Reacting to a recent event on the study of religion, conflict and peace
Watching Scientific Progress in Action
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Academia
Big Man, Big Heart
This a crosspost from Saideman's Semi-Spew. This week, we found out that Brandon Valeriano died. It is quite gutting as he had such a terrific spirit, and he was too damned...
My Best Classroom Reads of the Year
Amid the annual deluge of end-of-year lists, I started to think about what readings generated the best classroom discussions I have overseen in the past calendar year. That list of readings is...
The Classroom and the Magic Circle
I wrote a chapter for a newly published edited volume, Teaching Political Science and International Relations for Early Career Instructors. The volume itself, capably edited by Michael P.A. Murphy...
More Academia Posts
Patriarchy and the Cult of Coercion: Pale, Male, and Stale Will Make Deterrence Fail
Carol Cohn is the G.O.A.T. Back in 1987, she wrote what is still the best gendered take on the pathologies of deterrence in a piece called, “Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals.” It absolutely demolishes the cult of the missile bro. And every deterrence scholar I know who’s not a caveman kneels before this article with overt praise. Many swear they even teach it. Yet, modern deterrence theory is basically all rationalist—an implicit rejection of Cohn’s critique. The language of the field—from “Minuteman missiles” to “vertical erector launchers”—remains...
Judging a book by its cover
When I was in middle school I loved history: ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, the Middle Ages always fascinated me. Often during the summer vacation, I would read the history books in advance to prepare for the upcoming history classes (big surprise, I am a nerd). Old habits die hard, so this summer I picked up - actually, clicked on - the updated version of the Russian history book for high-schoolers "Russian history 1945 - beginning of 21st century". This version is co-written by the former culture minister and current aide to President Putin Vladimir Medinsky and the rector of...
In Memory of Bear Braumoeller
Sometimes you come across people that permanently change the way you think. About life, yourself, or an area of study. They instill a sense of resolute optimism about the world and your abilities. Bear Braumoeller was that person for us. Wise, accomplished, brilliant, humble, and kind. Anyone who can be remembered that way lived life well. Bear is one of those people. He was our professor, mentor, colleague, and friend. We were richer for knowing him, and are poorer for his passing. We first got the chance to meet Bear during our recruitment process to Ohio State. We gravitated toward him...
Bridging the Gap between Research and Policy: Lessons from Co-Creation in the Aid Sector
There is an increasing focus in academic and policy circles on research-policy partnerships. These partnerships are often achieved through co-creation, or “the joint production of innovation between combinations of industry, research, government and civil society.” Co-creation is central to innovation in the hard sciences and technology, but its role in international relations scholarship and aid policy remains underdeveloped. As scholars of international aid practice, we believe that co-creation can help us design and conduct more relevant, rigorous, and impactful research. It is also a...
Half-Baked Thoughts on ChatGPT and the College Essay
I replicated the go-to method for using ChatGPT to “cheat” on college essays. Here are my takeaways.
All hail International Relations’ lack of discipline!
UPDATE: As a commenter helpfully pointed out, the person whose tweet I'm responding to was a political science Professor, not a historian. This kind of messes with the framing of this post but rather than stealth re-write it I'll leave it as is and let you interpret my Freudian slip as you like When I was in grad school, my Department's grad student organization made shirts that read, "Political Science: Four sub-fields, no discipline." Behind this joke is a common observation about political science, that it is defined by its focus rather than a formal set of methods or theories. Not...
How should IR scholars respond to tragedy?
Like many, I woke up in shock at the massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria. The earthquake, centered in Gaziantep, has killed 3,000 as of Monday afternoon devastated southeast Turkey and northern Syria. In addition to Gaziantep, other affected Turkish cities were Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir [Note-these aren't the proper spellings as I can't figure out how to insert Turkish characters]. The tragedy of Turkey's southeast Any destruction and death on this scale is a tragedy, but the earthquake followed a string of other problems for the region. Turkey's southeast was long marginalized,...
Get off my lawn! Are journal demands for “novelty” creating a culture of low-level academic dishonesty?
A distinctly unoriginal take on the pathologies of overvaluing academic “novelty.”