Alexandra Chinchilla
Hidden Costs of Precision
How do drone strikes shape civilian behavior? Episode 164 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast explores research using 12 billion cell phone records from Yemen, revealing civilian displacement on par with natural disasters, and discusses what this means for the strategic logic of precision airpower.
From Subversion to Resistance: Lessons from Russia’s War in Ukraine
This episode examines how Russian operatives and local militants in 2014 transformed political unrest in eastern Ukraine into an armed insurgency—and what it teaches us about subversion, resistance, and state resilience. Dr. Celeste Wallander and Dr. Serhiy Kudelia are the guests.
Five Years After the Withdrawal: Insights from the Afghanistan War Commission
Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, Dr. Colin Jackson and Colonel (Ret.) E.J. Degen join us to discuss initial insights from the Afghanistan War Commission’s work. In particular, the episode examines insights from Afghanistan for building partner armies.
The Wars Nuclear Weapons Don't Prevent
This episode of the Irregular Warfare Podcast examines how nuclear weapons shape great power competition, making direct war less likely while encouraging indirect conflict. Guests are General Richard D. Clarke, Dr. David Logan, and Dr. Kyle Atwell.
Setting Out to Win: Why America Needs to Get Serious About Irregular Warfare
This episode explores why the United States has largely failed at irregular warfare over the past 75 years and what can be done to reverse that trend and win at irregular warfare. LTG (Ret.) Charles Cleveland and Dr. Rob Burrell are the guests.
The Counterinsurgency Dilemma: Foreign Fighter Influence on Insurgencies
Episode 154 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast examines a core puzzle in intrastate conflict: how a small number of foreign fighters can exert outsized influence on insurgencies. Anchored in Professor Tricia Bacon’s The Counterinsurgency Dilemma, this episode explores when foreign fighters strengthen insurgent groups—and when they undermine them.
Where the Lion Can’t Reach: Unconventional Warfare in Major War
Description Episode 153 examines the role of unconventional warfare and special operations forces in conventional major war. Summary This conversation explores how unconventional warfare can support, shape, and sometimes substitute for conventional military operations in large-scale combat. Our guests examine what unconventional warfare is and why it matters beyond
Influence by Design: Reassessing U.S. Military Advising
The Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI) Editorial Team is proud to present the second installment in our series featuring leading thinkers in the irregular warfare community critically engaging with recent IW-related publications. Curated by IWI editors Barbara Elias and Lewis Fraser, this series goes beyond traditional book reviews. Contributors are
Bridging the gap between irregular warfare scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.