Jarrod is joined by Daniela Lai and Adam Lerner to talk about the role of big questions in IR scholarship and teaching.
Does IR ask big questions?
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When Data Closes Doors: Lessons for Sharing Unpopular Findings
Photo courtesy of the Negative Psychologist. When sharing unpopular findings, what obligations (if any) do scholars have when policymakers do not care to hear the message? This is a guest post...
The Importance of Being (Pragmatically) Earnest
Photo courtesy of the Guardian UK. When engaging with policy audiences and organizations, how can one be truthful when telling the whole truth may be counterproductive? This post is part of an...
Trump’s Budweiser Putsch
US President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to a "Make America Great Again" campaign rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 1, 2019. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAUL...
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We Need More Metal! The Political Economy of Heavy Metal
The following is a guest post by Dr. Robert G. Blanton, Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. For as long as it has existed, heavy metal music has been associated with controversy – the aggressive nature of the music and lyrics arouses seemingly constant suspicion and often deep dislike, and metal bands have long been the target of controversies and even legal actions (some unfounded, some not). Somewhat ironically, there is an increasing awareness of the beneficial impacts of heavy metal for emotional well-being and possibly governance. Indeed President Obama famously...
Gearing up for the Academic Job Market: Don’t Dabble
There are many things worth dabbling in: Pokeman Go!, the arts, alternative medicine, old films, astrology, gourmet cuisine….the list could go on and on. I really like when people, including graduate students, tell me they are dabbling in these things or other hobbies. It’s probably going to help both their productivity and their overall happiness. As much as I like “dabblers” in those types of things, here’s one that I’m really tired of graduate students saying they’re dabbling in: The Academic Job Market Every year, I get students that contact me saying that they are planning to “dip...
Retired Generals are People Too!
This is a guest post by Christopher Gelpi, Chair of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution and Professor of Political Science Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University The appearances of retired Generals Michael Flynn and John Allen at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, respectively, have created quite a stir among those concerned with civil-military relations in America. In one sense, the attention paid to these military endorsements is surprising, since the best available evidence suggests that the support of military officers has a...
A General Arms Race in US Conventions: Not Great But Unavoidable
LTG (retired) Mike Flynn has become a Trump advocate and appeared at the Republican National Convention. General (retired) John Allen surprised many by not just speaking at the Democratic National Convention but giving such enthusiastic support to Clinton. The big question is: is this problematic to have recently retired military officers take such public positions in the middle of a national election? Yes. But what can you do? Let's talk about the yes. The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, is peeved (so much so that he wrote more here). Peter...
A (Un)Dead Letter?: Zombies, Feminist Theory and the IR Classroom
It's always exciting to see articles on pop culture gracing the pages of mainstream political science journals. And it's always good to see international relations scholars being encouraged to engage more deeply with questions of gender in the course of their teaching. This issue of PS: Political Science and Politics gives us both: an article by Rebecca Susan Evans, taking Daniel Drezner to task for excluding feminist theories of international politics from his 2011 Theory of International Politics and Zombies: [Drezner's] light-hearted use of popular culture appeals to students, who...
NATO Summit Ahead!
Tomorrow, the NATO summit in Warsaw starts. What do we expect, other than jet-lagged Steve being more incoherent than usual? Lots of decisions to be announced, none to be made. These summits are akin to academic conferences--events that force folks to do the work. So, all of the work to come to agreements, make commitments, draft talking points has been done. Now, it is about announcing them. The big decision--a persistent presence. Two years ago, many allies were reluctant to provoke Russia with a long-lasting deployment of troops to the Baltics and Poland. The old agreement was...
The True Costs of Brexit
British elites have been wondering for decades whether the UK still had clout on the global stage, and now they know: indeed, the country has an outsized influence on world affairs. But what a way to find out, sowing instability far and wide and suffering a never ending series of self-inflicted wounds. It is tragedy bordering on farce. And none other than Vladimir Putin is having the last laugh. The UK is counting the costs of this fateful vote: in the plummeting value of the pound and large-scale stock market losses. Foreign direct investment in the UK will dramatically dwindle;...
Brexit Hottake
We will have much, much time to ponder and study what happened yesterday... whether it was the weather that made the difference in London, why Cameron was such an idiot, and on and on. I have a few quick reactions guided by and due to my faith in confirmation bias! While I am kind of surprised by the results, I should not be as I co-authored a book that argued that individuals and leaders will often embrace xenophobia for its short term allure despite the great costs to the country. That is why we named the book: For Kin or Country: Xenophobia, Nationalism, and War (now available in an...