Sunday mornings are for tenure reviews. Huh? I am reading stuff to evaluate a scholar for whether he/she is worthy of tenure. This is a standard part of the tenure process--to have outside scholars read a bunch of a candidate's work and then indicate...
This week, courtesy of my colleague Adam Stulberg and the Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy, our department hosted Matthew Kroenig. When I first learned of Kroenig’s visit,...
Yesterday, a student asked me about the recent news reports indicating that Iraq did, in fact, have "weapons of mass destruction" back in 2002 and 2003 when the U.S. was attempting to justify a...
This is a guest post from Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, an associate professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland. She is the author of Inside the Politics of...
Over the years I've taught Scott Sagan and Charles Perrow for a range of different courses. Based on those two books, I'm pretty sure that I'd rather not read these two terms in the same sentence: "nuclear weapons" and "rot." From this morning's Washington Post: The Air Force stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to control — and, if necessary, launch — nuclear missiles after a string of unpublicized failings, including a remarkably dim review of their unit’s launch skills. The group’s deputy commander said it is suffering “rot” within its ranks. “We are, in fact, in a...
I don't know whether to feel horribly manipulated, simply appreciate the nerd-fest humor, or both. Andrew Philips on the new Australian Defense White Paper. Dan Trombly on the efficacy of US intervention in Syria. Jay Ulfelder wants to restrict our use of the term "state" to, as best as I can tell, sovereign-territorial entities. His intentions are good--break unilinear understandings of state (trans)formation--but his methods are wrong: they simply re-inscribe an association between "state" and the Weberian ideal type of the "modern state." Marc Lynch on anti-Americanism in the Arab world....
Despite the geekiness of my previous post today, I had to double dip with this: H/T Jeff Emanuel
What do Arend Lijphart, John McGarry and Tywin Lannister have in common? Power-sharing! Since we are halfway through the third season, and we got a nice dialogue about the interplay between nation, nationalism and anarchy between Varys and Littlefinger (not in the book), it is time for us to ponder how these basic concepts play in Westeros.* * A reminder that Westeros is only one part of this world--there are the places beyond the seas that have their own political systems and identities. Plus the world beyond the Wall is not really part of Westeros either. When I first wrote about the IR...
So everyone is bashing Obama’s use of red lines on Syria. In Sunday's New York Times, Daniel Byman took the concept of red lines to task because failure to act on them weakens America’s credibility and reputation: …when deterrence fails, the United States looks weak and indecisive.... Moreover, not acting after issuing ultimatums harms America’s reputation. As Mr. Rogers and others have argued, inaction makes it more likely that American red lines elsewhere in the region will be questioned, especially in Iran, which is facing pressure on its nuclear weapons program and watching Syria...
The International Studies Association Theory Section Book Award The International Studies Association Theory Section Book Award recognizes the best book or edited volume published over the past two years that contributes to the theorization of world politics. The award is open to all forms and styles of theorization. Criteria include such considerations as innovativeness, quality of argumentation, and significance for the broad discipline of international studies. Nominations should be emailed to the committee chair accompanied by a brief letter explaining why a work deserves consideration...
A little over a month ago, I wrote about the growing academic literature concerning human rights treaties and their lack of influence on human rights practices. Based on my own experiences growing up in parts of the U.S. where it’s assumed we can "[Rebuild] Our Culture One Purity Ball at a Time,” I likened human rights treaties to virginity pledges, saying that “in most circumstances, these human rights “pledges” don’t work to improve human rights practices. In some circumstances, they can actually lead to a worsening of governmental human rights practices.” There is a brand-spankin-new...
Well, the American Community Survey's "number of times married" question. I'm reprinting the following (mass) email from the Minnesota Population Center about pending changes to the ACS that will dramatically affect our ability to know how many times Americans have been divorced or married. Social science solidarity! Dear IPUMS User, I am writing to alert you that the Census Bureau is planning to drop the question on "number of times married" from the American Community Survey. For those of us who study family demography, this change would be a major loss. The times married question is not...