Brandon Yoder is Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University. He holds a Ph.D. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. He studies a range of topics, including foreign policy, international security, US-China relations, and signaling and credibility. He’s the author of a 2025 article in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, titled, “Will there be war over Taiwan? Structural stability and policy pitfalls in cross-Strait deterrence.” Yoder and I discuss stability in the relations between China and Taiwan.

OTHER LINKS
--"Wen and Bush in Oval office," from YouTube
--"Obama tells Trump to 'think it through' on China," from YouTube
--"Biden reaffirms 'One China Policy' after talks with Xi | ANC," from YouTube
--"Will there be war over Taiwan? Structural stability and policy pitfalls in cross-Strait deterrence," (2025) by Yoder, in The British Journal of Politics and International Relations
--"The Taiwan tightrope: Deterrence Is a balancing act, and America is starting to slip," (2025) by Mastro and Yoder, in Foreign Affairs
--"Iran war complicates contingency plans to defend Taiwan, some U.S. officials say," (2025, April 23) by Ward et al., in The Wall Street Journal

MUSIC CREDITS (all songs from Free Music Archive, and each song carries the "cc by" license)
--"The Trail," by Unheard Music Concepts
--"Precisamos de um plano," by rui
--"Post Drone," by Uuriter
--"Monsters of the past," by Pawel Feszczuk

Special Guest: Brandon Yoder.

Chris Federico is Professor of Political Science and Psychology at the University of Minnesota and the Arleen C. Carlson Professor of American Government and Politics. He’s also past president of the International Society of Political Psychology. Eric McDaniel is a Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, and author of two books, The Everyday Crusade: Religious Nationalism in American Politics, as well as Politics in the Pews: The Political Mobilization of Black Churches. The three of us discussed the background leading up to this moment in U.S. history, and what it might take for change to occur.

OTHER LINKS
--"McCain counters Obama 'Arab' question," from YouTube
--"Trump: They're eating the dogs, the cats," from YouTube
--"New angle shows moment federal agents shoot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis," from YouTube
--Lilliana Mason's website
--Social dominance, by Sidanius and Pratto
--"Curse and mark of Cain," Wikipedia entry
--"Curse of Ham," Wikipedia entry
--"A new measure of affective polarization," (in press) by Campos and Federico, in the American Political Science Review
--Linda Skitka's website
--"The Sermon on the Mount," Wikipedia entry
--"Crockett, Talarico locked in dead heat in Texas Senate primary: Poll," The Hill
--"Polarized attitudes and anti-democratic attitudes: Robust evidence for paradoxical relationaships among American partisans," (2025) by Malka et al. in Political Studies

MUSIC CREDITS (all songs from Free Music Archive, and each song carries the "cc by" license)
--"The Trail," by Unheard Music Concepts
--"Funky End," by Pawel Feszczuk
--"Imprecation," by Kevin Hartnell
--"Pleasure," by Haunted Me
--"Caress me to sleep," by rui

Special Guests: Christopher Federico and Eric McDaniel.

Paul Schofield is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bates College. His areas of speciality are ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of film. He teaches a range of courses, including Capitalism and Its Critics; Wellbeing and the Good Life; and Human Natura, Morality & Politics. Much of his recent public-facing writing has focused on the problem of homelessness.

OTHER LINKS
--YouTube video of Rally for Housing and Services to End Homelessness
--Tell Them Who I Am: The Lives of Homeless Women, by Elliot Liebow (1995)
--"The necessity of guaranteed housing," by Paul Schofield (2022), Blog of the American Philosophical Association
--Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion, by Paul Bloom (2018)
--Quixote Village website
--"Trump says 'Housing First' failed the homeless. Here's what the evidence says," by Jason DeParle (2025), New York Times
--Law professor Danieli Evans's website
--"The homelessness crisis is a crisis of democracy," by Paul Schofield (2025), Jacobin
--King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
--"An inconvenient truth," by Paul Schofield (2023), Slate

MUSIC CREDITS (all songs from Free Music Archive, and each song carries the "cc by" license)
--"The Trail," by Unheard Music Concepts
--"Breath," by Kirk Osamayo
--"Pleasure," by Haunted Me
--"Caress me to sleep," by rui

Special Guest: Paul Schofield.