I stayed up too late last night drinking cheap Scotch and playing Borderlands 2. Then I accidentally snagged the wife's computer -- she's somewhere that has a high of -40° today -- but, thanks to the wonders of multiple-user operating systems and Dropbox, I think...
I'm guessing we'll get more of the standard fare tonight: that the Benghazi attacks were bad; that Iran has to be deterred (will Romney bring Bibi's bomb sketch?), that Syria is...
Dan Drezner is very unhappy about the outline for tonight's foreign-policy debate. If he's got the list of sections right, I'll be pretty outraged as well. So I guess we'll just talk the drinking...
To the best of my knowledge, no prominent peer-reviewed article in political science has reported a difference in the frequency with which the United States enters into conflict under Democratic...
Taipei 101Photo Credit: Dan NexonI spent 2-9 June in Taiwan on a trip sponsored by the government of the Republic of China. Taipei funds these trips, and others like them, as part of an effort to influence academics and opinion-leaders; while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) would certainly be pleased if its outreach resulted in more voices advocating on behalf of ROC interests, it would, I think, be satisfied if we simply paid more attention to Taiwan.As one of the China experts on the trip explained to me, Taipei has seen a significant loss of influence in the United States. Many of...
<img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('310e98ce-49cb-4b0f-b5c7-8ea02326bd47'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/-0FUOBjhtgfg/T9XkvHerJlI/AAAAAAAAANo/b2TAgN7QGjo/video3ce1177ddb82%25255B20%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" />Xenophobia so sloppy and racist, Glenn Beck himself would blush…This recently ran on Korea’s largest broadcaster in primetime news slots until the outburst controversy grew so loud, it got pulled. Don’t miss the guy in the white shirt and tie behind a desk to lend academic...
This is the second in a series of guest posts by Stuart J. Kaufman of the University of Delaware. Stuart advances a long-running dispute with PTJ about whether "what goes on inside people's heads" is relevant to social constructionism. PTJ doesn't think so; Stuart disagrees. The first post can be found here. After the final post, we will make the entire piece available as a PDF -- consider it our first true "working paper" publication.Since each theory begins with a metatheoretical judgment about human nature, I think the place to start looking for insights is in psychology, which focuses on...
Note: signatures are only valid for those who are members of International Studies Association at the time of review. Please do not sign if you are not, or will not, be an ISA member.Below is a letter requesting support for a new section of the ISA on "Historical International Relations." The section would be cognate to BISA's Historical Sociology working group and APSA's International History and Politics section. The idea came out of discussions among the co-signers of the letter below.Dear Friends and Colleagues,For a few years now, many of you will have heard us mention the need for a...
This is the first in a series of guest posts by Stuart J. Kaufman of the University of Delaware. Stuart advances a long-running dispute with PTJ about whether "what goes on inside people's heads" is relevant to social constructionism. PTJ doesn't think so; Stuart disagrees. After the final post, we will make the entire piece available as a PDF -- consider it our first true "working paper" publication.When scholars hold up physics as a model for how social science should operate, they tend to focus on the neat equations that physics is able to generate to explain physical phenomena. A more...
This is a guest post by Michael C. Horowitz, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.Who can see the future? For us mere mortals, it’s hard, even for so-called experts. There are so many cognitive biases to take into consideration and even knowing your own weaknesses often does not help. Neither does being smart, apparently. So, what does make for “good judgment” when it comes to forecasting? When, if ever, do experts have advantages in making predictions? And how can we combine expertise and statistical models to produce the best possible predictions?...
My students and I have unlocked the key to writing a blockbuster romantic comedy script. When lecturing on masculinities in my Gender and Human Rights course I gave students the following challenge: think of an stereotypical, ideal-type character that symbolizes one form of hegemonic masculinity. Remembering that hegemonic masculinities are fluid ideal types that vary across history and context, students came up with answers like "the macho rugby player," "the workaholic CEO," "the playboy" and "the quiet, rugged cowboy." After getting them to list the qualities that define these masculine...
[cross-posted at SSSpew]When Political Scientists Do Not Understand Political Science .... they get published in the New York Times.I tried, I really tried, to ignore the screed at the NYT against political science (especially of the quant variety), but Jacqueline Stevens's rant is such a poor effort that I know it will be widely read and influential. Why? Because bad ideas often spread further and faster than good ones (see Clash of Civilizations).There are so many things wrong with this piece that it is hard to know where to start. First, I am , of course, much of what this women hates...