Shows / The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Foreign Affairs Interview
Foreign Affairs invites you to join its editor, Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, as he talks to influential thinkers and policymakers about the forces shaping the world. Whether the topic is the war in Ukraine, the United States’ competition with China, or the future of globalization, Foreign Affairs’ weekly podcast offers the kind of authoritative commentary and analysis that you can find in the magazine and on the website.
Episodes
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
A Warrior’s View of Why War Fails: A Conversation With William McRaven
William McRaven spent four decades in the U.S. military as a Navy SEAL, a four-star admiral, and head of U.S. Special Operations Command. He led the 2003…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
What India’s Protests Reveal About the Future of Liberalism: A Conversation With Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing his biggest challenge since taking office in 2014. But in an essay in Foreign Affairs, Pratap Bhanu Mehta argues…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Iran’s Long War: A Conversation With Ali Vaez and Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar
Nearly eight months since it began, the war in Iran has settled into a grim stalemate. Two essays in the new issue of Foreign Affairs consider just how long…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Russia’s Widening War on Europe: A Conversation With Julianne Smith
Since the start of the war in Ukraine almost five years ago, Russia has mounted ever more aggressive attacks in Europe, far from the battlefield. These attacks…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
What America and China Fear Most About AI: A Conversation with Kyle Chan and Helen Toner
Over the course of just a few months, artificial intelligence has become one of the most central issues, and one of the most fraught issues, in the…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Caught in the Middle of the Iran War: A Conversation With Anwar Gargash
By all accounts, Iran’s neighbors, even those long at odds with the Islamic Republic, opposed the U.S.-Israeli war that began on February 28. Yet it is those…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
How to Understand the New Age of War: A Conversation With Lawrence D. Freedman
By some measures, there is more war in the world today than at any point since World War II. Today’s wars have brought a level of destruction, disruption, and…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Iran Shock Is Not Over: A Conversation With Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan
When Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz six months ago, the world seemed on the verge of an energy crisis that would upend economies, governments, and much else…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
What Does China Want? A Conversation With Jessica Chen Weiss
There has been no shortage of dizzying shifts in American foreign policy since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. But perhaps none have been…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Afghanistan After America: A Conversation With Laurel Miller and Graeme Smith
Five years ago this month, the United States ended its war in Afghanistan. Washington’s exit was chaotic; as Taliban forces swept through the country and the…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Is a Post-American World Inevitable? A Conversation With Kurt Campbell, Rush Doshi, and Mark Leonard
Ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, a big question has loomed over any discussion of global politics: How much of the change he has…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
From the Archive: How the Past Shadows China's Future: A Conversation With Odd Arne Westad
At the end of last year, editor Dan Kurtz-Phelan spoke with the historian Odd Arne Westad about China’s complicated past and how that history shapes the way…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Cyberwarfare in the AI Age: A Conversation With Jen Easterly
It’s been nearly 15 years since Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned of a “cyber–Pearl Harbor.” Since then, most people have become fairly inured to such a…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The End of Free Trade: A Conversation With Robert E. Lighthizer
Almost no one in the last several decades has done more to change the American approach to trade than Robert Lighthizer. Lighthizer was the U.S. trade…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Future of Palestine: A Conversation With Salam Fayyad
In the nine months since a cease-fire ended full-on war in Gaza, the world’s attention has in many ways moved on. That has been especially true since February…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The End of American Military Dominance? A Conversation With Paul Scharre
The war in Iran pitted two of the world’s mightiest militaries against one weakened by years of strikes, sanctions, and sabotage. And yet it was the smaller…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
What China Thinks It Can Gain From a Disordered World: A Conversation With Oriana Skylar Mastro
Like the rest of us, China’s leaders are confronting a world in turmoil. They see uncertain American commitments to allies, even as many of those allies ramp…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The AI Race Nobody Can Win: A Conversation With Sebastian Mallaby
The breakneck pace of AI progress and the intensity of the competition for AI supremacy has left U.S. policymakers in a difficult position. They must encourage…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
America, Iran, and a World in Turmoil: A Conversation With Ian Bremmer
