Toxic Foreign Policy and Citizen Diplomacy

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Toxic Foreign Policy and Citizen Diplomacy

December 9, 2025

50 min

As global powers double down on militarism and defense, Daniel Zoughbie argues that the most transformative force in the Middle East has always come from citizen diplomacy.

A complex-systems scientist and diplomatic historian, Zoughbie joins Mark Labberton to explore how twelve U.S. presidents have “kicked the hornet’s nest” of the modern Middle East. Drawing on his work in global health and his new book Kicking the Hornet’s Nest: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East from Truman to Trump, Zoughbie contrasts the view from refugee camps and microclinic networks with the view from the Oval Office, arguing that American security rests on a three-legged stool of defense, diplomacy, and development.

He explains why Gerald Ford stands out as the lone president who truly leveraged diplomacy, how the Marshall Plan model of enlightened self-interest can guide policy now, and why nationalism, not mere economics, lies at the heart of Gaza’s future. Throughout, he presses listeners toward “citizen diplomacy” that resists pride, militarism, and fatalism.

HOST
Mark Labberton
Mark Labberton hosts the Conversing podcast and is the Clifford L. Penner Presidential Chair Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Fuller Seminary.
GUEST
Daniel Zoughbie
Daniel E. Zoughbie is a complex-systems scientist, historian, and expert on presidential decision-making. He is associate project scientist at UC Berkeley’s Institute of International Studies, a faculty affiliate of the UCSF/UCB Center for Global Health Delivery, Diplomacy, and Economics, and principal investigator of the Middle East and North Africa Diplomacy, Development, and Defense Initiative.

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Toxic Foreign Policy and Citizen Diplomacy

Toxic Foreign Policy and Citizen Diplomacy

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