Press | Domestic Affairs

Clements Center scholar comments on the letter drafted by 124 retired generals and admirals claiming that the election was “stolen.” 

The Clements Center mourns the death of statesman and scholar Charlie Hill.  As a co-founder of the Yale Grand Strategy Program, he was a beloved graduate school teacher to several of our faculty and leaves a remarkable legacy.  Our Statecraft Board member Eric Edelman penned this tribute to him.

“The world is at a crossroads as the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the global economy have combined with increasing polarization and highly charged elections. At the same time, the unrelenting and transcendent desire of people around the globe to live in freedom offers hope for democracy and human rights. Join us as we…

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Doyle Hodges, executive editor of the Texas National Security Review, sits down with Sam Jackson, assistant professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity at the University of Albany, to discuss far right-wing, antigovernment groups in the United States. In particular, Hodges and Jackson focus…

“The military, he [Golby] said, ‘understands what is at stake and remains committed to carrying out its duties in a nonpartisan manner.’” Golby also reassured that the military is accustomed to carrying out orders individuals may not agree with. 

 “It affirms the rule of law, clearly calls out the attack on our Constitutional processes, reminds the force of their duties, and affirms the election outcome. I think it hits exactly the right tone,” Golby said in a quoted tweet by Defense One. 

“And consider the way special ops are portrayed in popular culture, in movies. There is an identity that [extremist] groups want to have. They want to emulate the way military members dress, the way they carry weapons because that portrays an image of confidence and credibility,” said Golby addressing the recruitment of veterans into extremist…

‘The fact that Pelosi is talking to Milley about the topic is “alarming, and it shows just how dysfunctional things are right now,” said Jim Golby’ in last week’s article from the Washington Post. 

Listen now as Exec. Director Will Inboden discusses last week’s siege of the US Capitol and the subsequent political fallout with Canada’s top news station’s radio show “The Current.” 

Exec. Director Inboden commented on the current national crisis for the Boston Globe, local Austin news station KVUE, and USA Today this week.   

Clements Center faculty fellow Nate Jensen gives his take on the Musk exodus from California and relocation to the great state of Texas. 

We are delighted at the news of the late Bill Powers being unanimously named as President Emeritus. We owe the very establishment of the Clements Center to Powers’ support and vision. Will Inboden, Clements executive director and William Powers, Jr. chair, writes, “Bill’s enthusiasm for the Clements Center also came because as a Navy veteran he…

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Michael Kimmage, professor and department chair at the Department of History at Catholic University in Washington D.C., discusses his book, The Abandonment of the West: The History of an Idea in American Foreign Policy. Kimmage asserts that the idea of the “West” — a set of shared values…

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, we listen to a talk by David French, author of Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How we Restore our Nation. French details the way in which the United States has become increasingly polarized politically, geographically, and culturally, and examines what he considers to be the threat…

In the latest episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Clements Center Senior Fellow Jim Golby sits down with National Security Fellow Brandon Archuleta to talk about his new book, Twenty Years of Service: The Politics of Military Pension Policy and the Long Road to Reform. Archuleta’s book unpacks the forces that are behind the long persistence…

Clements Center Predoctoral Fellow Peter Slezkine publishes review of Michael Kimmage’s Abandonment of the West: The History of an Idea in American Foreign Policy combined with a broader reflection on the history of US leadership in “The Case for Questioning U.S. Leadership” in National Interest. 

Clements Center Senior Fellow Jim Golby explores the military’s role in politics in “Trump allegedly disparaged America’s war dead. The backlash probably won’t decide the election.” published in the Washington Post.

Jim Golby, one of our faculty fellows, has co-authored an article with Kori Schake in Defense One on civil-military relations. “The Military Won’t Save Us – and You Shouldn’t Want Them To” adds to the ongoing discussion over constitutional and military protocols in regard to presidential succession. 

One of our undergraduate fellows, Nick Romanow, has published a new piece in The Bulwark recounting the story of his naturalization process during these turbulent times, and what citizenship means in the United States today.

Senior Fellow Jim Golby and Academic Board Member Peter Feaver examine the effects and consequences of political leaders politicizing the military in War on the Rocks.

Faculty fellow Jim Golby and Mara Karlin have written an article in Task and Purpose to discuss the politicalization of the US Military.  “We don’t want a military that is “apolitical”; we instead want a military that avoids partisanship, institutional endorsements, and electoral influence. Those topics should stay off limits, but politics are too critical…

Faculty Fellow Jim Golby discusses civ-mil relations in new United States Studies Center article from Sydney University: “The Role of the US Military in Quelling Domestic Protests.”

The new episode of “This is Democracy” examines the evolving role of the military in a democratic society and the limits on how leaders can deploy force. Hosted by faculty fellow Jeremi Suri and featuring our Associate Director, Paul Edgar.

Will Quinn, a Clements summer seminar alum and speaker from our February conference, and Jason Fritz, have published a new article on US Army base names and the calls for reform.   

Our distinguished Senior Fellow General Vince Brooks has published “Dismay and Disappointment—A Breach of Sacred Trust,” discussing the use of military resources on American streets. 

Congratulations to our Graduate Fellow Ashlyn W. Hand for winning the William S. Livingston Outstanding Graduate Student Academic Employee Award from UT Austin! This award honors honor outstanding performance by graduate student academic employees. Ashlyn is a second-year doctoral student at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Her research interests involve the intersection of women’s political…

Clements’ post-doctoral fellow Silke Zoller has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at Kennesaw State University, Georgia. She will be working in the Department of History and Philosophy. 

Clements Center Graduate Fellow LTC Ryan Kendall describes the nature of the military during the current virus outbreak and how the domestic roles of military personnel change. 

The University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project (ISP) hosted its fifth annual Intelligence Studies Project Symposium. This year’s Symposium “Intelligence in Transition” featured a keynote address by the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Susan Gordon. This event is co-sponsored by the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law, the Clements Center for National Security, and the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Stravers explores how presidential emergency declarations affect separation of powers in his latest commentary piece for War on the Rocks. 

Chesney writes on the “alarming judicial precedent” of President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over the security of the southern border. 

In “The Rhetorical Presidency Made Flesh: A Political Science Classic in the Age of Donald Trump”, Zug revisits Jeffrey Tulis’ 1987 thesis in the context of the Trump administration.