Today we explore Kim Yo Jung, Kim Jong Un’s sister, and her official role in North Korea. She first made her international debut in 2018 and has continued to dominate North Korean politics alongside her brother, with many scholars considering her to be a potential successor to Kim Jong Un. We are joined today by Dr. Sung-Yoon Lee to discuss why he …

Realism has been the dominant theory of international relations since its conception, and within the realist school, the balance of power theory is a core tenet and posits that in order to survive as independent entities in an anarchic system, states are compelled to increase their power and balance against a potential hegemon. This theory was modi…

The 2023 Guatemalan elections were closely watched this past summer, especially following the anti-democratic efforts that led to Bernardo Arévalo’s Semilla party being suspended after unexpectedly emerging as one of the two victors of the first round of elections in late June. Arévalo eventually beat out former first lady Sandra Torres in the Augu…

As some countries, including India, China, the UAE, and Turkey, have started to move away from the U.S. Dollar as the standard for international trade, the government is faced with many questions regarding the importance of Dollar Dominance. In this episode, Saleha Mohsin, senior Washington correspondent for Bloomberg News, joins us to overview the…

In this episode, we discuss Argentina’s worsening economic crisis and ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Argentina is facing historic annual rates of inflation that have reached over 100% this past June. How did Argentina’s situation become this dire? How is Economic Minister Sergio Massa, who is set to be the ruling P…

The Wagner Group, a private military company, was fighting in Ukraine on behalf of the Russian government until late June, when the group’s commander Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a mutiny and began marching toward Moscow. Before the Wagner Group reached the city, Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko negotiated a deal between Prigozhin and the R…

Israel, once touted as a thriving democracy in the Middle East, now finds itself in a very unstable political climate. After a 5th election in 4 years which restored the country’s longest running prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israelis are in the streets again protesting against a controversial bill introduced in the Israeli parliament. The bi…

Russia and India have enjoyed a long history of friendly and mutually beneficial relations. The rise of China, U.S.-China tensions, the war in Ukraine, and the Russian-Chinese partnership, have had profound effects on Russian-Indian relations. Dr. Constantino Xavier, fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress and a nonresident fellow at …

Of the thirteen countries that currently maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, seven of those are in Latin America. This episode explores how Honduras’ recent diplomatic split with Taiwan in favor of China affects Taiwan’s diplomatic strategy in the region. To discuss Taiwan’s relations with Latin America, joining us today is Margaret Myers, t…

Last year, North Korea conducted a record number of ballistic missile test and appears to soon conduct another nuclear test. These developments have aggravated South Korea’s concern about U.S. extended deterrence commitments. Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, joins us…

Recently, French president Emmanuel Macron used his emergency powers to pass a law that raises the retirement age, and the age at which French people can access their state funded pension. This recent – very unpopular – change alongside a whole host of other issues, has led to massive, and intense protests across France, a vote of no confidence in …

On Thursday, March 16, the Biden administration threatened that it would ban TikTok unless it was sold due to data security and content manipulation concerns regarding American users. While some applauded the potential move as safeguarding U.S. national security, others have questioned the legality and necessity of a ban. In this episode, Caitlyn C…

Many countries have expressed concern over a number of subsidies passed by the Biden Administration mainly targeting green energy. In this episode we explore why some European countries view American subsidies as a provocation, why they are pursuing competing subsidies, and how this may affect the relationship between the United States and its Euro…

Climate change has rendered some parts of the world uninhabitable, prompting millions of people to be displaced. This is especially the case for already vulnerable populations in regions that bear most of the burden of rising temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions. The legal categorization of “climate migrants” or “climate refugees” is a hotl…

POFA is starting a new series called “Scoring and Thriving” where we talk about foreign policy internship opportunities in and around our nation’s capital. In this episode, we are joined by Jeremy Gonzalez, who previously managed the internship program at the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was Chris’s former internship supervisor. We discuss t…

Despite having been projected to be the fastest growing economy in the world, Ghana has been fighting one of its worst economic crises and with women playing a large role in its informal economy, some experts argue that improving gender inequality can lead the way for economic and social recovery for the Sub-Saharan country. In this episode, we dis…

The pope sends diplomats to 117 countries and hosts around 88 embassies in or near Vatican City. In this episode, we explore how Vatican diplomacy works and why diplomacy matters to the Holy See, the entity with jurisdiction over the Catholic Church and Vatican City. We also discuss the pope’s unique role as a mediator on the international stage. F…

The death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022, marked the end of her 70 year rule as Queen of the United Kingdom and Other Commonwealth realms. A figure of stability during an era of enormous change, the Queen reigned during the dissolution of the British empire and the advent of globalization. In this episode, we discuss Queen Elizabeth’s l…

On February 6, two approximately 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck southern Türkiye and Syria. At the time of recording, the death toll in both countries is over 35,000. In this episode, we focus on how the earthquake has affected Türkiye specifically, with a look at the country’s disaster response, as well as how the event may alter Turkish domesti…

​​An alleged Chinese spy balloon entered U.S. airspace on January 28 and flew over the continental United States until being shot down off of the South Carolina coast on February 4. Since then, the U.S. government has detected and shot down more high-altitude objects over Northern Alaska, Yukon, and Lake Huron. In this episode, Blake Herzinger, non…

The Biden administration has defined China as the “pacing challenge” that poses the “most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security.” Sino-American tensions, in particular, have escalated due to disagreements over the future of Taiwan and the potential of Chinese invasion of the island. What should the United States be doing to …

In this episode, we discuss the likelihood of nuclear weapons use given Russia’s military doctrine and the current state of the war, how Ukraine and its allies ought to respond to Putin’s threats, and the potential risks of pushing for a diplomatic end to war too soon. Joining us on the podcast is Dr. Raphael Cohen, director of the Strategy and Doc…

In 2022 we recorded 62 fantastic episodes discussing topics from Ukraine, to cybersecurity, to U.S.-China relations. In this episode, we’ll be having a roundtable discussion on our most important foreign affairs moments of 2022. As a disclaimer, the format of the roundtable makes it difficult for POFA hosts to fully explain their opinions and respo…

British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned October 20 after only six weeks in office after her policies caused an economic crisis. Rishi Sunak, who succeeded Truss in October, has been tasked with stabilizing the economy and the conservative party’s standing. Nick Witney, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, joins us on…

On December 7th, 2022, within 24 hours, Pedro Castillo was ousted from office and jailed after attempting to unconstitutionally dissolve Peru’s Congress. His successor, Dina Boluarte, is Peru’s fifth President in two years. Dr. Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, joins us today to discuss the future of democracy …