Alexander Downes's guest appearances

Alexander Downes

The Lawfare Podcast

TrumpWatch with Jesse Lent

Conversation Six

Mimi Whitefield

Donald Trump

David Smith

Sarah McBride

Kurt Andersen

Jay Michaelson

John Kelly

Jeff Sessions

Mike Pompeo

Mark Walsh

Mike Pence

Lenny Bruce

David Cay Johnston

Harry Edwards

James Comey

OwlTail

Foreign-imposed regime change is a policy tool that a number of countries—most frequently the United States—have used to establish friendly regimes and align interests in regions around the world. With the ongoing unrest in Iran and the war in Ukraine, foreign-imposed regime change is in the news once again.But conversations around foreign-imposed regime change often occur without reference to the whole historical record. Hindsight might suggest that foreign-imposed regime change can be done but that it just needs to be done better, that we just need more resources or better strategy. To evaluate the efficacy of foreign-imposed regime change in a systematic way, Lawfare associate editor Hyemin Han spoke with Alexander Downes, professor of political science and international affairs at The George Washington University, who wrote a book about it called “Catastrophic Success: Why Foreign-Imposed Regime Change Goes Wrong.” With his data set, he draws out the lessons we can learn from attempts of foreign-imposed regime change over time. Ultimately, he argues that even when foreign-imposed regime change works, its successes don't last very long, and the downsides of regime change are actually built into the process of trying to achieve it in the first place.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Foreign-imposed regime change is a policy tool that a number of countries—most frequently the United States—have used to establish friendly regimes and align interests in regions around the world. With the ongoing unrest in Iran and the war in Ukraine, foreign-imposed regime change is in the news once again.But conversations around foreign-imposed regime change often occur without reference to the whole historical record. Hindsight might suggest that foreign-imposed regime change can be done but that it just needs to be done better, that we just need more resources or better strategy. To evaluate the efficacy of foreign-imposed regime change in a systematic way, Lawfare associate editor Hyemin Han spoke with Alexander Downes, professor of political science and international affairs at The George Washington University, who wrote a book about it called “<a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501761157/catastrophic-success/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Catastrophic Success: Why Foreign-Imposed Regime Change Goes Wrong</a>.” With his data set, he draws out the lessons we can learn from attempts of foreign-imposed regime change over time. Ultimately, he argues that even when foreign-imposed regime change works, its successes don't last very long, and the downsides of regime change are actually built into the process of trying to achieve it in the first place.Support this show <a href="http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare" rel="payment nofollow" target="_blank">http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare</a>. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Alexander Downes on the Foreshadowed Failures of Foreign-Imposed Regime Change

Nathaniel Frank

When President Donald Trump announced in a July 26 tweet that "the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military," he called into question the fate of the estimated 12,800 troops currently in active service that would be affected. But are the President's stated reasons for the pledged shift in policy, the “tremendous medical costs and disruption,” supported by the facts? In this episode of TrumpWatch, host Jesse Lent examines whether sexual orientation actually has a quantifiable effect on the cohesion of our fighting force with Nathaniel Frank director of Columbia Law School's What We Know Project, a research initiative that collects scholarship on LGBTQ public policy and the author of “Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America.” His editorial “'Unit Cohesion' Isn’t a Real Reason to Ban Trans People From the Military” was published on Slate.com on August 1. Then, we'll discuss the historical arguments that have been made against diversity within the armed forces with Alexander Downes, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he teaches courses on international security and military effectiveness. His article “Would transgender troops harm military effectiveness? Here’s what the research says” was published on August 1 in the Washington Post.

When President Donald Trump announced in a July 26 tweet that "the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military," he called into question the fate of the estimated 12,800 troops currently in active service that would be affected. But are the President's stated reasons for the pledged shift in policy, the “tremendous medical costs and disruption,” supported by the facts? In this episode of TrumpWatch, host Jesse Lent examines whether sexual orientation actually has a quantifiable effect on the cohesion of our fighting force with Nathaniel Frank director of Columbia Law School's What We Know Project, a research initiative that collects scholarship on LGBTQ public policy and the author of “Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America.” His editorial “'Unit Cohesion' Isn’t a Real Reason to Ban Trans People From the Military” was published on <a href="http://Slate.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Slate.com</a> on August 1. Then, we'll discuss the historical arguments that have been made against diversity within the armed forces with Alexander Downes, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he teaches courses on international security and military effectiveness. His article “Would transgender troops harm military effectiveness? Here’s what the research says” was published on August 1 in the Washington Post.

Ep 36 (8/2/17) Why does Trump want a transgender troop ban? Guests: Nathaniel Frank/Alexander Downes

When President Donald Trump tweeted that "the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military," he called into question the fate of the estimated 12,800 troops currently in active service that would be affected. But are the President's stated reasons for the pledged shift in policy, the “tremendous medical costs and disruption,” supported by the facts? In this episode of TrumpWatch, host Jesse Lent examines whether sexual orientation actually has a quantifiable effect on the cohesion of our fighting force with Nathaniel Frank, director of Columbia Law School's What We Know Project, a research initiative that collects scholarship on LGBTQ public policy and the author of “Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America” and Alexander Downes, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he teaches courses on international security and military effectiveness. His article “Would transgender troops harm military effectiveness? Here’s what the research says” was published on August 1 in the Washington Post.

When President Donald Trump tweeted that "the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military," he called into question the fate of the estimated 12,800 troops currently in active service that would be affected. But are the President's stated reasons for the pledged shift in policy, the “tremendous medical costs and disruption,” supported by the facts? In this episode of TrumpWatch, host Jesse Lent examines whether sexual orientation actually has a quantifiable effect on the cohesion of our fighting force with Nathaniel Frank, director of Columbia Law School's What We Know Project, a research initiative that collects scholarship on LGBTQ public policy and the author of “Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America” and Alexander Downes, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he teaches courses on international security and military effectiveness. His article “Would transgender troops harm military effectiveness? Here’s what the research says” was published on August 1 in the Washington Post.

Why does President Trump want a transgender troop ban? (Nathaniel Frank, Alexander Downes)