Professor Julie Kaarbo discusses Foreign Policy Analysis.
Episode 4: Julie Kaarbo
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Welcome New Guest Bloggers!!!
After much anticipation, nail-biting anxiety, rumors and speculation, we are finally able to announce our new team of guest bloggers!! Below are the eight amazing minds you will see posting...
Friday Nerd Blogging: Jumping the Shark
A friend of mine mis-typed Sharknado and found this: And, of course, as someone who co-authored a book on NATO, I could not help but consider the picture and then over-analyze. Specifically, the...
Are Germans Against Upholding NATO’s Article V Commitments?
A recent Pew poll says that they are. Â According to Pew, "at least half of Germans, French and Italians say their country should not use military force to defend a NATO ally if attacked by Russia."...
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Syria: Intervening Not Now But Later
A full-scale US military intervention in Syria is off the table, as is a no-fly zone. The US decision to provide arms to Syrian opposition forces is nonetheless intended to shift the military initiative away from Assad regime. But the opposition is splintered, which has allowed the Hezbollah-backed government forces to level the playing field. Although the outcome remains unclear, it may be time for Western governments to begin serious planning for potential post-conflict stabilization operations. At this stage it appears the Assad regime has the momentum, aided in particular by Hezbollah...
Friday Nerd Blogging: The Chosen One
If there is one bit of recent pop culture that will have enduring value as a common reference in the classroom, it is almost certainly Harry Potter.*Â Since his fictional 33rd birthday was this week, here's this week's FNB: Â Â Â Â Â * Not to mention that our Father Duck co-edited a volume on HP and IR.
Put Middle East Peace Process to a Vote
Always good to start out blogging with a non-controversial topic, like the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.  But just before the Israeli Knesset went into recess, they advanced a bill requiring that any land ceded in a peace process be approved  in a national referendum. The bill could become a Basic Law--tantamount to a constitutional amendment--when the Knesset returns in the fall.  My take on this is in the  International Herald Tribune/New York Times: The argument in brief: Far from undercutting the peace process, a referendum is necessary to the legitimacy of a two-state solution....
Friday Morning Linkage
Still trying to make sense of Benghazi. Some inside info on the mixed messages coming from Obama's Syrian policy.  Meanwhile, Assad opens an Instagram account. More mixed messages from the Obama administration on drones, too. This can't be good.  A lot of congressional staffers don't see a link between diplomacy and national security. Two years of statehood and things are getting messy in South Sudan. What's at stake if Obama cancels the summit with Putin.  Frenemies? Interns at The Nation bite the hand that doesn't feed them. And, after nearly forty years, Philip Schrodt is retiring from...
Thursday Midmorning Linkage
Here is your Thursday late morning linkage. Let's start with a couple of stories about getting out to the field. Kim Yi Dionne writes about the challenges of taking her toddler to Malawi during field work (on second thought, maybe not!) U.S. diplomats confined to Kabul and can't visit aid projects as military drawdown deprives them of protection for field visits In environmental news, here is some fracking and Google-related chatter and more: Environmental research group study claims efficiency more than fracking drove U.S. greenhouse gas emissions reductions of late Back and forth by...
What Should You Read on Cyber Security?
Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Brandon Valeriano of the University of Glasgow and Ryan C. Manes of the University of Chicago, Illinois. Brandon asked if we could run a bibliography on Cyber Security, and we happily agreed. If anyone else is interested in submitting bibliographies to be archived at the Duck of Minerva, drop us an email. It is that time of the year again - that time when everyone considers updating their syllabus. So you have an interest in cyber security but have not taken the time to develop a reading list. Well here it is, I have, unfortunately, dived into the...
What Caused the Iraq War? David Lake Replies to Debs and Monteiro (Part II)
That one can pose a rational model that predicts preventive war does not make it the right model or necessarily do justice to the facts of the case.
Time to Put “Dying to Win” out to Pasture?
This is a guest post by Peter S. Henne. Peter received his PhD from Georgetown University in May 2013, and was a Fellow at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia during 2012-2013; he is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. His research focuses on religion and foreign policy; he has also written on terrorism and religious conflict. In his latest blog post on Foreign Policy, Stephen Walt calls for a re-evaluation of the United States' approach to counter-terrorism. One statement--really a quick...