The war in Iran may have come to an end, but both the course and the conclusion of that war have brought into sharp relief the forces that increasingly define…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Is the Iran War Coming to an End? A Conversation With Narges Bajoghli and Vali Nasr
The Iran war may be coming to an end, as Washington and Tehran prepare to sign a framework agreement later this week. That deal should reopen the Strait of…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Is Cuba Next? A Conversation With Michael J. Bustamante and Ricardo Zuniga
U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that he will have the “honor of taking Cuba.” Although the administration has not specified what that might mean…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Are America’s Allies Finally Learning to Deal With Trump? A Conversation With Philip H. Gordon and Mara Karlin
Six months ago, Philip Gordon and Mara Karlin wrote an essay in Foreign Affairs about the plight of the United States’ allies in U.S. President Donald Trump’s…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
How to Prevent the Next World War: A Conversation With Thant Myint-U
The world today is more dangerous and more violent than it’s been at any time since 1945. States everywhere have jettisoned commitments to cooperation and…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Does Trump Have a Strategy? A Conversation With A. Wess Mitchell
Both of Donald Trump’s presidential administrations have prompted sharp debates about the direction of U.S. foreign policy. But how to discern a strategic…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The View From the Front Row of the Trump-Xi Summit: A Conversation With Orville Schell
Orville Schell may be the United States’ greatest chronicler and observer of several decades of U.S.-Chinese relations. Foreign Affairs was extremely lucky to…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
When Two Superpowers Meet: A Conversation With Nicholas Burns
Not long ago, it was practically a truism to say that a hard line on China was the only real bipartisan position in American foreign policy. To the extent such…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Trump, Putin, and Genghis Khan: A Conversation With Fiona Hill
Fiona Hill has spent her career trying to understand—and, in one case, advise— leaders with grandiose ambitions, high risk tolerance, and an unshakeable sense…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Learning to Live With a Nuclear North Korea: A Conversation With Victor Cha
For most of the past few decades, North Korea was considered a top challenge for American foreign policy. In the past few years, however, it has mostly receded…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Is America Losing the High Ground? A Conversation With Jake Sullivan
It is an understatement to say that the United States finds itself at a particularly fraught geopolitical juncture. The outcome of the war in Iran is still…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
How the Iran War Is Shaping a Post-American World: Conversations With Matias Spektor and Kishore Mahbubani
The shockwaves of the ongoing war in Iran are being felt far and wide. The continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sparked a global energy crisis, one…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Will the Cease-Fire With Iran Hold? A Conversation With Suzanne Maloney
On Tuesday night, as the world held its collective breath, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a temporary cease-fire with Iran, just hours after warning…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
America in a World of Upheaval: A Conversation With William J. Burns
In 2024, when he was the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns wrote in an essay in Foreign Affairs about “the plastic moments that come…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Are Europe and the United States Finally Heading For Divorce? A Conversation With Nathalie Tocci and Matthias Matthijs
Just a few weeks after its opening salvos, the war in Iran is already going global. Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, stranding oil tankers and…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
How Strong Are Iran’s Strongmen? A Conversation With Stephen Kotkin
When the United States and Israel launched a joint war on Iran two weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iranians to rise up and rid themselves of their…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Iran’s Tenacious Regime and the Future of the Gulf: Conversations With Afshon Ostovar and Sanam Vakil
For about two weeks, U.S. and Israeli forces have bombarded Iran. They have targeted Iranian military and nuclear sites. They have slain Supreme Leader Ali…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
America’s War of Choice on Iran: Conversations With Nate Swanson and Richard Haass
Over the weekend, U.S. and Israeli forces struck hundreds of sites across Iran and killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Large crowds of Iranians…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
America the Predatory Hegemon: A Conversation With Stephen M. Walt
President Donald Trump wields American power like few leaders in U.S. history ever have. By imposing tariffs, threatening territorial conquest, and ordering…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Bonus: Is There an Endgame in Ukraine? A Conversation With Michael Kofman
February 24 marks the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After Moscow’s initial onslaught, Ukrainian counteroffensives, and slow…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Can America’s Allies Survive the Transatlantic Rupture? A Conversation With Chrystia Freeland
A year into Donald Trump’s second term, the United States’ allies on both sides of the Atlantic seem to have recognized that they need a new strategy for this…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Myths and Realities of Global Migration: A Conversation With Amy Pope
