Michael Desch
Political Science
Professor of Political Science,
Director, Notre Dame International Security Center
- American foreign policy
- International relations
- International security
Video
Desch’s Latest News
Desch in the News
Harper's Magazine
The Tragedy of Volodymyr Zelensky
September 18, 2023
Michael C. Desch is a professor of international relations at the University of Notre Dame.
Cato Institute Podcast
Social Science, Think Tanks, & National Security Policy
Audio
July 25, 2023
Michael C. Desch, professor of international relations at University of Notre Dame, discusses the disconnect between political science scholarship and policymaking and offers solutions for how to bridge the gap.
Altoona Mirror
Dog tags returned to veteran’s family
May 29, 2023
Jim Webb, former U.S. senator from Virginia and United States Marine during the Vietnam War, holds the dog tag of USMC Cpl. Larry Hughes, who had lost it while serving near the Da Nang Province in Vietnam in 1966. Bishop Guilfoyle alumna Julia Cacciotti and others traveled with Webb to Vietnam as part of a class offered at the University of Notre Dame’s International Security Center, taught by Webb and Notre Dame professor Michael Desch.
The American Conservative
C. Boyden Gray: The Passing of An Uncommon American Conservative
May 27, 2023
Michael C. Desch is Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame and Brian and Jeannelle Brady Family Director of the Notre Dame International Security Center.
NBC News
Vietnam soldier’s family reunited with dog tag after journey around the globe
Video Audio
March 29, 2023
Fifty years ago today, the last American combat troops left Vietnam. Harry Smith shares the remarkable lengths former Senator Jim Webb and a group of Notre Dame students went to return a dog tag from the battlefield to the family of a Vietnam veteran.
The Washington Post
A U.S. Marine lost his dog tag in the Vietnam war. A tour group just found it.
February 24, 2023
Former U.S. senator from Virginia and former secretary of the Navy, Jim Webb, took Notre Dame students late last year on an 11-day tour of Vietnam based on his own war experiences. Webb was a platoon commander and first lieutenant in the war, and now is a distinguished fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center. Michael Desch, international relations professor at the University of Notre Dame, was also with Webb leading the tour.
Fox News
Vietnam veteran's dog tag found in rice field, returned to family 57 years later: 'Means the world'
February 18, 2023
In October 2022, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Notre Dame Professor Michael Desch took a group of students to visit the province. While exploring near an airstrip used by the U.S. military, a villager approached them and said he had six dog tags that were found plowing rice fields over the years.
Fox 13 Tampa Bay
Vietnam veteran's dog tags returned to family 57 years later
Video Audio
February 17, 2023
The Marine lost his dog tag while serving near Da Nang Province in 1966. It's where former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Notre Dame Professor Michael Desch took a group of students in October of last year. While exploring near an airstrip Americans had used, a villager approached them.
Newsweek
How Russian Tanks Captured by Ukraine Are Helping the Fight Against Putin
October 08, 2022
Michael Desch, director of the Notre Dame International Security Center, said he did not think Ukraine's recent success in the Kharkiv region was due to any difference in tanks or other armored vehicles.
The Christian Science Monitor
Biden’s UN balancing act: Condemning war while advocating broad agenda
September 21, 2022
With his vision of the democracy-autocracy struggle and specifically, the war in Ukraine, “Biden is speaking and acting with a high degree of moral certainty that we are on the side of the angels,” says Michael Desch, a professor of international relations at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and founding director of the university’s International Security Center.
DW News
Ukrainian forces are stepping up efforts to retake Kherson
Video
July 28, 2022
Features interview with Michael Desch, Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations and Brian and Jeannelle Brady Family Director of the Notre Dame International Security Center. (starts at 9:13).
Defense Priorities
War is a choice, not a trap: The right lessons from Thucydides
July 19, 2022
Written by Michael Desch, Brian and Jeannelle Brady Family Director of the Notre Dame International Security Center (NDISC) and Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations.
The Christian Science Monitor
Biden’s soft-power policy faces reality of Xi-Putin big-power world
January 18, 2022
“Big-power politics is back in a big way. It’s not a reality President Biden can wish away or ignore,” says Michael Desch, a professor of international relations at the University of Notre Dame and founding director of the university’s International Security Center.
Vox
The rehabilitation of Trump national security officials says a lot about Washington
January 07, 2022
“There is a very narrow range of acceptable opinion, and if you’re within it you can weather a lot. Both Pottinger and O’Brien in many respects are inside the Beltway consensus on the big issues of the day,” said Michael Desch, a political scientist at the University of Notre Dame.
Defense One
What Comes Next? A Lesson from Saigon
August 20, 2021
Michael C. Desch is the Packey J. Dee Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Notre Dame International Security Center.
China Plus
Biden is building anti-China alliance, what's China's response?
Audio
April 08, 2021
Host Zhao Ying is joined by Michael Desch, Director of the Notre Dame International Security Center, Xia Yafeng, Professor of History at Long Island University, Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics and American Studies at Birmingham University, and Professor Zha Daojiong from School of International Studies, Peking University.
USA Today
Fact check: Claims that VP Kamala Harris refused to salute the military are missing context
March 27, 2021
Michael Desch, a professor of political science and the director of the Notre Dame International Security Center, told USA TODAY that until President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, "it was not common for the president, or other Cabinet officials, but especially the president, to return hand salutes."
The Christian Science Monitor
Beware entanglements? ‘Realists’ fret over Biden foreign policy.
January 12, 2021
“I wish he’d go with his Joe Biden self who was skeptical of the Afghanistan surge in the Obama administration,” says Michael Desch, professor of international relations and director of Notre Dame International Security Center in Indiana.