Derek speaks with Elizabeth Shackelford, former U.S. diplomat and current foreign affairs columnist for The Chicago Tribune, about U.S. involvement across Africa. They talk about Elizabeth’s own history in Somalia and South Sudan, America’s understanding of the places in which it’s involved, the generational timeline needed to change the trajectory of foreign policy, where the securitized view of Africa began, how the U.S. has approached places like Burkina Faso and Cameroon, and what a better U.S. policy in Africa might look like.
"I don't believe that there is an interest in instability in these countries in particular."
It would be interesting to do an episode on current and historical situations where there does seem to be a U.S. interest in a kind of controlled instability. I've definitely heard that notion expressed cynically in infotainment, but it's rare to hear people go further and try to explain the specific reasons and people behind it.
Extremely interesting peek behind the curtain, particularly given how compatible Shackleford’s diagnosis of our diplomatic corps’ perverse bureaucratic incentives is with the military-industrial-complex explanation for our weapons-solve-everything style of diplomacy.
Wait, are we the bad guys?
"I don't believe that there is an interest in instability in these countries in particular."
It would be interesting to do an episode on current and historical situations where there does seem to be a U.S. interest in a kind of controlled instability. I've definitely heard that notion expressed cynically in infotainment, but it's rare to hear people go further and try to explain the specific reasons and people behind it.
Extremely interesting peek behind the curtain, particularly given how compatible Shackleford’s diagnosis of our diplomatic corps’ perverse bureaucratic incentives is with the military-industrial-complex explanation for our weapons-solve-everything style of diplomacy.