Want to listen to the scientists? Here’s your chance! The “Berlin Security Beat” features top political scientists unpacking international security issues in conversation with Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre. Each episode ‘guest scholars’ break down their research for a fresh perspective on current events.
Episode 07: "Peacekeeping - Politics. Practice. Impact."
Andrea Ruggeri, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Oxford, and an expert on peacekeeping and civil wars, joins Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre for International Security, to talk about UN peacekeeping. They discuss:
- why and how peacekeeping works,
- when to deploy peacekeepers – and when not to,
- how to use diversity in mission composition as an asset,
- how geopolitics influences decision-making at the UN Security Council,
- and, finally, where to get the best coffee.
For the full bibliography click here.
Episode 06: "Power Struggles in the South China Sea"
Sara Mitchell, Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa, and an expert on international conflict, esp. territorial, river and maritime issues discusses the ins and outs of the disputes in the South China Sea, how climate change increases the risk of maritime conflict, why some of those conflicts turn violent while others are resolved peacefully, whether the United States needs a larger fleet, and, finally, what maritime conflicts to worry about.
Episode 05: "Libya, 10 Years Later"
Brian McQuinn, Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of Regina, Canada, and an expert on armed groups and peace building, discusses the origins of the 2011 Libyan uprisings, the “who’s who” of the ensuing conflict, his experience living among rebels in Misrata for ethnographic studies, and the many “ifs” deciding the fate of the Libyan peace process.
Episode 04: “Grand Strategy for the Global Disorder”
Stacie Goddard, Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and an expert on international order and global power politics, talks about grand-strategic successes and failures, why talk isn’t cheap, and how to keep a U.S.-China “Cold War 2.0” from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Episode 03: “Germany’s Post-Merkel Foreign Policy”
Kai Oppermann, Professor for International Politics at the Chemnitz University of Technology, discusses the German Federal Election and its foreign policy implications, a potential coalition between the conservative CDU and the Greens, Germany as “civilian power”, and the reasons for Germany's non-participation in the 2011 Libya intervention.
Episode 02: “Conflicts We Can (Not) Predict”
Dr. Nils Metternich, Associate Professor in International Relations at the University College London and an expert on civil conflicts and the prediction of their dynamics, elaborates on what we can and cannot predict in international security, why a Nobel Peace Prize winner went to war in Ethiopia, and what conflicts to watch in 2021.
Episode 01: “What Joe Biden’s Win Means for the World”
Sarah Kreps, Professor of Government at Cornell University, US Air Force veteran and seasoned policy advisor, talks about key challenges for the next US administration, the crisis of NATO and how (not) to overcome it, Trump’s vs. Biden’s approach to China, and why military restraint might not be the new foreign policy consensus in the US.