The President’s Inbox

Germany’s Foreign Policy, With Liana Fix

Liana Fix, resident fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how Germany’s new government is approaching foreign policy.

China’s Domestic Challenges, With Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson, CFR’s Stephen A. Schwarzman senior fellow for China studies, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss economic, political, and demographic developments within China.

 

Articles Mentioned on the Podcast

 

Li Yuan, “A coronavirus infection illuminates a migrant worker’s tale of inequality in China.” New York Times, January 31, 2022.

 

Books Mentioned

 

Elizabeth Economy, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future (2004)

 

Ian Johnson, The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao (2017)

Venture Capital and the Future of Innovation, With Sebastian Mallaby

Sebastian Mallaby, CFR’s Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists are shaping the future of innovation and the global economy.

 

Enter the CFR book giveaway before February 16, 2022, for the chance to win one of ten free copies of The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future by Sebastian Mallaby. You can read the terms and conditions of the offer here.

 

Books Mentioned on the Podcast

 

Sebastian Mallaby, More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite (2010)

 

Sebastian Mallaby, The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan (2016)

 

Sebastian Mallaby, The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future (2022)

 

Sebastian Mallaby, The World's Banker: A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations (2004)

A New Era of Great Power Competition, With Hal Brands

Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger distinguished professor of global affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss what lessons the United States can draw from the Cold War for understanding our new era of great power rivalry.

 

Books Mentioned on the Podcast 

 

Hal Brands, The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today (2022) 

 

Articles Mentioned on the Podcast 

 

Hal Brands, “Containment Can Work Against China, Too,” Wall Street Journal, December 3, 2021 

 

Hal Brands, “The Overstretched Superpower,” Foreign Affairs, January 18, 2022 

 

Richard Fontaine, “Washington’s Missing China Strategy,” Foreign Affairs, January 14, 2022 

 

“X” (George Kennan), “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” Foreign Affairs (July 1947) 

President Biden’s First Year, With Richard Haass

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, sits down with James M. Lindsay to assess how the Biden administration has handled foreign policy in its first year in office.

 

Books Mentioned in the Podcast

 

Richard Haass, The World: A Brief Introduction (2020)

 

Podcasts Mentioned

 

Richard Haass, Nine Questions for the World, Council on Foreign Relations

 

Anne Appelbaum and Richard Haass, “Can Democracy Survive?” Nine Questions for the World, December 16, 2021

 

Fei-Fei Li and Richard Haass, “Can Societies Keep Up with Technology?” Nine Questions for the World, December 16, 2021

 

Michelle McMurry-Heath and Richard Haass, “Can Biotech Be Harnessed?” Nine Questions for the World, December 16, 2021

 

Elizabeth Perry and Richard Haass, “Will This Century Belong to China?” Nine Questions for the World, December 16, 2021

Keeping the Nuclear Peace, With Michael Krepon

Michael Krepon, cofounder of and distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the rise, demise, and possible revival of arms control efforts across the globe.

 

Books Mentioned in the Podcast

 

Michael Krepon, Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace: The Rise, Demise, and Revival of Arms Control (2021)

 

Statements Mentioned

 

“Joint Statement of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races,” The White House, January 3, 2022

TPI Replay: Democratic Crises in U.S. History, With Suzanne Mettler

In this special series of The President’s Inbox on the future of democracy, James M. Lindsay speaks with experts to discuss whether and where democratic governance is faltering around the world. This week, Suzanne Mettler, John L. Senior professor of American Institutions in the Government Department at Cornell University, places the current crisis of American democracy in historical perspective. This episode is part of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy. (This is a rebroadcast.)

 

Books Mentioned in the Podcast

 

Suzanne Mettler and Robert C. Lieberman, Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy (2020)

TPI Replay: Beijing’s Grand Strategy, With Matt Pottinger

Host James M. Lindsay sits down with senior advisor at the Marathon Initiative and chairman of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Matt Pottinger, to discuss China’s ambitions and what they mean for the United States. (This is a rebroadcast.)

 

Articles Mentioned in the Podcast

 

Michael Beckley and Hal Brands, “The End of China’s Rise,” Foreign Affairs, October 1, 2021

 

Bilahari Kausikan, “In U.S.-China Standoff, Is America a Reliable Ally?,” Foreign Policy, October 18, 2021

 

Matt Pottinger, “Beijing’s American Hustle,” Foreign Affairs (September/October 2021)

 

Liza Tobin, “Xi’s Vision for Transforming Global Governance: A Strategic Challenge for Washington and Its Allies,” Texas National Security Review (November 2018)

 

Books Mentioned

 

Dan Blumenthal, The China Nightmare: The Grand Ambitions of a Decaying State, (AEI Press, 2020)

 

Rush Doshi, The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order, (Brookings Institution Press, 2021)

The State of Affairs Across the Middle East, With Steven A. Cook

Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies and director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss what's happening across the Middle East as 2021 comes to a close.

 

Books Mentioned in the Podcast 

 

Steven A. Cook, False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East (2019) 

 

Events Mentioned 

 

“A Conversation with Jake Sullivan,” Council on Foreign Relations, December 17, 2021 

The U.S.-Russia Stalemate, With Mary Elise Sarotte

Mary Elise Sarotte, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis distinguished professor of historical studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss what the United States got right, and wrong, in its relations with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

 

Articles Mentioned in the Podcast

 

George Kennan, “Long Telegram” to the State Department, February 22, 1946

 

“X” (George Kennan), “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” Foreign Affairs (July 1947)

 

Vladimir Putin, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” The Kremlin, July 12, 2021

 

M.E. Sarotte, “Containment Beyond the Cold War: How Washington Lost the Post-Soviet Peace,” Foreign Affairs (November/December 2021)

 

Books Mentioned

 

M.E. Sarotte, Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate (2021)

 

M.E. Sarotte, The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall (2014)