Talking to the People About International Relations

Talking to normal people about international relations is a very unnatural thing, and that’s a sign that something is wrong. Foreign policy is a wonky, even elitist, business. And getting a PhD gives you no training in how to relate ideas to other humans unless they’re trained like you.

This is actually why I started The Un-Diplomatic Podcast years ago (2019!). I was bothered by the fact that normal people saw my world of foreign policy stuff as alien to their needs, and I was groping for a way to fix that.

Initially, I thought of the whole project as trying to explain complex ideas about the world in simple terms; a communications skill thing. But I soon realized that the alien species needing a translation wasn’t workers but the elites themselves. Me. Through foreign policy, we were engaged in so many power-hoarding, war-waging projects that forsook the average worker. What seemed like them being alien to us was really us being alien to them!

Anyway, as I spent more time with regular folks, the project became more about explaining the interests of the working class to elites; to keep people centered in our analysis of the global chess board. That shift in focus, that emphasis on the class conflict that happens through geopolitics, has radically altered not just how I make sense of the world but also how I communicate the concepts in my world to others.

Anyway, speaking to the public in a way that appeals to them is easiest when you’re taking seriously what it is that affects them. That way of seeing—having something to say that isn’t selling them a ruling-class status quo—makes all the difference in relating to them, and that matters just as much as the skillset of public communications.

So I do this public-facing work a lot now. Through my two podcasts (the other being Bang-Bang), yes, but also by appearing on other shows, YouTube channels, Twitch streams, etc etc. It’s fun but physically taxing, and at a certain point it does begin to come at the expense of writing and research. But it’s important. The field of international relations is in big trouble, and it might be less so if it existed to do more than advise princes on how best to consolidate and wield power on behalf of class privileges.

As part of this work speaking to the people, I just made an appearance on a few of my favorite shows: The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder; Left Reckoning with David Griscom and Matt Lech; and NonZero World with Connor Echols. Some links below. The Majority Report was just this morning, so fresh off the presses!