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....
Most of you have probably seen this, but why not? It is that kind of day. That's all, folks.
Richard Weitz notes an intensification of PRC anti-missile defense rhetoric. He points to the implications of robust BMD for China's minimal deterrence approach and for US-led containment. David Axe...
The final 2012 Presidential debate was a decisive "victory" for President Obama on both style and substance. Romney's tack to the center left him with no other arguments than to invoke the resolve...
Wow. If you can write a dissertation on the politics of shark attacks as an IR specialist, I think you can do pretty much anything. From the Ted website:Chris Neff is a third year PhD candidate in Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. He is conducting the world's first doctoral dissertation on the politics of shark attacks.Of course, I'm curious to know how this dissertation topic relates to IR precisely. (I get the comparative politics angle.) Perhaps Megan, who I believe teaches in his department and to whom I owe the incomparable joy of watching this clip,...
[The following essay, posted here in three parts over several days, was solicited by and is cross-posted at e-ir. Read part one here. Thanks to Aaron McKeil for editorial input and html formatting assistance.] III. The Task of Translation In the preceding discussion I have assumed, albeit tacitly, that contradictory statements emanating from different communities of practice and different traditions of inquiry are translatable into one another’s terms.[6] Translation is required for contradiction to have any sense or meaning: “objects fall to the ground when dropped” is contradicted by...
Political science, alas, has been facing much hostility as of late. Selected out by a Republican for de-funding, attacked by one of our own in a highly publicized and reputed piece, it is time that we wielded our tools to figure out what is going on. Thankfully, Huber, Dowling and Hill have done some social science: surveys with some random selection to assess how people feel about Political Science compared to Psychology and Computer Science. They find that people in general support NSF funding for political science less than for the other two with independents and Republicans far more...
Japan-Korea treaty killed by Seoul at last minute about a week ago.Jennifer Lind provides a quick explanation:East Asia, where states don't even need to practice wedge politics to bring about division.....
'Game of Thrones': The Board Game -- powered by Cracked.comH/T Rob Farley.
[The following essay, to be posted here in three parts over several days, was solicited by and is cross-posted at e-ir. Part one appeared here. Thanks to Aaron McKeil for editorial input and html formatting assistance.] II. The Appearance of ContradictionFrom this brief example we can draw a few lessons. 1) When confronted by two apparently contradictory statements, first try to ascertain whether the statements are in fact contradictory, or whether they are actually saying two different things.2) If the statements are actually contradictory, use...
[The following essay, to be posted here in three parts over the next several days, was solicited by and is cross-posted at e-ir. Thanks to Aaron McKeil for editorial input and html formatting assistance.]The dominant methodological position in the field of IR—neopositivism[1]—has almost certainly attained its dominance as a result of sociological factors, particularly the role that its emphasis on covering-law explanations and the practical activity of hypothesis-testing using sophisticated techniques of cross-case comparison plays in legitimating IR as a science within the United States....
THE CANARD"All the fake news that's fit to print."--South BostonPhotograph by Matt GratiasArea political scientist Joseph Nye of Harvard University emerged Sunday as a hero, thwarting an attempted robbery at a local convenience store. Suspected robber Donnie McFlanagan was pointing a sawed-off shotgun at the quickie-mart clerk, demanding him to empty its contents. Taking his own life into his hands, Nye intervened according to multiple witness accounts. Armed only with a bottle of Coca Cola and a copy of US Weekly he managed to convince the assailant to put down his weapon and surrender his...