How does a free society maintain a powerful military without allowing it to dominate politics?

In this episode of Tocqueville Talks, Director Brent Nelson and co-host Beth L’Arrivée speak with Peter Feaver (Duke University), one of the leading scholars of civil–military relations and former Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the U.S. National Security Council.

Feaver’s work centers on a fundamental question: how can democratic societies maintain both military strength and civilian control?

Drawing on his experience in both academia and national security policymaking, Feaver reflects on the mentors who shaped his career—including Joseph Nye—and the experiences that led him to study the delicate balance between military professionalism and democratic accountability.

The conversation explores the American tradition of civilian control from George Washington to the present, why healthy civil–military relations often go unnoticed until they break down, and the growing pressures polarization places on the military today.

They discuss:

• Why civilian control of the military is one of America’s most remarkable political achievements
• How political leaders sometimes draw the military into partisan conflicts
• Why the military often becomes a “vanguard” institution in social change
• The tension between democratic society and hierarchical military institutions
• The civic importance of the All-Volunteer Force
• Why veterans strengthen civic life and community leadership
• The value of ROTC programs on college campuses
• How encounters between soldiers and students change how young Americans think about war
• The role of literature, history, and civic education in helping society understand war and service

Feaver argues that healthy civil–military relations are like oxygen: when they work, no one notices—but when they fail, nothing else matters.

At a moment of polarization and declining trust in institutions, this conversation asks a crucial question:

How can Americans preserve a professional military while strengthening democratic citizenship?

When moral conviction meets the realities of global politics, easy answers disappear.

In this episode of Tocqueville Talks, Director Brent Nelsen and co-host Elizabeth L’Arrivée sit down with Mark Amstutz, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Wheaton College and author of International Ethics, Evangelicals and American Foreign Policy, and his recent book Building World Order: How the Christian Faith Fosters Global Peace, Prosperity, and Justice.

Drawing on decades of teaching, scholarship, and global engagement, Amstutz reflects on his unexpected vocational calling to equip students for service in church and society — and on the intellectual journey that led him to wrestle with immigration, nuclear deterrence, humanitarian action, and the ethical challenges of international affairs.

His newest work argues that Christian moral vision can contribute to a more humane global order by shaping public service, international cooperation, and responsible statecraft.

The conversation explores how Christian convictions have shaped public life through missionary work, humanitarian networks, religious freedom advocacy, and refugee care — while also confronting the limits of moral idealism in a world governed by power, law, and political constraints.

In this episode of Tocqueville Talks, Director Brent Nelsen hosts Tocqueville Fellows Nathan, Maddie, and Sim for a candid conversation about civic dialogue, leadership, and what they’ve learned about democracy by practicing it.

Why do students crave real conversation in an age of outrage? What happens when disagreement strengthens friendship instead of destroying it? And can the habits of citizenship still be learned?

Drawing on Tocqueville’s insights and Yuval Levin’s call for Americans to act together without thinking alike, the Fellows reflect on their experiences building community, leading peers, and navigating disagreement with humility and courage.

After an ice storm prevented Yuval Levin from visiting Furman University, the Tocqueville Fellows carried the conversation forward.

In this special student panel episode of Tocqueville Talks, Director Brent Nelsen and co-host Elizabeth L’Arrivée are joined by Tocqueville Fellows Zach Lacombe and William Jepsen to discuss Levin’s book American Covenant and its central question: How can people act together when they don’t think alike?

Drawing on James Madison’s Notes on the Constitutional Convention and The Federalist Papers, the conversation explores whether the U.S. Constitution was designed merely to restrain power—or to create unity among a divided people.

In this episode of Tocqueville Talks, political economist Matthias Matthijs joins Dr. Elizabeth L’Arrivée to examine Europe’s strategic vulnerability following the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

The conversation introduces the idea of the “Trump trap”: Europe’s geopolitical weakness forces short-term concessions on trade, defense, and regulation that undermine democratic legitimacy and reward far-right challengers. Drawing on Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis of centralized administration, the episode asks whether Europe’s growing bureaucratic power is cultivating self-government—or accelerating political dependence.

In this episode of Tocqueville Talks, political scientist Gary Marks joins Dr. Elizabeth L’Arrivée for a deep exploration of the European Union as a living political experiment. Beginning with Jean Monnet and the post–World War II origins of European integration, the conversation examines why supranational governance emerged—and why it continues to evolve under intense internal and external pressures.

In this episode of Tocqueville Talks, political scientist Liesbet Hooghe joins Dr. Elizabeth L’Arrivée to examine how modern politics is increasingly organized around cultural authority rather than economic ideology. The conversation explores why citizens feel ruled even when institutions claim to be decentralized—and how legitimacy changes when decision-making moves farther from daily life.

In this episode of Tocqueville Talks, Dr. Ben Sasse joins Dr. Elizabeth L’Arrivée for Part II of our series on The Crisis in American Higher Education. They discuss institutional fragility, mission drift, the collapse of meaningful learning, and what Tocqueville can teach us about the formation of citizens.