Security Dilemma

This week on Security Dilemma, Patrick Carver Fox and John Allen Gay discuss Taiwanese security and America's role in the Taiwan Strait with Eric Gomez. Eric Gomez is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, with an expertise on a range of defense issues including the U.S. military budget, force posture, arms control, and nuclear stability in East Asia. Eric is joining us today because he has a new piece with the Cato Institute out as of today called Taiwan’s Urgent Need for Asymmetric Defense.

Check out his new paper and this accompanying conversation!

This week on Security Dilemma, we're taking an episode to explore the history of the namesake for The John Quincy Adams Society with a historian who has a new book out on the subject. John Allen Gay has a conversation with Jeffrey A. Denman about his new book - John Quincy Adams, Reluctant Abolitionist.

The words of John Quincy Adams have inspired foreign policy thinkers for generations, and they continue to inspire today.

But how did the sixth president, one of the most vocal American antebellum political figures opposing both slavery and foreign intervention abroad, actually think about slavery? We explore that question today.

You can order the book here.

This week, Patrick C. Fox and John Allen Gay interview Doug Bandow, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. As a young lawyer, he worked as a Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. Doug Bandow began working with the Cato Institute in 1982 and he is a Senior Fellow there today. He is widely published; he’s written at least three books focused on the Korean Peninsula and today he has a weekly column at The American Conservative. 

Our conversation today covers South Korean politics, East Asia's balance of power, the future of America's role in Europe, the foreign policy legacy of Ronald Reagan and the pursuit of religious liberty in policymaking.

This week, Patrick C. Fox and guest host Scott McCann interview Dr. Brian Finucane, a Senior Adviser at International Crisis Group and a former Legal Adviser for the State Department.

This episode was recorded on October 19th, 2023 and discusses war powers as they affect the Gaza conflict, intervention in Mexico and strategic ambiguity in Taiwan. We also address specifics like the Geneva convention's Protocol 1, the 127 echo program, foreign policy's "supreme court" and more!

This week, Patrick C. Fox and John Allen Gay interview Elizabeth Beavers, a Vice President at the Quincy Institute, an experienced advocate for progressive foreign policy reform and an expert on national security law.

In this conversation, we cover the legacy of Sen. Feinstein, legal justifications for proxy wars, American strategy in North Korea, Congress's role in foreign policy and the threat of the climate crisis.

This week, Patrick C. Fox and John Allen Gay interview Daniel DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities and a syndicated foreign affairs columnist at the Chicago Tribune.

In this conversation, we cover the prospect of intervening in Mexico, tensions between India and Canada, America's role in Somalia and the Abraham Accords.

This week, Patrick C. Fox and John Allen Gay interview Dr. Jordan Cohen, an expert on arms sales policy at the Cato Institute. In this conversation we cover cluster munitions in Ukraine, the policy mechanisms of aid to Taiwan and alliance politics with arms sales in the Middle East.

Dr. Cohen's War on the Rocks article

Dr. Cohen on aid to Taiwan

Dr. Cohen on tracking U.S. weapons

This week, Patrick C. Fox and John Allen Gay interview Matthew Petti, a young independent journalist covering the Middle East. In this conversation we cover the origins of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, America's ongoing presence and path out of Syria, the context of the Iranian hostage exchange and the "spaghetti logic" of Henry Kissinger's realism.

Matthew Petti's Substack

Matthew's essay on Kissinger and Realism

This week, Patrick C. Fox and John Allen Gay interview Dr. Alexander Thurston, an expert on conflicts, jihadism and stability in West Africa. Dr. Alex Thurston is a professor at the University of Cincinnati and a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute. This conversation covers sources of instability ranging from the French presence to the American intervention in Libya along with a conversation about the politics of the region, ranging from Niger's path to dictatorship, Nigeria's new leadership and the comparatively stable situations in Senegal and Chad.

This week, Patrick C. Fox and co-host John Allen Gay interview Dr. Stephen Wertheim, a diplomatic historian and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr. Wertheim is a leading voice on foreign policy for the left, with essays in the New York Times and Foreign Affairs and appearances on programs including CNN and NPR. Our conversation covers the left's relationship with realism, Dr. Wertheim's research on America's changing perception of their role in the world and progressive interpretations of the rise of great power competition and BRICS.