91视频

Michael Desch

Professor of Political Science,<br>Director, Notre Dame International Security Center

Political Science

Office
2026 Jenkins and Nanovic Halls
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Phone
574-631-2792
Email
mdesch@nd.edu

Professor of Political Science,
Director, Notre Dame International Security Center

  • American foreign policy
  • International relations
  • International security

Video

Desch’s 91视频

Desch in the News

Foreign Affairs

February 26, 2026

By Michael C. Desch, the Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame and founding Brian and Jeannelle Brady Family Director of the O’Brien Notre Dame International Security Center.

CNBC Arabia (Arabic)

January 27, 2026

Regarding an approach to what middle powers can do, Michael Desch, professor of international relations at the University of Notre Dame and founding director of the Notre Dame Center for International Security, told CNBC Arabia that "the field is always open for political wisdom, even for weaker powers," noting that "the list of small countries that have influence beyond their size in international politics is long... but the key is for their leaders to realize the limits of their influence, as well as the priority of self-interest in the behavior of other countries, especially great powers."

January 21, 2026

Michael Desch directs the Notre Dame International Security Center and teaches in Notre Dame’s political science department. Desch spoke with OSV News about Greenland and other U.S. foreign policy concerns in light of Pope Leo XIV’s recent address to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.

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Video

January 08, 2026

Interview with Michael C. Desch (begins at 34:00), the Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science and the Brian and Jeannelle Brady Family Director of the O'Brien Notre Dame International Security Center at the University of Notre Dame.

January 05, 2026

“The big powers, and especially China and Russia, are likely to draw two very different lessons about the U.S. from all of this,” says Michael Desch, an international affairs professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

November 25, 2025

“The situation on the ground in Ukraine continues to deteriorate, the military is having trouble with desertions ... and now Zelenskyy has a very big corruption scandal on his hands,” points out Michael Desch, an international affairs professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Video

October 13, 2025

Notre Dame Professor Michael Desch said both Hamas and the current Israeli government have incentives not to fully comply with the deal. 
“The people responsible for the destruction of Gaza are still in power,” said Atalia Omer, professor of religion, conflict and peace studies at Notre Dame.

July 05, 2025

"At one point Nixon said to his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, 'you ought to tell the North Vietnamese negotiators that Nixon's crazy and you don't know what he's going to do, so you better come to an agreement before things get really crazy'," says Michael Desch, professor of international relations at Notre Dame University. "That's the madman theory."

February 19, 2025

“It’s a watershed, that I would say for sure,” says Michael Desch, director of the Notre Dame International Security Center in Indiana. “This is a sharper tear in a fraying that began with Bush 43 and even before, so I don’t think there is any going back.”

January 07, 2025

Michael Desch, professor of international relations at the University of Notre Dame, which runs an institute on international peace, said there’s an obvious tension between that policy and U.S. support for increasing democratization on Taiwan. “The question is, can you manage it so it doesn’t get out of control?” he said.

December 05, 2024

"While the imminent transition in Washington on January 21, 2025 is no doubt on all the parties' minds, I think that was less important than two other factors which I believe were a catalyst for this ceasefire deal," said Michael C. Desch, Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations, Notre Dame International Security Center.

The New York Sun | Subscription Only

July 19, 2024

It's unclear exactly where a Trump-Vance administration would land on China. "On the one hand, Trump is a trade hawk and frequently critical of China on that score," a professor of international relations at Notre Dame, Michael Desch, a self-described "card-carrying realist," tells the Sun.

Defense Priorities

July 02, 2024

Michael C. Desch is a distinguished non-resident fellow at Defense Priorities and 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.

January 18, 2024

Michael Desch, a professor of international relations at the University of Notre Dame who specializes in international relations, told Newsweek: "Blood is generally thicker than water and President Biden has had a good relationship with the Emerald Isle over the years given his family ties to the Old Sod. But there are limits to how much Irish ancestry will make up for the gallons of innocent blood being shed in Gaza by Israel with the Biden administration's reluctant support."

Meanwhile, Robert Schmuhl, professor emeritus of American 91视频 at the University of Notre Dame and adjunct professor of law and government at Dublin City University, said: "President Biden's Irish heritage is important to his identity, but its value in Ireland is in jeopardy for what appears to many to be a lack of concern for the Palestinian people caught up in the war in Gaza."

Harper's Magazine

September 18, 2023

Michael C. Desch is a professor of international relations at the University of Notre Dame.

Cato Institute Podcast

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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. 

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. 

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

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

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 91视频 at Birmingham University, and Professor Zha Daojiong from 91视频 of International 91视频, Peking University.

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."

January 12, 2021

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