Or, who is the strawman here? This is my second post reflecting on the recent American Political Science Association annual meeting. The last one expressed concern about a new trend in the study of international politics. This one will focus on a long-standing issue...
Are we reaching the limits of experimental approaches to international politics? I just returned from the American Political Science Association (APSA) annual meeting in Boston. I met up with some...
Did the pandemic durably change our pedagogy in International Relations (IR), or were pandemic-induced changes only temporary measures with which we have since dispensed? This is an open question...
Potentially inflammatory rhetoric should be addressed with dialogue, not bans Recent antisemitic attacks have rightly led to concern among the US Jewish population. Over the weekend a man assaulted...
We keep hearing that we live in an unprecedented “age of sanctions.” Trade and globalization data tell a different story — the world got bigger, not meaner.
Editorial Note: this post contains spoilers. Christopher Nolan is one of the most important working American movie directors. He is one of the few directors in the Hollywood system who consistently delivers non-franchise blockbusters. Many of his films, including Dunkirk and Oppenheimer, are...
In January of 2025, the Republican party gained “the trifecta,” controlling the Presidency and the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Since then, congressional Republicans have done little to assert the prerogatives of the legislative branch. “The wrath of Donald Trump,” as one...
We’re baaack!In the inaugural episode of the second season of Whiskey and International Relations…
On June 19, 2026, as American and Iranian negotiators were set to meet in Switzerland to work through the terms of a fragile memorandum of understanding, Israeli jets struck Hezbollah targets in Nabatiyeh and the Bekaa Valley. Iran responded by skipping the Switzerland talks and announcing it...
Like everyone else, I’m enjoying the World Cup. I’m not a fan of soccer/football, and honestly haven’t been watching the game. But I love how excited other people are for the tournament. It’s great seeing people gather for watch parties, and chat about the results afterwards. I’ve loved reading...
In July 2025, the UK government designated Palestine Action as a proscribed terrorist under the Terrorism Act 2000, making it a criminal offence to be a member of, or provide support to, the group. The decision followed an incident in which members of the group...
[Editor’s Note: This is a write-up of a workshop proceedings. It is posted under my name, but the participants wrote the piece; they are listed at the end.] If Politics and IR urgently needs to discuss our approach to AI and pedagogy. The reverse is equally true. In 2025, the authors of this piece...
Every year I make my third year Bachelor students read Carol Cohn’s article “Sex and Death in the rational world of defense intellectuals” and they are genuinely surprised by the number of penile metaphors one can use to describe a missile. Except this year: current Secretary of Defense (War?) has...
President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran may weaken the U.S. ability to deter great power rivals. But not because the recent U.S.-Iranian memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the conflict makes the United States look weak. The damage has already been done. Reactions in the United...
Why did some states successfully avoid conquest by European empires? Logan Cochrane’s new, co-edited volume tackles this puzzle.
In something of a departure from my typical work, I recently published an article in International Political Sociology on Indigenous political thought in video games. As some of my prior blogging here suggests, I have been thinking about the place of video games in the study of popular...