Force Without Authority (S. 15, Ep. 11)

Force Without Authority (S. 15, Ep. 11)

From POMEPS Middle East Political Science Podcast by Marc Lynch

May 21, 2026 · 42 min

About this episode

Marc Lynch interviews Jason Brownlee about his book discussing the shortcomings of U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia.

On this week's episode of the podcast, Jason Brownlee of University of Austin-Texas joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, Force Without Authority: America's Wars in the Middle East and South Asia. The book explores why the United States' costliest military operations since Vietnam came up short and pushed Republican and Democratic leaders toward withdrawal and retrenchment. The book delivers a bracing audit of America's unipolar moment and a compelling case for statecraft over bluster. Music for this season’s podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his website Music and Sound at www.ferasarrabi.com. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

People in this episode

Host: Marc Lynch

Guest: Jason Brownlee

Topics covered

  • U.S. military operations
  • Middle East
  • South Asia
  • statecraft
  • political leadership
  • withdrawal
  • unipolar moment

Keywords

  • military operations
  • U.S. foreign policy
  • Middle East
  • South Asia
  • political analysis
  • statecraft
  • withdrawal

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Austin-Texas, Institute for Middle East Studies, Carnegie Corporation of New York

Books & works: Force Without Authority: America's Wars in the Middle East and South Asia

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