The Global Cable

The South China Sea is heating up. What are the implications of China’s militarization of the region? What does it mean for the United States and its interest in freedom of navigation? To answer these questions, we gathered four leading experts to discuss the absence of a meaningful U.S. strategy in the South China Sea, the objectives of China and other regional players, and the prospects of a diplomatic solution to the tensions in the area.

William Burke-White, the Director of Perry World House and an expert on international law and global governance; Jacques deLisle, a Professor of Law and director of Penn’s Center for East Asian Studies, whose research and teaching focuses on Chinese law and politics; Lindsey Ford, the Director of Political-Security Affairs for the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former official in the U.S. Department of Defense; and Mark Nevitt, a Sharswood Fellow at Penn Law and former navy aviator with extensive operational experience.

Episode Overview:

• 0:20 – Intro
• 2:36 – Overview of the dispute in the South China Sea
• 4:45 – What undergirds China’s claim to the South China Sea?
• 6:40 – What are U.S. operational priorities in the area?
• 7:42 – How does China’s activity in the South China Sea comport with its broader ambitions?
• 10:45 – How are regional nations dealing with China’s behavior?
• 15:00 – What are the origins of China’s Nine-Dash Line?
• 16:10 – What are the Chinese military assets in the South China Sea? 
• 18:30 – How effective are legal tools in resolving this conflict?
• 21:10 – What military options are available to the United States?
• 22:55 – What are the diplomatic and political tools available to the United States?
• 26:00 – What are the principle issues in the South China Sea over the next two and twenty years?

Music and Produced by Tre Hester

What are political tribes, and how do they influence domestic and international politics? How has blindness to group instinct led to follies in U.S. foreign policy? How can nations deal with groups as basic political units? Find out in this episode, featuring Professors Amy Chua and Bill Burke-White!

Amy Chua is the John M. Duff Professor of Law at Yale Law School. She is an expert in ethnic conflict, and globalization and the law. Her most recent book, "Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations," studies how tribalism causes problems at home and abroad. She is also the author of the 2011 memoir, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother."

0:20 – Intro conversation between Mike Horowitz and Bill Burke-White  

8:25 – Chua's biographical background.

12:00 – What are political tribes?

14:54 – What are the defining characteristics of a tribe?

17:10 – How can the U.S. better understand tribalism abroad.

22:05 – What can be done about tribalism, both domestically and internationally?

28:40 – How should international law, which traditionally focuses on the state, integrate the realities of tribal politics?

30:30 – What is the most important challenge that the world must face over the next two years?

31:40 – What is the most important challenge that the world must face over the next twenty years?

32:35 – Interesting Global Fact.                  

33:45 – Career advice for students.          

35:10 – Cause for optimism.

Music and Produced by Tre Hester

Have you ever wondered what UNESCO is? Or what the rest of the world thinks about the United States’ role in the United Nations? In this episode, former Director-General Irina Bokova answers these questions and more with Perry World House’s Bill Burke-White. Listen and learn about the interesting work that UNESCO does, the politics and intrigue behind international organizations, and the career of a seasoned diplomat.

Irina Bokova served as the Director-General of UNESCO between November 2009 and November 2017. She is the first woman and the first Eastern European to lead the Organization. Before that, she served as acting-Minister for Foreign Affairs, as well as Ambassador of Bulgaria to France, Monaco, and UNESCO.

Episode Guide:

00:40 – Bill and Mike discuss the U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO following Palestine's ascent to the organization

07:20 – Interview with Bokova begins, discussion of her professional background

09:00 – What is UNESCO? What does it do?

15:25 – What tools does UNESCO have to protect cultural heritage?

19:25 – What is the argument for U.S. financial support of international institutions?

22:15 – What will it take to bring the U.S. back to UNESCO?

24:30 – Reform efforts and the United Nations

29:30 – How to break through political log jams in international institutions

32:00 – What is the greatest challenge facing the world over the next two years? Next 20?

34:20 – Bokova shares an interesting fact

35:30 – Career advice for students interested in global affairs

Music and Produced by Tre Hester

What are the various ways to integrate refugees? What does Albert Einstein have to do with migration? What are the differences between economic migrants and refugees? Find out in this episode of The Global Cable, featuring Samer Saliba and Perry World House Director Bill Burke-White.

Samer Saliba is an Urban Technical Specialist at the International Rescue Committee. 

Music and Produced by Tre Hester

How do cities learn from one another? What can national governments do to improve living conditions? Which nations are leading the way in building "smart" cities? Find out in this conversation, featuring Dr. Kyung-Hwan Kim and Perry World House Director William Burke-White.

