Much ink has been spilled since last Sunday about the massacre at King’s Landing. Why did Dany carpet-bomb a civilian population after a city had surrendered? Was this a sign of her growing madness? Or a rational strategy to cement the legitimacy of her claim? Why...
Seeing reports in the New York Times today on further Russian aggression in Ukraine has me thinking about Ely Ratner and Elizabeth Rosenberg’s recent article entitled “Pointless Punishment?" where...
I saw this image on Twitter tonight and it kind of summarized how I feel about the news this summer which has been awful. I've been reading posts from thoughtful commentators like Steve Walt, Micah...
I see a connection between what is happening in Ferguson, the now roiling suburb of St. Louis, and American security policy. An odd connection to make at first glance, but stay with me. In the...
Yesterday I decided to create an account at thegradcafe.com. In doing so, I joined a handful of political scientists who post there in an effort to increase transparency. Of course, I'm now being flooded with questions about improving applications and the like. Which I don't really mind. But I am surprised at (1) how many people want to get a PhD in political science and (2) how many of them think that there's some kind of "secret sauce" to admissions. On the subject of graduate school... we're about a decade into a major expansion of parental leave for permanent faculty, but that hasn't...
Mitt Romney is back in the news with more than a little schadenfreude, talking about how he would be better not only to deal with sequestration but also with Iran. Or so he claims. But had he become president, it would have been interesting to see the Romney Doctrine in action—a foreign policy lodestar distinctly different from the Obama Doctrine. Normally foreign policy experts talk in terms of grand strategies—sets of guiding principles for an administration’s foreign policy—but occasionally in the world of ideas a particular set of strategic principles gets defined as a doctrine. Here,...
Someone comes along with a "Call Me Maybe" joke. A mashup of Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like a Hole" and the insidious zombie-song of last summer. The worst part? It works.
Polls in Kenya closed 16 hours ago, but votes continue to be counted.  Those familiar with Kenya and with the electoral crisis of 2007-2008 will know to distrust provisional results. In December 2007, challenger Raila Odinga seemed substantially ahead during much of the early voting, only to see that lead evaporate as returns came in from more remote districts. Despite this qualification, it does look increasingly likely that Uhuru Kenyatta will gain the presidency in the first round of voting.*  In the past two weeks, there was some speculation that Kenyatta might struggle to meet new...
Last month, Dani Rodrik wrote a piece for Project Syndicate that went all kinds of viral.  In it, he explains why he no longer views himself as a political economist.  The upshot: because if he believed the stuff he used to believe, he'd have to accept that there's not much room for improving the world through op-eds, and that's not something he's prepared to accept. Consider this passage: But there was a deep paradox in all of this. The more we claimed to be explaining, the less room was left for improving matters. If politicians’ behavior is determined by the vested interests to which they...
Studying North Korea inevitably means people ask me pretty outlandish stuff. People have asked, if the North really believes long hair is bad for socialism, if that goiter on Kim Il Sung’s neck made him crazy, if Kim Jong Il’s platform shoes meant that he liked disco, and if North Korean women are good looking because a food shortage would mean everyone is slim. (I presume that last one is a reaction to the obesity epidemic in the US.) So I tried to avoid this latest outbreak of Norko bizarreness with Rodman. But people keep asking me, so here a few thoughts to the effect that no one should...
Good morning, ducks! Let's start the week in Pakistan The horrific and systematic killing of the Shia in Pakistan continues in full swing. Sunil Dasgupta asks: "How will India Respond to Civil War in Pakistan" (h/t C. Barwa) General Musharraf has promised (again) that he is coming back to rescue Pakistan...  But will it be the crazy, try-to-provoke-a-nuclear-war-with-India Gen. Musharraf or think-outside-of-the-box and try to resolve the Kashmir dispute Pres. Musharraf?  Does anyone in Pakistan still care about him? Arif Rafiq looks at Pakistan's Powerful Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad...
Traveling home today from a great conference with some awesome Ducks and non-Ducks. The conference, hosted by Debbi Avant (U of Denver) and Oliver Westerwinter (EUI) at the University of Denver, was on the topic of networks, governance, and security. I learned a lot and will hopefully write a nice, normal research -related post sometime soon. At the conference, one of the dinner conversations that kept popping up was the academic job market. In general, the consensus – across age and rank divides - was that the job market is a very difficult, dehumanizing experience for the candidate. Of...