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Small World, Big Problems

Small World, Big Problems

By: JHU SAIS Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies
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About this listen

Small World, Big Problems – a SAIS Strategy Podcast.

A SAIS student podcast supported by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies.

​In Small World, Big Problems, we ask the experts about the biggest challenges in the world of strategy and national security.

​It’s a small world, and it’s only getting smaller. But it seems like every day, there is a new problem on the horizon: great power conflict, political extremism, climate change – the list goes on and on. In this student podcast sponsored by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, we ask leading experts in the fields of national security, strategy, and statecraft about what problems the world is facing and, more importantly, how to solve them.

​Please address any questions to SAISStrategyPodcast@gmail.com.

JHU SAIS Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies 2023
Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • The Evolution of Modern Airpower with Brigadier General Geoffrey Weiss
    Apr 25 2025

    Connor Hall talks with US Air Force Brigadier General Geoffrey Weiss on the evolution of modern airpower theory, the role airpower has played in recent conflicts, and the future of manned aircraft in an environment increasingly dominated by attritable unmanned systems.

    General Weiss is currently serving as the Director of Regional Affairs in the office of the Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs (SAF/IA) at the Pentagon. His critically-acclaimed book The New Art of War was published in 2021 by Cambridge University Press and has been an Amazon bestseller in military history and military science.

    Researched and hosted by Connor Hall; edited by Emma Ding.

    The views expressed in this episode are those of Geoffrey Weiss and do not reflect the official stance of the US Air Force or the US Department of Defense.

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    52 mins
  • How China Became a Great Power, with Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro
    Mar 3 2025

    Erik Schuh talks with Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro about how China became a great power, discussing her recent book on the topic. They dive into China's rise compared to historical global powers and where the U.S.-China relationship stands today.

    Dr. Mastro is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Courtesy Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University.

    Dr. Mastro's Book: Upstart: How China Became a Great Power

    Follow Dr. Mastro: https://x.com/osmastro

    This episode was researched and hosted by Erik Schuh; it was edited by Emma Ding.

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    22 mins
  • Dr. Ursula Wilder - Intelligence and Leader Psychological Assessment
    Dec 2 2024

    Luke Litle talks with Dr. Ursula Wilder about the importance of understanding the psychology of foreign leaders and of ourselves, the psychology of historical figures, and the psychology of deterrence. Dr. Wilder takes us down her career path and offers invaluable advice to students and young professionals in the national security space. We explore the frontiers of the study of psychology as applied to intelligence work, such as the fields of cyber psychology and artificial intelligence. Dr. Wilder is a clinical psychologist at the Central Intelligence Agency, where she has served for 27 years. She’s done operational work with the CIA’s counter-terrorism center, analyzed the psychology of extremists in the DNI’s counter-terrorism center, and has spent considerable time assessing the psychology of world leaders for CIA.

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    1 hr and 23 mins

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