Talking Policy

In the latest from Talking Policy’s series on Ukraine, Lindsay Morgan talks with Jana Grittersova, an Associate Professor of political science and cooperating faculty in the Economics Department at UC Riverside, and Vinnie Aggarwal, Distinguished Professor and Alann P. Bedford Chair in Asian studies at UC Berkeley, about the economic implications of the war in Ukraine. Grittersova is a former central banker at the National Bank of Slovakia and worked as an economist at the European Commission in Brussels. Aggarwal specializes in the intersection between business and politics and the role of international economic and trade organizations.

In the latest from Talking Policy’s series on Ukraine, James Lee, an IGCC postdoctoral fellow and Taiwan expert, talks with IGCC director and UC San Diego professor Tai Ming Cheung about how Russia’s invasion of and campaign in Ukraine may impact Chinese military strategy; the implications of the war for Chinese-Russian relations; and how he thinks the academic and policy worlds need to shift amidst the latest global upheaval.

In the latest from Talking Policy’s series on Ukraine, we talk with UC San Diego professor of political science, Christina Schneider, who co-leads IGCC’s Future of Democracy initiative, about the already-significant implications of the invasion of Ukraine on European economic, military, and humanitarian policies. This interview was conducted on March 10, 2022.

In the latest from Talking Policy’s series on Ukraine, Michael Nacht, who holds the Thomas and Allison Schneider chair in public policy at UC Berkeley and is a specialist in US national security policy, nuclear weapons, and regional security issues affecting Russia and China, shares candid thoughts on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin's strategy, and the risk of nuclear confrontation.

The war in Ukraine is challenging assumptions about the world among policymakers and ordinary citizens alike. To help listeners understand what is happening, what it means, and what might happen next, a new Talking Policy series will bring together experts from across the University of California to answer questions about the political, economic, security, and humanitarian implications of the Ukraine invasion. In this episode, IGCC’s Lindsay Morgan interviews Vice Admiral Charlie Martoglio about events unfolding in Ukraine and how they relate to growing great power rivalry between democracies and authoritarian regimes.

Concern is growing that disinformation, spreading at an unprecedented speed and scale, is causing grave damage in the U.S. and globally to everything from elections to vaccine uptake. But could the headlines be wrong? Do as many people believe in conspiracies as is generally assumed? In the latest Talking Policy episode, we talk with political scientists Molly Roberts and Seth Hill about why belief in conspiracy may be overblown.

On the anniversary of the January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection, many are asking whether increased political violence is in the United States’ future. In a new episode of the Talking Policy podcast, we talk with Barbara Walter about her new book, How Civil Wars Start, and about the factors that increase the likelihood that countries will turn to violence, and their growing presence in American life.

Questions about Taiwan’s status are fueling rising tensions between the island and China, and between China and the U.S. Will there be war in the Taiwan Straits? Why is Taiwan important to the United States and might the Biden administration revise U.S. policy towards Taiwan? In the latest episode of the Talking Policy podcast, James Lee, a postdoctoral research associate at the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, weighs in on Taiwan’s future.

What makes some countries more or less prone to war (or peace)? What leadership traits are war prone—and what cultural traits are? In the latest Talking Policy episode, Lindsay Morgan interviews Robert Trager, an associate professor in the political science department at UCLA and affiliated researcher with IGCC. The author of the forthcoming book, The Suffragist Peace with Joslyn Barnhart, and a researcher on IGCC’s Great Powers project, Robert talks about the importance of women voters in maintaining peace, weighs in on whether the U.S. is more or less war prone than other countries, and discusses Americans’ key blind spots.

Elections are a core component of democracy, but the integrity of elections is under threat—globally and in the United States. In the latest episode of Talking Policy, Lauren Prather discusses U.S. efforts to promote democracy globally through election monitoring; considers whether international election monitors could strengthen U.S. elections; and answers questions on the threat of meddling. Lauren is an assistant professor of political science at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and author of the forthcoming book Monitors and Meddlers. She is also part of an IGCC project looking at the rise of authoritarian international organizations.