Relearning Escalation Dynamics to Win the New Cold War

October 2024

Past Event

Relearning Escalation Dynamics to Win the New Cold War

Past Event

Hudson Institute

October 21, 2024

A B-1B Lancer sits on the flight line while receiving a post-flight inspection on November 9, 2009. (US Air Force)

October 2024

Past Event

Speakers:

Rebeccah L. Heinrichs

Senior Fellow and Director, Keystone Defense Initiative

Listen to Event Audio

A new axis of authoritarian powers comprising China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea is using nuclear coercion and the threat of uncontrolled escalation to dissuade the United States from supporting its allies, undermining the credibility of the American security commitments that undergird the US-led world order.

In a recent collection of essays, Relearning Escalation Dynamics to Win the New Cold War, nuclear policy experts explain how the US can adapt its strategic posture to make its security guarantees more credible and why policymakers should overcome the fear of escalation that leads to unilateral restraint.

Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, director of Hudson’s Keystone Defense Initiative and the editor of the booklet, will sit down for a conversation on the path forward for Washington in a new era of strategic competition with coauthors Kyle Balzer of the American Enterprise Institute, Matthew R. Costlow of the National Institute for Public Policy, and Ryan Tully of Hudson Institute.

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Authoritarian Persistence in Latin America: What Should the US Do?

Featured Speakers:

Elliott Abrams

Daniel Batlle

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Authoritarian Persistence in Latin America: What Should the US Do?

Please join Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle for a conversation with Elliott Abrams, whose leadership on Latin America policy stretches from his service as assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs under President Ronald Reagan to his role as special representative for Venezuela in the first Trump administration.

Featured Speakers:

Elliott Abrams

Daniel Batlle

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June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Spain’s Latin American Reckoning

Featured Speakers:

Julio Crespo MacLennan

Daniel Batlle

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Spain’s Latin American Reckoning

Join Hudson as Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle sits down with Julio Crespo MacLennan, a historian and one of the leading scholars on Spain’s democratic transition and on Europe’s relationship with the wider world.

Featured Speakers:

Julio Crespo MacLennan

Daniel Batlle

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June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Growing the DIB: A Conversation with Deputy Assistant Secretary of War James Mismash

Featured Speakers:

Nadia Schadlow

James Mismash

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Growing the DIB: A Conversation with Deputy Assistant Secretary of War James Mismash

Please join Hudson Institute for a fireside chat between Hudson Senior Fellow Nadia Schadlow and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial Base Growth and Director of the Office of Small Business Programs James Mismash.

Featured Speakers:

Nadia Schadlow

James Mismash

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June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Winning the Innovation Competition

Featured Speakers:

Bryan Clark

Dan Patt

Emil Michael

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Winning the Innovation Competition

Please join Hudson Institute Senior Fellows Bryan Clark and Dan Patt for a conversation with Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael about the Department of War’s efforts to bring AI to the battlefield and implement an innovation strategy that makes the most of America’s commercial and government research sectors.