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

APSA Statement on Campus Carry

by | 16 October, 2015 |

In response to demand for a statement on recent gun shootings on college campuses, prompted in small part on the Duck by Maryam Deloffre, APSA has issued a short statement on campus carry, the new Texas law that will potentially allow students to bring concealed weapons in to classrooms: The American Political Science Association is deeply concerned about the impact of Texas’s new Campus Carry law on freedom of expression in Texas universities. The law, which was passed earlier this year and takes effect in 2016, allows licensed handgun carriers to bring concealed handguns into buildings on...

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Food is a Human Right

Food is a Human Right

by | 15 October, 2015 |

This is a guest post from Michelle Jurkovich, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. As the lunch hour approaches in Washington, a woman sits at the edge of Farragut Square holding a cardboard sign with three simple words: “I am hungry.” Some passersby are noticeably uncomfortable as they walk by her, averting their eyes and quickening their pace. A few people hand her the spare coins in their pockets. Most people ignore her completely. Had this woman expressed a violation of a different human right (for ultimately, that is what her sign is...

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What Are U.S. Interests in Syria?

What Are U.S. Interests in Syria?

by | 14 October, 2015 |

What are U.S. interests in Syria? As I wrote in a previous post,  I'm not moved by arguments that suggest reputational losses should drive U.S. policy in Syria. The costs of backing  down in Syria over Assad's use of chemical weapons (and the likely costs of backing down in insisting that Assad must go before negotiations can begin) seem to me to be mostly domestic and political and smaller compared to the potentially high costs of U.S. deep military engagement in Syria. That said, I worry that restraintists, that is those who counsel restraint with respect to U.S. use of force, undersell...

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Rhetorical Entrapment and Syria: Let’s Not Do Dumb Stuff

Rhetorical Entrapment and Syria: Let’s Not Do Dumb Stuff

by | 2 October, 2015 |

I'm on team Dan on the question of not freaking out over Syria. I don't think Jeff's assessment on this blog reflects the reality which is one of Russian weakness, nor am I convinced, per Seth's conjecture, that the Obama administration had some master plan to lure the Russians in to Syria.  Russia's moves in to Syria suggest real fear that their long time client state could fail. By one estimate, the Syrian army  has been reduced by 2/3 to less than 100,000, and as Dominic Tierney points out in The Atlantic,  Assad may control only a 1/5 of Syria. I also agree with a number of folks like...

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Habebamus papam!

Habebamus papam!

by | 1 October, 2015 | ,

This is a guest post from Nathan Paxton, Professorial Lecturer in the School of International Service at American University and a 2015-2016 APSA Congressional Fellow. Now that Pope Francis has jetted back to the Vatican on “Shepherd One”, we have the chance to talk about the theoretical underpinnings of the pope’s international politics. I hope you’re as excited to have a political theory discussion as I am. Primarily, I want to discuss what I think the papal view of politics is, how it fits in with liberation theology, and what that means to those of us who care about international and...

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Will 2016 Be a Foreign Policy Election?

Will 2016 Be a Foreign Policy Election?

by | 30 September, 2015 |

The Third Way project, a centrist Democratic policy outfit, has just released an interesting survey on public attitudes going in to the 2016 election.  They make two arguments that I think are worth exploring, (1)  the foreign policy advantage Democrats briefly enjoyed in the wake of the Iraq War has dissipated and (2) foreign policy may be more salient in this election than in the recent past.  My general take is that foreign policy, barring a crisis, isn't a big driver of voter decisions in presidential elections. That said, it could be an important issue for a more significant segment of...

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Foreign Affairs Iran Deal Poll – Congrats You Have Nearly an All Male Panel

Foreign Affairs Iran Deal Poll – Congrats You Have Nearly an All Male Panel

by | 10 September, 2015 | ,

It looks like the Obama administration has secured 42 votes for the Iran deal in the Senate, enough to filibuster even a vote, and despite today's machinations in the House, the Iran Deal will likely go through. Indeed, when Republicans agreed back in May to a review process that would require a super-majority in both chambers to overturn the deal, the die was already somewhat cast.  Still, I'm thrilled that supporters have been able to hold the line in the face of a multi-million dollar campaign against the agreement. In the final days, we're seeing a surge in efforts to get views on the...

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Getting Your APSA Preconference On: The Politics of Markets

Getting Your APSA Preconference On: The Politics of Markets

by | 2 September, 2015 |

I just got out of a half-day APSA pre-conference short course on the politics of markets, firms, and interest groups organized by the sociologist Edward Walker and political scientist Patty Strach. Having attended Thad Dunning's short course on natural experiments in the past, I think there is a lot to be said for alternative formats to the traditional panel of papers and discussants. This morning, 9 panelists each reflected on a common set of questions with two discussants, Ed and David Vogel, weighing in on our remarks. Fellow panelists including a number of folks who study American...

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So You Would Like a Job at a Policy School

So You Would Like a Job at a Policy School

by | 19 August, 2015 |

So, in another installment on the job market front, I thought I'd weigh in with some thoughts on possible differences of job postings and hiring  processes at policy schools. Admittedly, this is an idiosyncratic take having just worked at one of them, but I think there may be some generalizable aspects from my own experience. I have also passed through two others as a post-doc. If my institution is any indication, policy schools tend to be heterogeneous interdisciplinary places which can make faculty coordination and hiring processes even more fraught than in a disciplinary department. So,...

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Convincing Waverers to Support the Iran Deal

Convincing Waverers to Support the Iran Deal

by | 14 August, 2015 |

When the Iran Deal was announced and supported by the P5 of the UN Security Council, I would have thought that the tide of elite opinion among US lawmakers would break  in support of the Deal, possibly including some Republicans (maybe Jeff Flake?), possibly enough to filibuster a no vote in the Senate. Now, it comes down to whether President Obama has the votes in either the House or Senate to forestall a veto override of what will certainly be no votes by both chambers to the deal. While it still seems likely that the president has the votes to prevent an override, possibly in both the...

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