What is the topography of international-relations theory in the People’s Republic of China? What …
Episode 24: International Relations in China
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Featured
Chain-ganging in reverse? Gulf states and US hostility towards Iran
I had a piece in the Washington Post's "Monkeycage" over the weekend, which you can read here. I noted that many worry Saudi Arabia and the UAE will pull America into war with Iran. But it actually...
Lessons from Radicalization Narratives on Social Media
This is a guest post from Dr. Sybille Reinke de Buitrago, who is a Researcher and Project Manager of “VIDEOSTAR – Video-based Strategies Against Radicalization” at PolAk Nds, the Academy of Police...
Agent. Foreign Agent
Warning! According to the law that the Russian parliament passed yesterday, this post might need to be prefaced with a disclaimer that the following text has been compiled by a foreign agent. An...
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Sexism in Political Science
There is a discussion on PSR about sexism in political science, with most folks concurring that it is still an issue with some deniers pointing out that support groups for women are exclusive, too. Um, yeah. How to address such discussions? I go to my standard operating procedure: what have I seen over the years? The answer: a heap of sexism which has not gone away. First, there is the repeated myth that jobs are gamed for women and minorities, which explains why white men don't get jobs. Of course, this defines all women and minorities who do get jobs as less qualified. The problem...
An American in Canada – Thoughts on Going Abroad for a Job
I never thought that when I started grad school I’d be relocating to another country. Then again, when I got the job in Canada, it did not really occur to me that I was “really” leaving the US – on my previous visits to Toronto, everything felt pretty familiar. Plus, as a scholar of transnational activism, borders were supposed to be made increasingly irrelevant. I still remember the moment the border agent stamped my passport and glued the work permit into its folds. I had actually crossed a border for my job – politically, socially, and culturally. While many things are the same,...
Greece: a Shakespearean Tragedy
In the Greek bailout episode the Greek government has been behaving much like the self-pitying Antonio from “The Merchant of Venice,” while the EU has been posing as a rather heavy-handed Shylock. Despite being aware of the damaging consequences of a Greek default and potential exit from the Eurozone, the EU seems intent of having its pound of flesh. By subjecting Greece to additional austerity provisions, it may be risking the revival of the Euro financial crisis—this time with serious geostrategic implications. For five years the Greek people have been dealing with a series of austerity...
Submit your proposal – ISA-Midwest 2015!
After you have seen the fall foliage at ISS-ISAC, why not see beautiful St. Louis, MO in November? ISA-Midwest - my FAVORITE conference - is November 19th - 22nd. Deadline for submissions is July 1st. This is a great conference for those interested in foreign policy or human rights themes. It's also a very inviting conference for junior scholars with lots of professional development opportunities. Hope to see you there - I'll join you for a drink at the amazing Three Sixty Bar.
Much Ado About Nothing (Very Intellectually or Politically Important)?
The following is a guest post by Jeffrey C. Isaac, the James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. What constitutes important political science research? This question has been much discussed lately in connection with “When Contact Changes Minds: An Experiment on Transmission of Support for Gay Equality,” an article by Michael J. LaCour and Donald P. Green published in Science magazine. The reason for the attention is straightforward: because the piece was apparently based on fraudulent data, the article has become a veritable scandal. In the...
The Threat of the BDS Movement
Hello there! I'm very excited to be blogging here at Duck of Minerva for the next several months, and I'd like to thank all the full-time Ducks for the opportunity! For my first post, I thought I'd address something I've been thinking about ever since a student asked about it in my US Foreign Policy class this past semester. She asked about the BDS movement and whether I thought it had any chance of influencing Israel's behavior towards the Occupied Territories and the Palestinians. Not having thought much about the issue before, I gave a typically hemming-and-hawing answer, but the more I...
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 regularly over the next six months.* Please make them feel welcome!! Seth Weinberger is an Associate Professor in the Department of Politics & Government at the University of Puget Sound, where he teaches courses on global security, foreign policy, terrorism, constitutional law, and political philosophy. When not teaching, writing, or blogging, he can generally be found serving his canine master by...
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 Dave and Steve book considers, among other things, the caveats or restrictions that countries placed on their contingents in Afghanistan and missions near/over Libya. So, the natural (natural to me, anyway) question to consider are the various restrictions or caveats that sharks have: Angel Sharks do not fight like to fight alongside Basking Sharks. Blacktip Reef Sharks like highly restricted rules...