About this podcast
Good Authority’s mission is to bring insights from political science to a broader audience. Here, political scientists draw on their expertise to provide in-depth analysis, illuminate the news, and inform the political conversation.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 30 episodes
- Chalkboard Politics: What Do Political Scientists Actually Do? Part II · 47 min · Episode 29In episode 2 of Chalkboard Politics, the team continues last episode’s conversation about how political science professors conduct research. This episode focuses on international…
- Chalkboard Politics: What Do Political Scientists Actually Do? Part I · 41 min · Episode 28Chalkboard Politics is back with a new season and a new team. We kick off Season 2 with a very basic question: What do political scientists actually do? And how does that vary…
- Chalkboard Politics: Can Civil-Military Norms Survive a Polarized America? · 45 min · Episode 27In this episode of Chalkboard Politics, the team explores the growing pressures facing civil-military relations in the United States during a period of stark polarization…
- Chalkboard Politics: How Did the 2025 India-Pakistan Conflict Change Global Politics? · 1 h 5 min · Episode 26In this episode of Chalkboard Politics, the team examines the causes, escalation, and aftermath of the 2025 India-Pakistan crisis. Professor Niloufer Siddiqui and Professor…
- Chalkboard Politics: Are International Organizations Losing Authority? · 46 min · Episode 25In this episode of Chalkboard Politics, the team explores the evolving challenges facing international institutions in a period of populist backlash and shifting global power…
- Chalkboard Politics: Will Tariffs Unravel the Global Economic Order? · 45 min · Episode 24In this episode, Paul and Gulnaz sit down with Professor Jeffry Frieden, author of Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century, to unpack what tariffs are, how…
- Global Climate Politics After the Return of Trump · 43 min · Episode 23The second Trump administration has aggressively disrupted climate policy and politics, both domestically and internationally. Trump has prioritized domestic oil and coal…
- Chalkboard Politics: What just happened in Venezuela? · 44 min · Episode 22In this episode of Chalkboard Politics, students sit down with Professors Eduardo Moncada, Sarah Daly, and Elizabeth Saunders to unpack how concepts like narco-terrorism…
- Who will win the AI race? Jeffrey Ding argues it’s less about innovation than implementation · 33 min · Episode 21How will artificial intelligence reshape global power? And what can past technological revolutions tell us about today’s U.S.-China rivalry? In this episode of Good Authority, I…
- The New Neo-Royalist World Order · 34 min · Episode 20Stacie Goddard and Abe Newman explain how cliques are ruling the world The journal International Organization has just published a new online open access edition with short…
- PEPFAR has saved 25 million lives. Without it, millions will die. · 8 min · Episode 19The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid puts the lifesaving program PEPFAR at risk, halting the distribution of essential HIV/AIDS medications in over 50 countries…
- What’s next after the ceasefire in Gaza? · 19 min · Episode 18Barbara Walter spoke with Good Authority a year ago about the war in Gaza, drawing from her New York Times bestselling research on how civil wars almost always fight until the…
- So what really determined the 2024 U.S. presidential elections? · 35 min · Episode 17Pundits and scholars were quick to propose reasons for the 2024 presidential election outcome, from the economy to foreign affairs to campaign strategy—but what does the evidence…
- What's next for South Korean democracy? · 24 min · Episode 16After declaring martial law in December, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has faced impeachment, arrest, and detention on charges of inciting insurrection. Jean Hong, a…
- On foreign policy, has Donald Trump become predictable? · 8 min · Episode 15Is America ready for a second act of Trump's foreign policy—this time, no restraints? In a recent blog post, Columbia University political scientist and Good Authority senior…
- Why do so many countries keep subsidizing gasoline? · 22 min · Episode 14Despite promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the 2015 Paris Agreement, many governments maintain low gasoline taxes or even allow citizens to buy gasoline below market…
- Why Elon Musk’s politics are so problematic for Tesla · 5 min · Episode 13Why have Elon Musk’s politics hurt Tesla? In a recent blog post, UC Irvine political scientist and Good Authority contributor Michael Tesler wrote about how Elon Musk is…
- The importance of norms in international affairs: A conversation with Martha Finnemore · 31 min · Episode 12Martha Finnemore, recent winner of the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, discusses the critical role of norms in international affairs. She explains how norms develop…
- Why the U.S. continues to underestimate the true long-term costs of wars · 26 min · Episode 11University of Minnesota professor Tanisha Fazal discusses her new book, "Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War." In the book, she highlights how modern advancements in…
- Why it’s gotten harder to predict the outcome of the 2024 debates · 20 min · Episode 10The first presidential debate takes place tonight. As you probably know by now, Biden and Trump agreed to this June 27 debate and a second one on September 10. They are not going…
