Trust, notes Yoshiko Herrera, takes a long time to build but can be broken very quickly.
Herrera is a professor of political science and an affiliate with the UW’s Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia. She’s an expert in foreign policy, and especially U.S.-Russia relations and Russian and East European politics. When she talks about trust, she doesn’t necessarily mean the role of trust between individuals but trust between nations — and, right now, trust between the United States and the members of NATO.
“In the last two years there’s been much more discord,” she says, noting that the changes that the Trump administration has instituted will have a long effect — and will likely continue into the administration of whomever follows Trump. “The break in trust — that’s not something that you can just fix with another election.”
On February 24, 2026, Herrera will join the UW Now Live for a conversation about the changing world order, touching on shifts in trade policy, alliances, humanitarian crises, and military conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as U.S. friction with NATO over Greenland. Host Mike Knetter will moderate the discussion, which will also include political science professor Jon Pevehouse, an expert on international relations.
My Chief Area of Research Is:
My chief area of research is Russian politics, specifically identity, nationalism, and political economy. I’m also currently working on a couple of new projects on identity and security work. One is about identity and trust — how to build trust — and another is on how national and ethnic identity is related to international conflict.
Tonight on the UW Now Live, I’ll Talk About:
Changes in U.S. foreign policy toward Europe, NATO., and Russia. We can learn from both statements or documents put out by the U.S. and European allies, but also by actions, and it's worth considering how policy has changed in words and actions over the last year. In short, there’s now much more of a gap between U.S. and European positions than there has been in many decades.
If Viewers Remember Just One Thing, It Should Be:
We are in an important moment where there’s a lot of potential change. The U.S. presidency has a lot of power, and we’re seeing a big shift in U.S. priorities and commitments. People might think that institutions are pretty stable, that things just kind of stay where they are. But actually, we are in a transition moment. I want to remind people that elections do have consequences and that when you elect people to powerful offices, individuals can use that power to make consequential changes that are not necessarily easy to reverse.
To Get Smart Fast, See:
Many newspapers continue to have pretty good coverage of international affairs, including our Wisconsin State Journal. Taking time to read just one or two articles a day on international affairs makes a big difference in staying informed. The New York Times and the Economist provide a lot of broad coverage of events around the world. And for my area of interest on Ukraine, I continue to recommend the podcast from the Telegraph called Ukraine: The Latest. It gives you a quick update on military and diplomatic events in Ukraine and in Europe and also more in-depth interviews on a wide range of topics related to Ukraine.
Also, Jon Pevehouse and I are interested in public outreach. Along with some other political science colleagues, we’ve been doing a free lecture series to public libraries and civic groups that we call Facts about U.S. Foreign Policy. If your organization is interested in having us speak, they should email me at yherrera@wisc.edu.
