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Irregular Warfare Podcast

von Irregular Warfare Initiative

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The Irregular Warfare Podcast explores an important component of war throughout history. Small wars, drone strikes, special operations forces, counterterrorism, proxies—this podcast covers the full range of topics related to irregular war and features in-depth conversations with guests from the military, academia, and the policy community. The podcast is a collaboration between the Modern War Institute at West Point and Princeton University’s Empirical Studies of Conflict Project.

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  1. What's Cyber Good For?

    Episode #167 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast grapples with the role cyberspace should play in the broader coercion toolkit. The conversation considers why cyber has remained a go-to tool for shaping adversary behavior even as research has

  2. The Airpower We Need for Irregular Warfare

    Summary Why does providing aircraft so often fall short of building an effective air force? Retired Lieutenant General Anthony Rock, Michael Horowitz, and Tobias Switzer join Kyle Atwell to examine the gap between acquiring technology and t

  3. War at Arm’s Length: Can Military Assistance Work?

    U.S. military assistance often has a bad reputation, but it isn’t doomed to failure. This episode examines why security assistance succeeds with some partners and falls short with others, and what it takes to turn weapons and training into

  4. Hidden Costs of Precision

    Episode 164 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast grapples with the hidden costs of precision warfare, looking at how drone strikes affect civilian populations well beyond their immediate lethal footprint. Anchored in a study using twelve billio

  5. The Future of War Part IV: Special Operations on a Global Battlefield

    This episode of the Irregular Warfare Podcast concludes our four-part Future of War series, pairing author and futurist August Cole with senior special operations leaders to explore how tomorrow’s conflicts may unfold. Today’s episode cente

  6. From Subversion to Resistance: Lessons from Russia’s War in Ukraine

    Today’s episode examines how Russian agents and local militants exploited ambiguity, weak state capacity, and fragmented local authority to transform unrest in the Donbas into an armed insurgency in 2014. At its core, it is a story about ho

  7. Five Years After the Withdrawal: Insights from the Afghanistan War Commission

    Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan this August, Dr. Colin Jackson and Colonel (Ret.) E.J. Degen join us to discuss initial insights from the Afghanistan War Commission’s work. The Afghanistan War Comm

  8. Innovation Under Fire: What WWII’s Commandos Teach Us About War and the Future of Special Operations

    Description Episode 160 examines the origins of Britain’s World War II commandos and the enduring role of special operations forces from Churchill’s era to today. Summary This episode explores the creation of Britain’s legendary commando fo

  9. From NATO to the Gulf: Allies, Access, and the Hidden Architecture of American Power

    Description Episode 159 examines the relationship between alliances, military access, and U.S. global power projection. Summary This episode explores an often overlooked benefit of alliances: wartime access. Dr. Rachel Metz and Ambassador D

  10. The Wars Nuclear Weapons Don't Prevent

    Nuclear weapons may make direct war between major powers less likely, but they do not end competition. Instead, they push states toward indirect forms of conflict: proxy warfare, security force assistance, covert action, and cyber operation

  11. Setting Out to Win: Why America Needs to Get Serious About Irregular Warfare

    This episode examines why the United States has failed at irregular warfare and what it would take to reverse that trajectory—not merely to deter, but to actually win. Summary While irregular warfare is on the rise around the globe today, t

  12. Iran, Ukraine, and the Future of Naval Warfare

    Description Episode 156 examines what the U.S.-Iran War and Russia-Ukraine War reveal about how weaker states and irregular actors contest navies, maritime commerce, and global energy flows. Summary This conversation examines naval irregula

  13. Hellscape Taiwan: Drones, Deterrence, and the Future of Asymmetric Defense

    This week’s episode of the Irregular Warfare Podcast examines how Taiwan could deter—or potentially defeat—a Chinese invasion by transforming the Taiwan Strait into an “unmanned hellscape.” Anchored in the recent CNAS report Hellscape for T

