Diplomatic Immunity

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to [email protected].

Season 2, Episode 2: Kelly McFarland and ISD Rusk Fellow Heera Kamboj talk to Ambassador Stephen Mull, Vice Provost for Global Affairs at the University of Virginia, who served as Coordinator for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) at the State Department from 2015 to 2017. He was also a career Foreign Service Officer. They discuss next steps for U.S.-Iran policy, State Department reform, and the bridge between the academic and policy worlds. 

Featured articles:

James Jeffrey, "Biden Doesn't Need a New Middle East Policy," Foreign Affairs, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2021-01-15/biden-doesnt-need-new-middle-east-policy

William J. Burns and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, "The Transformation of Diplomacy," Foreign Affairs, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-09-23/diplomacy-transformation

Episode recorded: January 21st, 2021. 

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to [email protected].

Season 2, Episode 1: Kelly McFarland talks to Arsalan Suleman, ISD non-resident fellow, international lawyer at Foley Hoag, and former acting U.S. special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation during the Obama administration. They discuss prospects for State Department reform, the role of political appointees at the State Department, U.S. abdication of global leadership under President Trump, and Arsalan's human rights work representing the Gambia in the International Court of Justice. 

Read Arsalan's piece in the SAIS Review of International Affairs, "Empty Seat Diplomacy: How America Surrendered Its Diplomatic Advantage, and How It Can Bounce Back": https://muse.jhu.edu/article/763652/summary

Also featured: A recent Council on Foreign Relations report, "Revitalizing the State Department and American Diplomacy": https://www.cfr.org/report/revitalizing-state-department-and-american-diplomacy 

Episode recorded: December 18th, 2020. 

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

For more, visit our website, follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to [email protected].

Episode 7: Kelly McFarland talks to Andrew Imbrie, senior fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, about his new book, Power on the Precipice: The Six Choices America Faces in a Turbulent World and the future of U.S. grand strategy in historical perspective.

Power on the Precipice: The Six Choices America Faces in a Turbulent World: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300243505/power-precipice

Episode recorded: December 4th, 2020. 

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

For more, visit our website, follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to [email protected].

Episode 6: Kelly McFarland and Alistair Somerville talk to Alicia Wanless, director of the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations (PCIO) at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on how to understand and tackle problems in the information environment.  

Learn more about PCIO's work: https://carnegieendowment.org/specialprojects/counteringinfluenceoperations

Watch our December 1 event with PCIO: https://isd.georgetown.edu/2020/12/01/disinformation-in-the-digital-age-are-citizens-prepared/

Read our report, "The New Weapon of Choice: Technology and Information Operations Today," and listen to our discussion of the report with Nina Jankowicz: https://isd.georgetown.edu/2020/10/21/isd-launches-new-report-on-information-operations/

Alistair Somerville and Jonas Heering also have a new article on disinformation in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs: https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2020/11/28/the-disinformation-shift-from-foreign-to-domestic/

Episode recorded: November 24th and December 1st, 2020. 

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

For more, visit our website, follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to [email protected].

Episode 5: Alistair Somerville talks to Catherine Grace Katz, author of The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts and Harrimans – A Story of Love and War, about the Yalta conference, the Churchill archives, the historical writing process, and the role of the diplomatic confidante.

The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts and Harrimans – A Story of Love and War: https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Daughters-of-Yalta/9780358117827

Watch ISD's joint event with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Disinformation in the Digital Age: Are Citizens Prepared? https://tinyurl.com/y4pjrf8m

Episode recorded: October 29th, 2020. 

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

For more, visit our website, follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy or send us an email to [email protected].

Episode 4: Ambassador Dereck Hogan, U.S. ambassador to Moldova, spoke with ISD Rusk Fellow Hammad Hammad as part of ISD's Diverse Diplomacy Series, to discuss his Foreign Service career and the power of mentorship. 

Episode recorded: October 8th, 2020. Watch the full event video and learn more about the series: https://www.diversediplomacy.com/

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

For more, visit our website, follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy or send us an email to [email protected].

Episode 3: Kelly McFarland and ISD graduate fellow Jonas Heering talk to Ambassador Peter Wittig, German Ambassador to the United States from 2014 to 2018, and now a fellow at the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School. They discussed Wittig's recollections from serving in the United States during the 2016 elections, European preparations for the next administration, and paths forward for cooperation on issues such as China and U.S. leadership. 

Peter Wittig, "Hope for the Future of American Leadership Dies Hard," Foreign Affairs, October 16, 2020: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/europe/2020-10-16/hope-future-american-leadership-dies-hard

ISD's latest report, "The New Weapon of Choice: Technology and Information Operations Today": https://isd.georgetown.edu/2020/10/21/isd-launches-new-report-on-information-operations/

Episode recorded: October 12th, 2020, in partnership with The Europe Desk, the podcast of the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown. Follow them on social media @TheEuropeDesk. 

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

Episode 2: Kelly McFarland and Alistair Somerville talk to Nina Jankowicz, who studies disinformation at the Wilson Center. Jankowicz looks at the Estonia case and early Russian disinformation, considers possible responses to the problem of information operations, and talks about her new book. 

How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-lose-the-information-war-9781838607685/

Nina's essays for the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/nina-jankowicz/

ISD's latest report, "The New Weapon of Choice: Technology and Information Operations Today": https://isd.georgetown.edu/2020/10/21/isd-launches-new-report-on-information-operations/

Episode recorded: October 8th, 2020. 

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

Episode 1: Kelly McFarland talks to Bob Zoellick, former deputy secretary of state and president of the World Bank. Zoellick discusses diplomatic history, the role of the North American base of Mexico and Canada in American foreign policy, and the future of U.S. alliances in Asia.

America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy: https://www.twelvebooks.com/titles/robert-b-zoellick/america-in-the-world/9781538712368/

"Biden's Domestic Priorities Should Guide His Foreign Policy," Foreign Affairs, September 8, 2020: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/north-america/2020-09-08/bidens-domestic-priorities-should-guide-his-foreign-policy

Watch Bob Zoellick's recent book talk at ISD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJbGXwJab94

Episode recorded: September 16th, 2020. 

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a new podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision makers around the world.  

Produced by Alistair Somerville and Kelly McFarland

Production assistance by Jonas Heering

Design by Rebecca McFarland and Alistair Somerville