The following is a guest post by Mason Richey, an associate professor of international studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. I am Trump; I am Trump. Trump I am. That Trump I am, that Trump I am, I do not like that Trump I am. ...
It seems that every pundit, scholar, and borderline academic publishing online has developed a new term to describe the state of war in the system. I can’t browse the pages of Foreign Policy,...
Apologies for the missing linkage from last week. I took a team of students to DC to present to policymakers the key findings from my year-long course on climate change and the major economies (see...
It’s that time of year again: the magical time when my 10 page undergraduate research proposal deadline is enough to cause a health scare among the geriatric population of mid-Missouri. As the...
Krauthammer says that Obama doesn't have a "mandate." In 2004 he argued that Bush had one. According to Krauthammer: [Obama] won by going very small, very negative," said Krauthammer, speaking on FOX News as throngs of Obama supporters danced in celebration over Obama's re-election victory. "This is not a mandate either in the numbers or the way he campaigned," warned Krauthammer, adding, "He did not campaign on any ideas, anything large, anything important. If memory serves, Bush did not wage a relentlessly positive campaign against Kerry. Moreover, consolidating the largest expansion of...
This is the audio (in mp3 format) from the Speculative Fiction and Pedagogy panel at the International Studies Association-Northeast 2012 convention. The panel featured Henry Farrell, Dan Nexon, Jennifer Lobasz, and PTJ. Notes: The new feed for Duck of Minerva podcasts is here. I will continue to post Duck of Minerva podcasts at the old feed for the time being, but I suggest switching over the new one sooner rather than later. Podcasts will also be available via direct download from the "Podcasts" tab.
One nice thing about a status-quo election: it doesn't leave international-affairs experts with a great deal to prognosticate on. It will be interesting to see if the administration does, indeed, show more "flexibility" on BMD cooperation with Moscow and if it makes a push on Israel-Palestine. We should see a fresh wave of talent coming into the administration. While the money right now is on John Kerry for Secretary of State, I'm more interested to see if people like Colin Kahl come back into the bureaucracy. My main reaction last night was relief. And pride that the people of Maryland...
It was sort of sad watching conservatives play the same game that we did in 2004. Poll aggregation + 1; bubblethought -15.
Amazing how the Simpsons is still pretty funny after 25 years… In the interest of full disclosure, I thought I’d list the reasons why I voted the way I did. I know conservative media regularly accuse professors of politicizing the classroom, but an honest discussion of why one chooses the way one did can also be useful exercise of citizenship. (See Drezner for an example of what I was thinking of.) So with that goal, not demagoguery, in mind, here we go: 1. The Tea Party Scares Me This is easily the most important reason for me. Regular readers of my own blog will know that I vote in...
US citizens who haven't voted early should exercise axiological rationality and cast their ballots. If you live in Maryland, please consider voting "yes" on Question 6. John Sides takes umbrage at Michael Gerson's attacks on political science. If you squint hard enough at Gerson's arguments then his criticisms of qualitative-content analysis might make sense. Regardless, it seems to me that Gerson has it backwards: more mathematical and statistical literacy would likely reduce (not increase) the amount of vacuous horse-race prognostication and therefore enhance media coverage of substance....
Electoral Outcomes For obvious reasons, I'm much less confident of my predictions in 2012 than in 2008. I think there's a good chance that Florida, Colorado, and Virginia might go the other way. North Carolina and New Hampshire could as well. Regardless, it looks pretty likely that Obama is going to win re-election. I'm betting the hispanic vote pushes Obama over the top in Nevada (uncontroversial) and Colorado (more controversial); that his lead in Ohio is large enough not to be negatively impacted by long waits at urban polling stations; and that he runs up sufficient margins in Northern...
My good friend and awesome protest/network scholar Michael Heaney at the University of Michigan has released a documentary film, THE ACTIVISTS: WAR, PEACE, AND POLITICS IN THE STREETS. The film is with Melody Weinstein and Marco Roldán and, in addition to the central message of the film, shows the power of releasing academic work in a format that can reach a larger audience. For a limited time, Michael's film is available for free viewing (just viewing - not downloading) here.