Whether scholars embed policy recommendations in their work is a flawed measure of whether work is policy-relevant. Across a series of articles and book chapters, Michael Desch and Paul Avey have argued international relations scholarship is...
In late May, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) released a white paper on China’s Military Strategy. This public release is the first of its kind, and it has received relatively little attention...
There is a discussion on PSR about sexism in political science, with most folks concurring that it is still an issue with some deniers pointing out that support groups for women are exclusive, too. ...
I never thought that when I started grad school I’d be relocating to another country. Then again, when I got the job in Canada, it did not really occur to me that I was “really” leaving the US – on...
There's been a lot of discussion, here (1)(2) and elsewhere (3)(4) about the value of networking. Dan Drezner suggests that the best kind of networking is doing good research, and that there is a small professional benefit to networking, but not much. Eric Voten agrees, suggesting that networking is not going to lead to significant professional opportunities. Dan Nexon suggests that one not network at all, but talk to and meet people as an end in itself. While there are a lot of gems of advice in all of these posts (do good research, be professional, have fun, don't chase around "big names"...
The world would be a better place if more academic papers included this caption--in bright neon letters and all caps. (via Dani K Nedal, as XCKD long ceased to be on my regular reading list)
The New York Times recalls her as a post-9/11 public intellectual who served as an "intellectual beacon" and "guiding light for policymakers" during a tumultous political era. The Atlantic describes her as a uniquely non-secularist scholar, whose "greatest legacy" was her "serious intellectual commitment to including God in discussions of politics." At Crooked Timber, Corey Robin counters the notion that she was a "realist" and criticizes her support for Bush-era policies under the mantle of "just war theory." As I sifted through some of the official obituaries, it surprised me how few of...
I don't care much for APSA. Indeed, this year I am continuing my recent tradition of skipping it entirely. But it always occasions discussion in the political-science blogsphere. This year the focus of that discussion, at least as it pertains to conferencing as an activity, appears to be on "networking." Steve recently echoed the substantive part of Brian's post in recommending a focus on meeting younger scholars rather than pursuing brief meetings with "big names" in the field. He also suggests a variety of social and professional events as good venues to meet people. Dan Drezner advises...
Dan's post on his self-experiment in raising citations to female scholars has drawn a critical comment from someone who wonders about whether similar patterns exist with reference to minority scholars and scholars from outside North America. The issues of gender, race, and national (regional) origin are distinct, but if we're going to have a wide-ranging discussion about inclusion and exclusion in the field then we ought to address these issues squarely. Just to be clear about the parameters of this discussion: it seems clear to me that we need to discuss the recruitment, retention, and...
Both because of the unexpected direction yesterday took, and because I haven't worked through my thoughts about any number of pressing current events, I thought I'd write about an experiment that I've been engaging in with my recent academic papers. You might recall the Maliniak, Powers, and Walter paper (soon to be out with International Organization) on citations and the gender gap. As Walter reported at Political Violence @ a Glance: .... articles written by women in international relations are cited significantly less than articles written by men. This is true even if you control for...
I have been thinking of listing a bunch of my favorite 2000s+ Political Science books, and a variety of circumstances has inspired me to finally write the list . These books make my list because they made me see the world differently. Most persuaded me of their core arguments, but all made me think and even ask questions I had never asked before. My reading is fairly random as my interests are fairly wide (I read and research in IR and comparative, in ethnic conflict and civil-military relations--but note I do not read IPE or Environmental stuff, for example). I read some of these books...
Some of you have asked why I pulled the post, “Intellectual Jailbait: Networking at APSA,” which I put up last night. First, a lot of people were obviously hurt by the post. Those of us who blog of course want to be read, and I try to use humor to get my points across. I think that most humor, or at least mine, tries to go up to the edge of inappropriateness without crossing it. You don’t know until you cross it until you do, however. I would have never posted this if I thought that it would hurt a lot of feelings. Second, I felt that people were missing the main message, which was to focus...