Shifting Ground – Details, episodes & analysis

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Shifting Ground

Foreign Policy Research Institute

Science

Frequency: 1 episode/18d. Total Eps: 8

The flagship podcast of the Orbis Journal of World Affairs, produced by the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). The podcast features bimonthly discussions with journal contributors on foreign policy, national security, and geopolitics, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies are reshaping these fields.

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Data updated on 12/08/2026

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Score global : 28%

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Episode 8 | The Architecture of Leadership

Season 1 · Episode 8

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 • Duration 50:40

What prepares a leader for the high-pressure environment of the US government? In this episode of Shifting Ground, co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Larry Rubin sit down with The Hon. John Tien, Distinguished Professor of Practice at Georgia Tech’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. Drawing on his extensive career spanning the military, the private sector, and high-level government service—including a tenure as Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security—Tien offers unique insights from four different presidential administrations.

The discussion explores:

The Role of the Individual: How presidential leadership, personal networks, and human experience shape strategy at the highest levels of government.
Evolution of Homeland Security: Reflections on how the mission has shifted from domestic concerns in the 90s to foreign counter-terrorism post-9/11, and the current challenges of politicization.
Omnipolicy & Strategy: A deep dive into complex issues like the fentanyl crisis, illustrating how domestic and foreign policy goals are now inextricably linked.
The Future of the Global Order: Perspectives on navigating a new global operating system, marked by transactional diplomacy and the rise of autocracy.

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Episode 7 | Intelligence, Strategy, and the Reality of Modern Conflict

Season 1 · Episode 7

Tuesday, June 30, 2026 • Duration 41:44

In this episode of Shifting Ground, Nick Gvosdev and Larry Rubin are joined by Phil Wasielewski, a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. A veteran of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations and the US Marine Corps, Phil brings a lifetime of experience—from the end of the Soviet era to the frontlines of Afghanistan—to a wide-ranging discussion on the nature of strategy in an unpredictable world. The conversation touches on the role of intelligence in modern warfare, the enduring need for human analysis, as well as reflections on Russia's war in Ukraine, and lessons learned from Afghanistan.

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Episode 6 | American Grand Strategy in West Asia

Season 1 · Episode 6

Wednesday, June 3, 2026 • Duration 39:54

In this episode of Shifting Ground, Nick Gvosdev and Larry Rubin are joined by Mohammed Soliman, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute and author of West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East. Soliman challenges our traditional geopolitical mental maps, arguing that the term "Middle East" no longer explains the realities of today’s integrated political and economic landscape. Instead, he proposes viewing the region from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean as a single, cohesive space: "West Asia". We dive deep into his thesis on how American grand strategy must adapt to an era where rigid, Cold War-style alliances are giving way to flexible, interest-based "minilateral" coalitions.

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Episode 5 | Cyber is War

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 • Duration 44:45

In this episode of Shifting Ground, hosts Larry Rubin and Nick Gvosdev are joined by Dmitri Alperovitch, Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, co-founder of CrowdStrike, and author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century. Alperovitch discusses the collision of cybersecurity and international affairs, arguing that the cyber "problem" is fundamentally a geopolitical issue driven by Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

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Episode 4 | The Weaponized Economy

Season 1 · Episode 4

Tuesday, May 5, 2026 • Duration 46:07

Geo-economic and country risk expert Rachel Ziemba joins Nick and Larry to discuss the intersection of government policy and global commerce. This episode explores how sovereign balance sheets and coercive tools like sanctions have become primary instruments of modern statecraft, fundamentally shifting the landscape of global commerce.

You can read Rachel's portion of the Global Order After Ukraine Symposium here: Reassessing Sanctions Amid Shifting Global Order: Responding to Experimentation

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Episode 3 | Technology and the Governance Gap

Wednesday, April 22, 2026 • Duration 30:35

On this episode of Shifting Ground, Daniel Byman joins Nick and Larry to discuss the core challenge governments face in trying to regulate or shape emerging technologies today. The three discuss the national security risks associated with emerging technologies right now, and how policymakers think about the tradeoffs between innovation, economic competitiveness, and security.

Read Daniel Byman's essay Governing Emerging Technologies here.

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Episode 2 | Geopolitical Cycles and the Fragility of the Global Operating System

Season 1 · Episode 2

Saturday, March 21, 2026 • Duration 36:13

On this episode of Shifting Ground, Admiral James "Sandy" Winnefeld introduces his concept of the "global operating system" (GOS)—which includes the rules-based international order and the global economy—explaining that its foundation of international stability is at risk of catastrophic failure due to geopolitical cycles, political polarization, and the overextension of the prevailing power.

Read Admiral Winnefeld's essay The Principle Challenge: Arresting the Decline of the Global Operating System

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Episode 1 : Technology, Trust, and the Accelerants of Global Crisis

Season 1 · Episode 1

Thursday, March 19, 2026 • Duration 37:50

Stacey Dixon joins Nick Gvosdev and Larry Rubin to discuss the U.S. government's challenge of balancing national security interests by restricting sensitive technology exports with the need for American companies to compete globally and influence international technology standards.

The conversation highlighted "accelerants" like the democratization of conflict technology and the erosion of public trust due to misinformation, recommending that the government secure critical infrastructure, improve cyber hygiene, and cultivate citizens' digital literacy to counter the negative, unintended uses of emerging technologies.

Read Stacey's piece The World's Hidden Accelerants: Technology, Trust, and System Fragility

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Shifting Ground – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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Shifting Ground – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other6

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other6

Apple Podcasts

Spotify