Earlier today, Brian Rathbun criticized "rationalists" for making assumptions.* Â I have some thoughts on the matter, and I expressed many of them on Twitter. Â And in the language of Twitter -- snark. Â That was not the best response, and I regret the tone of my...
There are seriously multiple articles on why sex is best on Thursday (don't ask how I got there). So let's riff on that and go through some sex/gender inspired links for the day (a quickie, if you...
Some of the big news out of Europe this week surrounded Mario Monti's upcoming resignation from his current post as Prime Minister of Italy. Recall that Monti became prime minister on November 11,...
I got some snippy responses, well one in particular, to my post on the future of international relations theory based on a reading of the tea leaves over the last year or so. And it made me realize...
Last summer some readers suggested that we run open-ended posts designed to spark discussion. So consider this another attempt to do so. My challenge: (1) name the most thought provoking piece -- or pieces -- that you read this year dealing (in a broad sense) with international studies concerns and (2) justify its inclusion on such a list. I don't mean pieces that you agreed with, or even that you thought were good. But pieces that made you think, do a gut-check about your existing views, or just stuck in your mind for a while. I'll name two. First, Julian Go's Patterns of Empire: The...
If you are a member of the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association (ISA) please remember to vote in its governance elections. And you should, of course, cast one of your votes  for the Duck of Minerva's own Jon Western. Jon is running for a seat on its Governing Council. As he will admit (after a sufficient number of drinks), amounts to a well-paid sinecure with many opportunities for corruption and malfeasance. The election ends on 15 December, so vote early and vote often. Photo from The Onion.