Episode 08/ Full Interview: Eliot Cohen on keeping the faith

Published May 16, 2021Recorded Mach 28, 2021. Eliot A. Cohen is the Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies and Dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS. After receiving his BA and PhD degrees from Harvard, he taught there and at the US Naval War College before coming to Johns Hopkins SAIS in 1990. His books include, most recently, The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force (2017) as well as Conquered into Liberty: Two Centuries of Battle along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War (2012) and Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime (2003), among others. He served in the US Army Reserve, was a director in the Defense Department’s policy planning staff, led the US Air Force’s multi-volume study of the first Gulf War, and has served in various official advisory positions. In 2007-2009 he was Counselor of the Department of State, serving as Senior Adviser to Secretary Condoleezza Rice, focusing on issues of war and peace, including Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a contributing editor at The Atlantic, and his commentary has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and on major television networks.Shownotes03:49 EC on the role of military and defense in the context of a global world order.  05:47 EC on the role of non-US military in the international system.   08:08 EC on the increasing role of cyber warfare as a tool of military conflict.  09:22 EC on a paradigm for understanding China's new role within the international system.  12:40 EC on whether different political systems can co-exist peacefully.  14:45 EC on whether the West was overly optimistic about China's embrace of Western political norms.  17:07 EC on the recent détente in the Middle East and whether it can provide a model for other interminable conflicts in the region.  22:02 EC on the role of the Israeli military in Middle East relations.  22:45 EC on the quadrilateral security dialogue between India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan (Quad).  26:35 EC on the continued importance of national sovereignty in our era of hyper-globalization.  29:09 EC on serving under former US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice.  32:03 EC on why he is optimistic about the US in the long term. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.