The Duck of Minerva

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Joshua Busby is a Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin. From 2021-2023, he served as a Senior Advisor for Climate at the U.S. Department of Defense. His most recent book is States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security (Cambridge, 2023). He is also the author of Moral Movements and Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 2010) and the co-author, with Ethan Kapstein, of AIDS Drugs for All: Social Movements and Market Transformations (Cambridge, 2013). His main research interests include transnational advocacy and social movements, international security and climate change, global public health and HIV/ AIDS, energy and environmental policy, and U.S. foreign policy.

Recent Posts

Being a Doctoral Student in the Time of Trump: Six Challenges

Being a Doctoral Student in the Time of Trump: Six Challenges

by | 6 December, 2016 |

This is a guest post from Ariya Hagh, Andrew Szarejko, and Laila Wahedi. All three authors are doctoral students in Georgetown University’s Department of Government. Author order is alphabetical by last name. As we consider the broader ramifications of a Trump presidency, it is important to take a moment to consider how we in the discipline are likely to be affected so that we can adequately prepare for the coming years. If past behavior and rhetoric is any indication, which we expect it to be, the incoming Trump administration will present a unique set of challenges to doctoral students in...

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How Are You? On Coping in the Time of Trump

by | 2 December, 2016 |

pic.twitter.com/hOgO7uOmk2 — Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) November 30, 2016 I'm not going to assume that all of our readers are non-Trump fans, but let's be honest, Trump support in the social science academy is probably slim. And, if you are like me, you are dismayed by what transpired with the election and continue to try to figure it out, both personally as a human being and as a citizen of whatever country you are from. At moments, you think, maybe it won't be so bad, but then he tweets or says something and you fear it will be worse. I think Americans are often preternaturally disposed...

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World AIDS Day 2016

World AIDS Day 2016

by | 1 December, 2016 |

December 1 is World AIDS day.  Throughout the 2000s, AIDS received unprecedented attention and resources, particularly to support ten of millions of people's access to life-extending anti-retroviral therapy. Attention and resources peaked in recent years, and while the problem in some respects has gotten better, it hasn't gone away. More than 35 million people have died from AIDS already.  And yet,  there are still more than 35 million people living with the virus that causes AIDS, only half of whom have access to ARVs. While new infections and deaths have come down from their peaks, there...

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Climate and Security in the Trump Era

Climate and Security in the Trump Era

by | 30 November, 2016 |

I've been asked by some reporters about the significance of Donald Trump's victory for the agenda of climate and security, the emergent concern that climate change is likely to produce consequences that rise to the level of security challenges for the United States and rest of the world (some background here and here).  Some of my initial thoughts were quoted today in Scientific American and I've expanded on them here.  As I noted in my last post, we've already seen considerable speculation about what the Trump administration might yield on climate change and wider environmental policy....

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What Does Trump’s Victory Mean for the Environment?

What Does Trump’s Victory Mean for the Environment?

by | 15 November, 2016 |

Much has already been written about the significance of Donald Trump's victory for the environment, with particular emphasis on climate change. There is some speculation that Trump, based on campaign promises, will try to undo some of President Obama's signature achievements, namely some scuttle that he's looking for a fast exit from the 2015 Paris climate agreement that recently entered into force. The noted climate denier Myron Ebell was named to lead Trump's transition at the EPA. President Obama in his press conference today made a vigorous case for why his efforts to green the economy...

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Processing this Election

Processing this Election

by | 11 November, 2016 |

So this is ostensibly an academic blog, though there is something quite confessional and personal about the blog format. I suspect many readers of the Duck are experiencing what I'm feeling, which is profound heartache over the election results. I've been writing on Facebook and trying to grieve and process with others, but I've got to stop. Life has to go on, and other urgent writing and work require my attention. Still, I thought I'd share some of those reflections here, for what it is worth. I've refrained from partisan blogging here, though was profoundly opposed to the kind of campaign...

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Some New and Old Guests and Permanent Ducks

by | 7 October, 2016 | ,

We're happy to announce some new guest Ducks, some old guests staying on, and additions to our permanent contributors. In reverse order, Jarrod Hayes and Heather Roff-Perkins have joined us as permanent contributors. They have brought keen insights on a range of topics so we're happy they have agreed to stay on in a permanent capacity! Maryam Deloffre, Jeffrey Stacey, and William Kindred Winecoff continue on as guests with important insights on global health, security, and IPE respectively. Our thanks to our guests from last year -- Annick, Cai, Seth, Tom, and Wendy -- for their valuable...

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Open Thread on International Development Syllabi

Open Thread on International Development Syllabi

by | 27 September, 2016 | , ,

In previous posts on the environment and health, I highlighted lacunae in the field, which I attributed in part to there being few courses in those substantive areas. By providing a few exemplar syllabi, I thought more of us might find it easier to offer courses on those topics. At the very least, some might find inspiration for courses and mine these syllabi for readings. Another potentially under-studied area is international development. Here, there may be more course offerings and crossover with IPE, but I'm going to start an open thread with development syllabi because I can. Again,...

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Global Health Governance Syllabi Open Thread

Global Health Governance Syllabi Open Thread

by | 24 September, 2016 |

So, I noted in a post a few weeks ago during APSA that I thought the discipline doesn't pay enough attention to global environmental politics. Part of this is a function of training. I didn't have a global environmental politics course to take during graduate school, but I teach one now. I posted a few syllabi in the post and comments thread. I think the same thing is true of global health. Politics abound with global health whether it be the Ebola virus, Zika, pharmaceutical prices, the on-going HIV/AIDS crisis, the rise of non-communicable disease, the challenges of health systems...

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