  14. The Counterinsurgency Dilemma: Foreign Fighter Influence on Insurgencies in Afghanistan and Somalia

    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 (https://www.drtriciabacon

  15. 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 conv

  16. What the Hell is Irregular Warfare Anyway?

    Episode 152 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast grapples with the many definitions of irregular warfare used across the community of interest. In this episode, our guests discuss why the concept of irregular warfare has resisted a stable defin

  17. Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare

    Episode 151 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast explores how the United States wields power not only through military force, but through dollars, sanctions, export controls, and supply chains. Anchored in Eddie Fishman’s book Chokepoints: Amer

  18. From Orbit to Objective: Space and the Future of Conflict

    Space is no longer a silent backdrop to conflict—it is a contested domain that enables, shapes, and increasingly defines how wars are fought. In this episode, Ben Jebb and Charlie McGillis sit down with Dr. James Kiras and General Stephen W

  19. Iran, Revolution, and the Logic of Proxy Warfare

    Episode 150 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast examines the historical and strategic forces that shaped modern Iran and explores how the Islamic Republic uses irregular warfare to advance its interests in the Middle East. Our guests begin by

  20. The Strategic Logic of Large Militant Alliance Networks

    Episode 148 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast explores why militant groups form alliances, and what the content of those alliances can tell us about their organizational capacity. Drawing on an article Professor Chris Blair co-authored with

  21. Preserving the American Edge: Revitalizing the Defense Industrial Base

    Episode 147 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast examines the past, present, and future of America’s defense industrial base—and why its strength may determine the outcome of the next era of great power competition. Drawing on historical experi

  22. Competitive Intervention, Proxy War, and Military Assistance: Anderson, Eyre, and Kuhlman

    Description: Episode 146 examines the impact of external military assistance on civil wars. Summary This conversation delves into the complexities of competitive intervention in civil wars, exploring the types of military aid provided, how

  23. Foreign Fighters in Ukraine and Beyond

    Episode 145 examines the role of foreign fighters in war. Our guests begin by highlighting the long history of foreign fighters in conflict, from the early United States and the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s to contemporary cases such as t

  24. The Future of War Part III: Strategic Sabotage in an Era of Great-Power

    Episode 144 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast continues the Future of War series with a sharp focus on strategic sabotage, indirect action, and deterrence below the threshold of armed conflict. The episode centers on “Special Delivery,” a ne

  25. Ukraine's Hidden Front: The Strategic Impact of Resistance Operations

    As we close out the year, we're re-releasing our most popular episode of 2025: Ukraine's Hidden Front--The Strategic Impact of Resistance Operations. In this episode, we explore the cost and benefits of Ukrainian partisan activity and what

  26. What Determines Success in Guerrilla Warfare?

    Episode 143 examines what enables certain guerrilla and insurgent forces to develop genuine military effectiveness on the battlefield. Our guests discuss why ideological cohesion, social ties, and material resources alone are insufficient f

  27. Codifying Irregular Warfare—Inside the Pentagon’s new DoD Instruction 3000.07

    Episode 142 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast features Dr. Jonathan Schroden, Mick Crnkovich, and Dave Maxwell for a deep dive into the Pentagon’s new irregular warfare policy instruction—DoD Instruction 3000.07—and what it signals about how

  28. Is Resistance Working in Ukraine?

    Episode 141 examines what the role of resistance operations are in the context of the broader war in Ukraine. Our guests begin by discussing whether resistance in occupied Ukraine has been effective. They argue that “Random Acts of Resistan

  29. South America in Competition Conference: Bonus Episode 2

    Episode 140 is a bonus episode built out of conversations held with panelists from the 2025 Irregular Warfare Initiative and Special Operations Association of America South America in Competition Conference. The South America in Competition

  30. Unrestricted Innovation: The Supply Chain Battlefield

    Episode 139 examines how supply chains have become instruments of strategic competition and the implications for U.S. defense capabilities. Our guests discuss how China gained control over critical drone components originally invented in th

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