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Dec 2023
42m 22s

Season 3, Episode 2: Lindsey A. O'Rourke...

Jeffrey Sachs
About this episode

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and political scientist Lindsey O’Rourke as they discuss O’Rourke’s book, Covert Regime Change. Based on an original dataset of American regime change operations, O’Rourke addresses three key questions: What motivates states to attempt foreign regime change? Why do they prefer covert methods? And how successful are these missions in achieving foreign policy goals?

Together, they delve into the reality of state actions in overthrowing governments and present compelling evidence of security interests driving state interventions. States rarely turn to warfare to oust their adversaries. Instead, they are inclined to pursue covert means of changing the opposing regime, such as assassinating a foreign leader, supporting a coup d'état, interfering in a democratic election, or clandestinely assisting foreign dissident groups. Though,despite the prevalence of covert regime change attempts, O’Rourke’s research shows they often fail to remain hidden and lead to unforeseen consequences.

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