Raymond Kuo answers 6 (+1) questions about his 2021 book on why the institutional design of alliances changes over time.
6+1 Questions about Following the Leader: International Order, Alliance Strategies, and Emulation
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Fighting, Dancing and Thumb-Biting: Developing a typology of citations
This is a guest post by Paul Beaumont, PhD Candidate at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). Previously, he worked as an academic writing advisor at NMBU and as a Junior Research Fellow...
Congress is Trying to Remove Bannon from the National Security Council. Here’s Why It Matters.
While national security lawyers argue over whether Steve Bannon's appointment to the National Security Council is legal or not, members of Congress are pushing back to close whatever statutory...
What’s worse, looking jealous or crazy?
When President Trump and Press Secretary Spicer started to insist that the protest against Muslim ban [that is not a ban] was paid for, it rang a bell. This kind of rhetoric is a textbook reaction...
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And the Winners Are…..
It was a great night for Political Violence @ a Glance winning awards in two of the four of categories at this year's OAIS Blogging Awards held at ISA last night. They were the winners of the 2014 Award for Best Blog (Group) -- narrowly defeating The Monkey Cage. Christian Davenport won Best Blog Post of the Year for his post "Researching While Black, Why Conflict Research Needs More African Americans (Maybe)" at Political Violence @ a Glance last April. Barb Walter's "The Four Things We Know About How Civil Wars End (and what this tells us about Syria)" also at Political Violence @ a Glance...
How Should We Study Energy and Climate Policy? Critical Insights from an ISA Roundtable
One of the consequences of the ISA 2014 conference here in Toronto is that my extended blogging hiatus is coming to an end. Thanks to some experimental research in India, I haven't had a lot of time to share my thoughts in the past few months. In fact, I haven't had too many thoughts during this period either. However, now I have one. On Wednesday, I was honored to participate in a roundtable on climate policy organized by Detlef Sprinz from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. My participation notwithstanding, the roundtable featured a great group of scholars: Detlef, Robert...
Thursday ISA edition
Greetings from Toronto. In advance of tonight's OAIS blogging awards gathering at 7:15pm in Sheraton Ballroom C, the Duck non-collective collective got together for a pre-soiree soiree. Folks were in good from. For many of us, it was the first chance for us to ever meet in person. For me, this is a quick trip, as I'm headed back this am after a busy day of panels, the business meeting of the new ISA section on global health, and a lovely dinner sponsored by Bridging the Gap. With a toddler at home and a busy spring of travel, this Duck is needed to tag team on the toddler front before my...
“The UN v. Skynet?” An ISA Teaser
As the gods of the International Studies Association have seen fit to place my panel at 8:15 on a Saturday morning, I decided to advertise my talk in the blogosphere in hopes of drumming up some attendees. Below please see the teaser trailer for my working paper this year, which explores the impact of science fiction on global policy making in the area of autonomous weapons. The paper itself is not yet ready for distribution (research is still in progress), but I should be able to circulate later this year and feedback at the panel will help me refine my conceptual framework - so if you are...
Classroom Activity: Issuing Ultimata
This activity comes after students are to have listened to a lecture (slides) introducing the second big puzzle of the course: why states sometimes burn what they want in order to get more of it—that is, why wars occur despite the inefficiency their costly nature implies. Over the course of the next few lectures, I'll be taking them through the main arguments of Fearon 1995 (see also this blog post) step by step. But before we turn to the explanations for war, we first need to understand the inefficiency argument so as to fully appreciate why common explanations fail. Today's activity was...
Russia, Ukraine, and a New Era of International Relations
The U.S. and Russia are not engaged in a new Cold War, but Russia is clearly playing the geopolitical menace du jour. The U.S. and Europe are going to need to up their game to keep Vladimir Putin’s hands off the rest of Ukraine. Beyond this crisis the West needs a new defense posture, as the world just entered a new era of international relations. Just weeks ago numerous observers dubbed the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi “Putin’s Triumph,” when it was anything but that. Russia may have barely edged the U.S. in total medals, but the price for Putin’s orderly Olympics was...
Friday Nerd Blogging: Delayed Yet Anticipating Edition
This fan-made combo of the old Benson show with Mad Men was mentioned by Jon Hamm at the Paleyfest panel. Yes, we didn't post a FNB yesterday--I blame the forthcoming ISA. But we are so eager for the last season of Mad Men, despite it meaning that the show will end soon. See you in Toronto!
The ISA Survival Guide: Everyone needs some Crack Pie
ISA is coming, like winter for the Starks; it’s always just around the bend. Luckily, I almost have nothing but fond memories of ISA. It was my first conference and will be the one I remain loyal to for as long as I remain able. The key though is to maximize your experience. I know too many academics who never leave the hotel, never leave panels, and don't see the world. And please, take off your badge if you do leave the conference. My start with ISA was not auspicious since I ended up 20 minutes late to my own panel due to a mix up with the conference buses. This leads to the...