In 2024, there were more than 300 million migrants across the world—double the number there were in 1990. Many of those had been displaced by conflict or…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
How to Navigate the Shifting International Order: A Conversation With Finnish President Alexander Stubb
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney may have made headlines when he described a “rupture” in global order in a speech at Davos last month. But long before…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Is China Leaving the United States Behind? A Conversation With Jonathan A. Czin
One of the big surprises of Donald Trump’s second term has been the change in his approach to China. His first term marked the start of what seemed to be a…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Erosion of the Sources of American Economic Power: A Conversation With Lael Brainard
In the past year, Donald Trump has upended the global trading system and used American economic power like no president in recent memory. He’s imposed tariffs…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
What Kind of Change Is Coming to Iran? A Conversation With Karim Sadjadpour
At the end of December, protests erupted across Iran. The government has since cracked down hard with potentially thousands of Iranians killed. It now seems…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
What Comes Next in Venezuela: Conversations With Phil Gunson and Juan S. Gonzalez
It was just a few days ago that, after months of saber-rattling by the Trump administration, U.S. forces raided Venezuela and captured its leader, Nicolás…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
How the Past Shadows China’s Future: A Conversation With Odd Arne Westad
The biggest questions in U.S. foreign policy today tend to be about China. Policymakers and analysts argue over the implications of China’s rise, the extent of…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
How Liberal Democracy Can Survive an Age of Spiraling Crises: A Conversation With Daron Acemoglu
The world has reached various inflection points, or so we are often told. Advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence, promises to transform our way…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Fear and Weakness at the Heart of Trump’s Strategy: A Conversation With Kori Schake
Last week, the Trump administration released its National Security Strategy. Such documents are usually fairly staid exercises in lofty rhetoric. Not this one…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
America Can’t Escape the Multipolar Order: A Conversation With Emma Ashford
In the last decade, American foreign policymakers have been forced to reckon with a shifting global balance of power. Theorists have long argued over the shape…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Limits of the American Way of AI: A Conversation With Ben Buchanan
In the last few years, artificial intelligence has become a central focus of geopolitical competition, and especially of U.S.-Chinese rivalry. For much of that…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Age-Old Contest Between Land and Sea: A Conversation With S. C. M. Paine
Members of the foreign policy world have talked a lot about great-power competition over the last decade. But no one can entirely agree on the contours of…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Strength of Trump’s Foreign Policy: A Conversation With Robert O’Brien
Robert O’Brien served as Donald Trump’s national security adviser from 2019 to 2021. O’Brien’s predecessors in that position left the administration to become…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Xi Jinping’s World of Treachery and Sacrifice: A Conversation With Orville Schell
Last week’s meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping may have brought a respite in the trade war. But it hardly touched the more fundamental drivers of…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Crack-Up of American Democracy: A Conversation With Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar
If one thing can be said to characterize the first months of Donald Trump’s second term, it is his expansive and often norm-breaking use of presidential power…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
America’s Two-State Delusion: A Conversation With Robert Malley
With a cease-fire in place in Gaza after two years of war, Donald Trump has proclaimed the arrival of peace in the Middle East. At the moment, however, it’s…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Will the War in Gaza Really End? A Conversation With Shira Efron, Khaled Elgindy, and Daniel Shapiro
The world has watched as a cease-fire has tentatively taken effect in Gaza. All the surviving Israeli hostages are home and many Palestinian prisoners and…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
The Reeducation of Russia’s Military: A Conversation With Dara Massicot
Ever since Russia started its war in Ukraine, assessments of its military power have vacillated wildly. First, Russian forces were supposed to overrun Ukraine…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Xi Jinping's Successor and the Future of China: A Conversation With Tyler Jost and Daniel Mattingly
When Xi Jinping took over the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, he began a new chapter in China’s history—one that would come to be defined above all by his…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Poland’s View From the Frontline of Europe: A Conversation With Radek Sikorski
In early September, around 20 Russian drones entered Poland’s airspace. NATO and Polish forces scrambled fighter jets to shoot them down, but not before…
- The Foreign Affairs Interview
Is America Ready for the Age of Cyber Warfare? A Conversation With Anne Neuberger
In 2024, the U.S. government discovered that Chinese hackers had penetrated a huge swath of the American telecommunications system—and remained there for…