Musgrave’s identification of dangerous ideas is correct, but his metaphor risks entrenching the fundamental problem: the (inevitable) weaponization of “scientific objectivity.”
They Blinded Them With Science
read more
Featured
Look What You Made Me Do
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the sovereignest of them all? Asked no head of state — ever. And yet, the Russian Parliament is in the process of devising a document, which assesses levels of...
Mugabe: The Musical!
Picture the scene: throngs of people gathering as the night descends. They are looking up at the building across the way—patiently, expectantly. There is a low-hum of voices. Gradually, the voices...
The Politics of Research on Trauma – A Gendered Perspective
The following is a guest post by Ayelet Harel-Shalev and Shir Daphna-Tekoah. Ayelet Harel-Shalev is a Senior Lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Her academic interests include Feminist...
More Featured Posts
Thursday Linkage
Editor's note: this post first appeared on my personal blog. 1. Tensions in the South China Sea are rising. Exhibit A (h/t Sean B. Rogers), exhibit B (h/t Jay Ulfelder). Right now, all eyes are on Ukraine. And rightfully so. But this is one to watch too. 2. Speaking of Ukraine, the National Interest wonders if that crisis could spark a world war (h/t Charli Carpenter). The article is a bit sensationalistic, and I doubt anyone would have written it if all this had happened in 2013 ("99 years ago" just doesn't have the same ring to it), but there are some good points here. I wouldn't put the...
The War against Neologisms: Calling Out “New” Types of War
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, Foreign Affairs, or even the New York Times without someone making up a new term to articulate basic and common features of modern warfare. When I was younger (a wee political science bairn in Scottish), I thought all political scientists ever did was make up terms. A disproportionate number of the scholars we learn about in undergraduate classes include people who coined terms. No matter if these...
Thursday Heading into Summer Linkage – Climate Change Edition
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 the embedded video at the bottom). The timing was opportune because this was a big week for climate policy. Thousands of world leaders gathered in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the UN Secretary General's fall meeting on the topic. China appears poised to crack down on polluters. Though air pollution is the primary target, there may be potential co-benefits for the climate. Here at home, the U.S....
An Academic Woman’s Rant of the Week: Personal Information and Office Hours
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 semester comes to a close, my office is typically filled with both undergrads and grads coming to tell me a plethora of problems and stories. Many times, these problems preface a request for an extension of some sort. Can I please have an extra week? An extra day? An extra 20 minutes? Some of the problems that appear at my office door are to be expected: a replication file can’t be found, an...
Friday Nerd Blogging Part Two: Who Says There is a Gap?
One of the constant refrains one will hear in civil-military relations is that there is a gap between the civilians and the military--a deep, wide gap in values, perceptions and so on. Well, here is some proof (not great video) that the gap is over-rated: H/T to Mrs. Spew
Friday Nerd Blogging: Make Mine Marvel
This summer may be the most Marvelous yet with Captain America 2, Spider-Man 2, X-Men Days of Future Past (otherwise X-Men First Class 2) and Guardians of the Galaxy. Sure, not all are by Marvel Studios but all are based on Marvel Characters. Do we need so many sequels (with GoG being essentially a sequel to Avengers)? Of course not. But more Marvel is more Marvel, and for that I am thankful. Here is a most un-superheroic video that promotes this weekend's latest entry into more Marvel:
Things to do after finishing a book
I just finished my cyber security book, provisionally titled Cyber Hype versus Cyber Reality. The feeling of loss has set in. I don’t know what to do with myself now, I am sleeping more than normal (but that could just be jet lag). Working on articles seems like too small a task. Starting a new project seems too big. How to get over this hump? On such occasions, a moment of reflection is order. If you had asked me two months ago, I would have sworn books are the best route to go in academic publishing. The ability to compose on one theme from beginning to end - to construct a near...
Classroom Activity: Shared Threat and Delayed Elections
This activity comes after students are to have listened to a lecture (slides) about domestic politics helps us understand variation in the likelihood of international conflict. I focused particularly on whether the spread of democracy explains Europe's transformation from one of the most violent parts of the world to one of the most peaceful and how the the fear of coups and rebellion in Sub-Saharan Africa helps explain why there have been so few interstate wars there. I closed out the portion focusing on the democratic peace by discussing how territorial disagreements both promote war and...