The question of state capacity might be one of, if not the, most important question that academics and policy makers can tackle. When we talk about local, regional, and international stability, failed states, etc, often times the major problem is a lack of capacity by...
Today the Senate voted to cap the Air Force's purchases of the F-22 at 187 planes by stripping the funding for further purchases of the plane from the Defense budget. This is a very significant vote...
Andrew Sullivan Conor Friedersdorf thinks that Mark Levin "offers a serious response" to Peter Berkowitz's criticisms of his recent book. I disagree.Here's Berkowitz:Indeed, one could scarcely...
Ben Bernanke wants to assure people that the Fed isn't just throwing money at the current problems, unaware of the long-term impact on inflation. My colleagues and I believe that accomodative...
Robert McNamara was complex giant in the field. Since his passing on Monday, several prominent IR scholars and practitioners have eulogized his life in a variety of ways. Most authors, however, note the disjointed nature of his legacy—great achievement in modernizing the Department of Defense, but also enormous failure in Vietnam. As someone often consumed by the power of numbers, for me McNamara's most compelling accomplishment was his dogged persistence in applying the quantitative approaches to management that garnered him great success at Ford Motor Company to the Department of Defense....
If the owl of minerva flies at twilight, then the duck merely keeps on waddling.As I've hinted at before, we're in for some changes.While Charli introduces her kids to the Great American Roadtrip, PTJ is grinding away at his much-anticipated new book on the philosophy of social science. Both shall return, but their lack of activity leaves a void here at the Duck.Both Peter Howard and I, on the other hand, will soon suffer from more serious cases of bloggus interruptus. Peter is off to the State Department on a prestigious fellowship, and, pending paperwork, I'll also be embedded in the world...
Robert McNamara was arguably one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. I summarized the highlights from his CV on my blog a few years ago: He was a Harvard professor, an executive at Ford Motor Company (the first leader not from the Ford family), Secretary of Defense from 1961-1967, and then President of the World Bank until 1981.This sentence omits the role McNamara played in World War II, which involved his assignment to the Office of Statistical Control for the Army Air Force. He evaluated the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. B-29 bombers, which ultimately firebombed 67...
By now you've probably seen the news of Sarah Palin resigning as governor of Alaska. My first reaction was Whaaa?????? Since I too am aware of all internet traditions, my second reaction was to cruise over to LGM and see what DaveNoon had to say about things. My third reaction was to scan the blogosphere for newsy-political gossip. TPM, employing the patented Duck methodology of analysis, had as good a take as anyone:It looks like a duck and quacks like a duck. Either Palin is resigning ahead of some titanic scandal (which should emerge in short order if it exists) or her resignation was...
The Barnes and Noble website is currently advertising a new and potentially interesting book slated to be issued later this summer: Historical Dictionary of Terrorism by Sean K. Anderson. Unfortunately, the book pictured is not the one advertised -- the second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Islam by Ludwig W. Adamec: ISLAM is clearly readable in all caps and quite large font.Anyone can make a mistake, but this one is particularly clumsy. Here's a screen capture: Hat tip: freelance journalist David Zax. Check out his pieces in The Smithsonian.
Our regular readers have probably noticed a general slowdown in the arrival of new content around here. The first week of the Iranian election masked this trend a bit, but it will likely continue. The reason? Fewer active bloggers.Some, such as Charli and PTJ, are taking short leaves of absence. In contrast, Peter and I will soon be taking much more lengthy breaks--both of us are due to start fellowships with responsibilities that either preclude, or severely limit, blogging activity.After some lengthy internal discussions, we've decided to bring on a stable of guest bloggers, many of whom...