World Class

There are plenty of glamorous Hollywood spies, but how does the world of real espionage and intelligence work?

In her book Spies, Lies and Algorithms, national security and intelligence expert Amy Zegart separates facts from fictions about the U.S. intelligence community. She joins FSI Director Michael McFaul on World Class to trace the history of intelligence in America and unpacks the challenges intelligence organizations need to address in an increasingly digital world. If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars

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The situation on the Ukraine-Russia border continues to change, but the ideological fight between democracy and autocracy is as hot as ever. Former prime minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk joins Michael McFaul to give an inside view on the Ukraine-Russia conflict and discuss the bigger strategy Putin is using to undermine democracy in Eastern Europe and beyond. If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars

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Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman joins Michael McFaul on World Class to discuss why values and integrity are crucial to upholding democratic norms here in the United States, and why democracies everywhere should support and encourage those norms in places like Ukraine.

His testimony before Congress was key part of President Trump's first impeachment trial in 2019 over his phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He shares his story of becoming an unexpected public figure, and the life experiences that guided his decisions in his book, Here, Right Matters. If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars

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Taiwan. Hypersonic missiles. The South China Sea. In the last few months, China’s activities have grabbed headlines and imaginations. But how much of this action is posturing, and how much should U.S. policymakers and strategists take seriously?

Oriana Skylar Mastro, an expert on China's military and strategic planning and active member of the United States Air Force Reserve, rejoins Michael McFaul on World Class to debunk some of the myths that persist about China’s capabilities and reframe how the U.S. needs to think about strategic competition with Beijing. If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars

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In the last 30 years, authoritarian regimes have gained significant ground in countries around the world, and democracy norms are in decline. Why?

Former Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications and Speech Writing and veteran podcaster Ben Rhodes joins Michael McFaul to discuss his new book, "After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made," which tries to understand why democracy is faltering through the stories of individuals on the front lines trying to defend it. If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars

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In his inaugural address, President Biden declared, “Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause — the cause of democracy.” But is the United States still a beacon for aspiring democratic societies around the globe?

In a crossover episode with the World Affairs Podcast, World Class host Michael McFaul and Dr. Francis Fukuyama — Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law — look at the current state of democracy. If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars

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Last week, riot police used force to remove Nika Melia, the leader of Georgia’s main opposition party, from his political headquarters. Meila’s arrest has deepened political rifts within Georgia and is plunging the nation into crisis, with opposition parties vowing to boycott Parliament until Melia is released by the government.

Nino Evgenidze, a Georgian activist and executive director of the Economic Policy Research Center in Tbilisi, tells Mike what Melia’s arrest means for Georgia, the region and the rest of the world.

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In a special crossover episode, World Class host Michael McFaul discusses how the U.S. can mend relationships with the rest of the world after four years of unpredictability on the World Affairs Podcast. Mike and Jorge Castañeda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico, join World Affairs co-host Ray Suarez to talk about how to best address foreign policy moving forward. If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars

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Iran’s economy is at its worst point in decades, its Supreme Leader is ill, and the country is “desperate” for a nuclear deal with the United States, says Abbas Milani, an expert on U.S.-Iran relations. On this episode, he and Mike discuss the Iranian economy, the future of Iran’s leadership, and what a potential new nuclear deal might look like.

If you like what you hear, you can get additional content from scholars

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