Press | 2023

Clements Executive Director Will Inboden appeared on Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson for a detailed two-part discussion of Ronald Reagan’s strategy and tactics in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion.In this first installment, they cover Reagan’s first term in which he deals with the public’s perception of his intelligence, a large and popular…

Napoleon once said that leaders are “dealers in hope.” While such a label might seem to fit Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky, it fits more awkwardly on Russian President Vladimir Putin. How has the leadership of these two men shaped the onset and current progress of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Would the invasion have happened at all, or if had happened would it have progressed differently under different leadership? These are the fundamental questions addressed in this week’s Horns of a Dilemma. Texas National Security Review Executive Editor Doyle Hodges is joined by Brown University Professor (and member of the TNSR Editorial Board) Rose McDermott to discuss political psychology, leadership, and the war in Ukraine.

Juan Zarata of the FINCast podcast sat down to discuss “Hand Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama” with three of the books contributors.

On the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Clements Center for National Security hosted former Vice President Mike Pence for a speech commemorating the somber occasion. Pence called for additional support for Ukraine in front of a crowd of UT-Austin students and faculty, including several refugees from Ukraine, and members of the press.

Tevi Troy reviewed Will Inboden’s, “The Peacemaker” for City Journal. He notes that: “The Reagan foreign policy deserves a detailed history, and Inboden was the right person to write it.”

In this week’s Horns of a Dilemma, Daniel Runde of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, speaks about his new book, TheAmerican Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership Through Soft Power.  

Clements Associate Director Paul Edgar joined Rebecca Burgess on the Law and Liberty podcast to discuss the strategy, alliance, and leadership lessons left behind by King Idrimi of Alalakh.

“China would perceive diminished American resolve in Ukraine as weakness and a strategic opening to exploit, perhaps by attacking Taiwan.”

Clements Center alum Jada Fraser writes on Korea Pro that the increasing Chinese threat to Taiwan will likely impact the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance directly and offers that there are three issues affecting OPCON transfer that should be considered when looking toward a possible conflict.

The turnover between U.S. presidential administrations can be a time of uncertainty and vulnerability. In this week’s episode of Horns of a Dilemma, we hear from former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, who discusses the forthcoming volume, “Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama.”

Geoffrey Kabaservice reviewed Will Inboden’s “The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink” for the @washingtonpost. He notes that Inboden “…combines historical insight with a practitioner’s wisdom, particularly in his gimlet-eyed assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of Reagan’s principal foreign policy advisers.” and “…doesn’t whitewash Reagan’s shortcomings.” 

“Reagan’s fixation on a U.S. victory over the Soviets was a necessity at the time. But contrary to what Americans often imagine, history never ends, and old solutions beget new strategic challenges.” Dan Blumenthal reviewed Will Inboden’s “The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink” for National Review.

Clements Alum Rachel Hoff coauthored a Fox News opinion piece, “3 ways Biden, Congress must respond to very real Chinese, Russian threats.”

A year ago, as Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine was proving not to be the quick and easy victory Vladimir Putin had expected, some observers speculated that the bungled decision to invade his neighbor could be Putin’s undoing.  The idea of a Russian state without Putin raised alluring prospects of reform. In this week’sHorns of a Dilemma, American University Professor Joseph Torigian discusses the dynamics of authoritarian succession.

 “Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama,” a fascinating look at the 40 classified memos that the Bush administration assembled for their successors, was published today. Stephen Hadley was the National Security Advisor at the time and is the main editor of the book. Peter Feaver, Will Inboden and Meghan O’Sullivan…

Dr. Jennifer Yip, a Clements Center and Asia Policy Program Postdoctoral Fellow, recently published an article in Modern China Journal, titled “Carrying the ‘Nation’s Thousand-Jin Burden’: Yiyun, the Relay Transportation System during the Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945.”

We are delighted to be a cosponsor of the @reaganfoundation’s “Age of Reagan Conference” in August. Both individual and group submissions welcome. Abstracts must be submitted by March 25, 2023.

In this week’s episode ofHorns of a Dilemma, we listen to a discussion between Will Inboden, executive director of the Clements Center at the University of Texas, Austin, and Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. Brands and Inboden discuss a book written by Brands and Michael Beckley,Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict With China.

Clements Predoctoral Fellow Casey Mahoney coauthored a chapter in “The Oxford Handbook of AI Governance” with Michael C. Horowitz and Shira Pindyck in which they explore the ways military applications of AI will impact how states exert power in global politics.

In January, the Clements Center for National Security, the LBJ Presidential Library, the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, and the Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project teamed up with the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) to host a two-day event at the LBJ Presidential Library, “America’s Secrets: Classified Information and Our Democracy.”