In this episode, we’re joined by Associate Professor Hussein Banai, a leading scholar of international relations, for an in-depth journey through the shifting landscape of American foreign policy under Donald Trump.
Together, we travel across critical regions—from the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East to Europe, Russia, China, and Latin America—to scrutinise the core principles guiding U.S. actions on the global stage.
We discuss the most recent and dramatic development: the 2025 Israel-Iran conflict, during which the U.S. carried out major strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
Content
- From Disruption to Consolidation: Trump’s Second Term Strategy
- Trump’s Confident Unilateralism in Foreign Policy
- American Political Culture and the Think Tank Ecosystem
- America First Policy: Domestic Appeal and Implementation
- The Strategic Use of “America First” Despite International Concerns
- Inside the National Security Council: Roles and Functions
- Personnel Quality in US Foreign Policy Decision-Making
- Decoding US Foreign Policy Statements: Research Challenges
- North Korea Diplomacy: Prospects for a Second Trump-Kim Summit
- Middle East Triangulation: US-Israel-Iran Relations and Trump-Netanyahu Dynamics
- Steve Witkoff’s Contrasting Negotiation Mandates
- Trump’s Scepticism Toward Multilateral Institutions and Frameworks
- Neighbours First – Trump’s Approach to Canada, Mexico, and Latin America
- Understanding Trump’s Foreign Policy Through IR Theories
- EU vs. Member States: Trump’s Fragmented View of Europe
- Trump’s Geopolitical Take on the EU: Weakness, Irrelevance, or Rival?
- China Policy: Strategic Rivalry Meets Economic Interdependence
- Taiwan’s Role in Trump’s China Strategy
- Trump and Putin: Personal Chemistry and Strategic Ambiguity
- U.S. Sanctions on Russia: Tools of Pressure or Leverage for a Deal?
- Why Trump Believes Iran Must Never Go Nuclear
- Iran in Trump’s First Term: Maximum Pressure, Minimal Results?
- 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict – U.S Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Infrastructure
Hussein Banai
Dr Hussein Banai is an Associate Professor of International Studies at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, Indiana University, also a Research Affiliate at the Center for International Studies, MIT, and currently a visiting fellow at the Perry World House, University of Pennsylvania. In fall 2024, he was the Zahedi Family Fellow at the Program in Iranian Studies at Stanford University.
Dr Banai is widely recognised for his interdisciplinary approach, international relations and political theory, with particular focus on topics in political ideologies, conflict, diplomatic history and practice, and modern Iran.
Profile:
https://www.hussbanai.info/research
Selected Publications:
Banai, H. (2020). Hidden Liberalism: Burdened Visions of Progress in Modern Iran. Cambridge University Press.
Banai, H. (2022). Republics of Myth. Johns Hopkins University Press. https://doi.org/10.56021/9781421443324
Blight, J. G. (Ed.). (2012). Becoming Enemies: U. S. – Iran Relations and the Iran-Iraq War, 1979-1988. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
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