forces for over forty years as an air force officer and as the director of...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, retired Gen. Vincent Brooks sits down with William Inboden, executive director of the Clements Center. The conversation spans Gen. Brooks' career from his days as a cadet at West Point, where he was the first African American appointed to serve as first captain, all the way through his retirement after thirty-eight and a half years as a four star general commanding all U.S., U.N., and combined U.S. and Korean forces on the Korean peninsula. This talk...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, William Inboden, executive director of the Clements Center for National Security, and Robert Chesney, director of the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, sit down with Texas congressman Mac Thornberry for a wide-ranging discussion on defense policy. Congressman Thornberry is a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and served as chairman of the Armed Services Committee from January 2015 to January 2019. This talk took place...

Where are we 18 years after 9/11? What is the nature of the phenomenon of terrorism now and what challenges does America face today? What security strategies are currently in place and have they worked? Paul Pope, senior fellow at the Intelligence Studies Project, moderates a panel on counterterrorism since 9/11. Paul is joined by John Brennan, former CIA director, retired Adm. William McRaven, former commander of the Special Operations Command, Farah Pandith, author and former National...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Jim Goldgeier, professor and former dean of the American University School of International Service, and Derek Chollet, current executive vice president of the German Marshall Fund, discuss their 2008 book, America Between the Wars: From 11/9 to 9/11 and the arc of post-cold war American foreign policy. In this podcast, they've included another 11/9, referring not to the end of the Cold War, but to Nov. 9, 2016, the day after the election of Donald...

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, chair of the Texas National Security Review Editorial Board Frank Gavin interviews political scientist Robert Jervis. In a wide-ranging interview that reaches all the way back to Jervis’ undergraduate days at Oberlin College in the late 1950’s, Gavin explores the factors which shaped Jervis’ career, the state of the political science field today, especially as it relates to security studies, and how political scientists deal with challenges ranging from...