Kyung-Hwan Kim is a professor of economics at Sogang University and Visiting Fellow at Perry World House. Prior to that, he served as vice minister for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea. 

Music and Produced by Tré Hester

Less than 1% of refugees return to their country of origin. What does it take to humanize refugees? What the various ways that governments can integrate refugees? How do you provide employment opportunities to displaced people? Find out in this episode of The Global Cable, featuring Robert Barr, Cindy Huang, and Perry World House Deputy Director LaShawn Jefferson.

Robert Barr is the Founder and CEO of Jobs4Refugees. Cindy Huang is the Co-Director of Migration, Displacement, and Humanitarian Policy at the Center for Global Development. 

Music and Produced by Tre Hester

 What does A2AD have to do with the Philadelphia Eagles defense? And what does the hubris of great powers have to do with Bill Belichick’s Patriots?  

Perry World House Associate Director Michael Horowitz quarterbacks this episode, which features an all-star line-up of national security experts. In advance of this Sunday’s Super Bowl, Horowitz and our guests discuss what the Super Bowl has to do with global affairs and foreign policy. They also share their thoughts on the Eagles vs. Patriots matchup. Will they fumble in their predictions, or will they soar towards the Punditry Hall of Fame? Listen to find out!

David Edelstein is Associate Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. David Larter is the Naval Warfare Reporter for Defense News. Aaron Mehta is the Senior Pentagon Correspondent with Defense News. Joshua Rovner is an Associate Professor at American University’s School of International Service. Lara Seligman is the Pentagon Editor for Aviation Week.

Music and Produced by Tre Hester

What does the Cold War and Power Transition Theory have to do with Tom Brady’s dietary regimen and the Eagles defense? 

Perry World House Associate Director Michael Horowitz quarterbacks this episode, which features an all-star line-up of national security experts. In advance of this Sunday’s Super Bowl, Horowitz and our guests discuss what the Super Bowl has to do with global affairs and foreign policy. They also share their thoughts on the Eagles vs. Patriots matchup. Will they fumble in their predictions, or will they soar towards the Punditry Hall of Fame? Listen to find out!

Frank Gavin is the Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and the inaugural director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Rita Konaev is a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies in The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (and formerly a post-doctoral fellow at Perry World House). Vipin Narang is associate professor of political science at MIT. Erin Simpson is the host of the Bombshell podcast.

Music and Produced by Tre Hester

Stewart Patrick is a senior fellow in global governance and director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. In this podcast, he sits down with Perry World House Director Bill Burke-White to discuss international engagement in an era of isolation, U.S. foreign policy, and the biggest threats to the world over the short- and long-term. Come for the foreign policy, stay for the statistics about tigers left in the wild.

Is President Trump’s new National Security Strategy doomed to fail? How important are principles in guiding foreign policy? What are the merits of Judy Blume’s adult novels? These are the hard-hitting questions that Perry World House’s Rebecca Friedman Lissner and Michael Horowitz answer in the latest episode of The Global Cable.

Rebecca Friedman Lissner is a Perry World House Postdoctoral Fellow whose research focuses on national security decision-making and nuclear issues. Prior to this, Dr. Lissner was the Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and worked as Special Advisor to the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy.

• (1:00) – Dr. Lissner’s interest in foreign policy, research focus, and work on policy issues.
• (3:10) – The gap between writing and rhetoric in President Trump’s new National Security Strategy.   
• (7:20) – What is Principled Realism?
•  (9:45) – Is there a Values Deficit in U.S. Foreign Policy?
•  (15:05) – What are the two most important challenges that the United States will face in 2018?
• (16:45) – The probability of war with North Korea.
• (18:35) – What are the two most important challenges that the United States will face in the long-term?
• (20:45) – What is the future of nuclear proliferation in countries under the United States security umbrella?
• (24:20) – What are you reading?
• (26:00) – Career advice for university students.

Episode Reading:

• “The National Security Strategy Is Not a Strategy,” Rebecca Friedman Lissner, Foreign Affairs https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2017-12-19/national-security-strategy-not-strategy
• National Security Strategy of the United States of America, White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf
• Trump Speech on “America First” National Security Strategy, Donald J. Trump, CNN (Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlXL4nUHM1Y
• The Middle Eastern Roots of Nuclear Alarmism Over North Korea,” Rebecca Friedman Lissner, War on the Rocks https://warontherocks.com/2017/10/the-middle-eastern-roots-of-nuclear-alarmism-over-north-korea/

Music and Produced by Tre Hester