On this episode, Dan Richards talks with Tyler Jost, a political scientist and assistant professor at the Watson Institute.

Tyler is an expert on international security and Chinese foreign policy, and his new book “Bureaucracies at War: The Institutional Origins of Miscalculation,” explores how leaders (in China and beyond) make decisions about when and how to engage in military conflict. Are there open channels of communication between a country’s leaders and security advisors? Are there forums for debate and disagreement? And what can be done to actually help leaders make better decisions?

In one sense, the questions the book explores are timeless. But Jost’s book feels especially timely at this moment, as tensions continue to rise between the U.S. and China, and the world adjusts once again to an American president unmoored by traditional norms and institutions.

The stakes of military conflict today have never been higher, and the need for clear, accurate analysis of the costs and benefits of military actions is more important than ever. And as Jost explains in this episode: there are lessons from history for how to help leaders make better decisions when it comes to national security. Let’s just hope those in power are willing to learn them.

• Learn more about and purchase “Bureaucracies at War: The Institutional Origins of Miscalculation"
• Transcript coming soon to our website
• Questions? Send us an email at trendingglobally@brown.edu

The Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol is a stately room just off the Great Rotunda, whose walls are lined with — you guessed it — statues. The statues celebrate notable figures from all 50 states.

For most of its existence, there wasn’t a single statue of a Black American in this hall. But that changed in 2022 when a statue of Mary McCleod Bethune was delivered to the Hall from Florida.

Bethune, who was born in 1875 and died in 1955, might not be the first name you would have guessed to break this racial barrier. But as Noliwe Rooks, chair of Africana Studies at Brown University, shows in her new book “A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune,” her achievements as an educator and civil rights leader were profound, her life story is an inspiration, and her place in the statuary hall is well-deserved.

The book — which has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award — is part biography, part memoir and part analysis of a period in American history that’s often overlooked in the story of racial progress.

If you’ve never heard of Bethune, this book is for you. And if you think you know the story of Mary McCleod Bethune, this book will probably show you a side of her you haven’t seen before.

Learn more about and purchase “A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune”

On Monday, January 20, Donald Trump was once again sworn in as President of the United States. The ceremony was moved indoors due to the cold, where Trump declared in his inaugural address that no president has ever been tested like he has, and that “the new golden age for America starts now.”

However, it wasn’t all speeches and ceremonies on Monday — Trump also signed dozens of executive orders, affecting U.S. policies on a range of issues, including climate change, public health, immigration and transgender rights. And while his administration is only days old, last week, we also saw the beginning of confirmation hearings in Congress for his cabinet nominations.

On this episode, Dan Richards spoke with political scientist Wendy Schiller about what these early moves in Trump-world can tell us about what’s to come in a second Trump administration and how Trump will operate in a country that seems more open to his brand of politics now than it was in 2016.

Guests on this episode:

• Wendy Schiller is a political scientist and director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy at the Watson Institute. She is also the interim director of the Watson Institute.