The WarPod talks to Christoph O. Meyer, Chiara De Franco, and Florian Otto about their book "Warning about War: Conflict, Persuasion and Foreign Policy" published with Cambridge University press. The book won this year's best book award from the International Studies Association, and has now been released as paperback. What does it take for warnings about violent conflict and war to be listened to, believed and acted upon? Why are warnings from some sources noticed and largely accepted, while others are ignored or disbelieved? Listen in to get an insight into how the book addresses these questions and to hear more about its three authors. Once it is in stock, our listeners will be able to purchase the book at a discount at www.cambridge.org/9781108713931 - enter code POL3021 at the checkout for a 20 percent discount (valid until July 2022).

The WarPod talks to Jeppe Teglskov Jacobsen about the puzzling public use of cyber weapons against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The effectiveness of cyber weapons depends on enemies being unaware of them. Why then, did the US military make their attacks available to the public?

The WarPod talks to Danita Catherine Burke about perceptions of sovereignty in the disputed Arctic region. Though no one officially owns the arctic (and its waterways), Danita discusses how Canadians have developed a strong narrative of ownership of the Arctic validated by folk lore and the drawing of territorial lines on maps. The importance of such narratives is likely to increase as climate change alters the geography of the region.

The WarPod talks to Vincent Keating about the fact that Russia, not only has a lotof guns, tanks, and nuclear bombs, it also generates a lot of admiration around the world; it has soft power. In contrast to the common held belief, Vincent suggests that the soft power of Russia is awesome and has actually aided Russia in achieving its foreign policy goals in the last couple of decades.