Oppenheimer is the first blockbuster about nuclear weapons in a generation. Framing his film’s namesake with kinetic edits, fractured timelines, quantum imagery, and a pulsing score, director Christopher Nolan has crafted a stylistic triumph. But...
Professor Laura Shepherd is an iconic and authoritative voice in International Relations, and yet, she didn’t start out planning for a career in academia.
This is a guest post from Morgan D. Bazilian, Director of the Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines; Andreas Goldthau, Franz Haniel Professor at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, and...
This is a guest post from Courtney Burns and Leah Windsor. Burns is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Bucknell University. Windsor is a Research Assistant Professor in...
Editor's note: this post first appeared on my personal blog. As some of you may know, I'm up for tenure this year, and it's not going to work out. I don't want to get into the details of anything that ought not be discussed in public, but I thought I'd share some quick thoughts that some of you...
The ISA mess is the gift that keeps on giving. Now Nicholas Kristof has written a piece in his NYT column that "addresses" the controversy. The problem is that the column is out of date. Not just in focusing on the ISA proposal that has been beaten back by the forces of reason (that would be me...
The so-called Pivot to Asia, or "rebalance" in official parlance, has been one of the Obama Administration's signature strategic moves on the global chessboard. But for all the serious engagement of the Pacific Rim countries, the core of the pivot has always been about China and responding to its...
This third activity comes after students are to have listened to a lecture on game theory (slides). Look below the fold for details. First, I asked them to fully characterize the optimal strategy for player 1 in the following modified centipede game, assuming player 2 adopts their optimal...
I was trying to find a good Star Wars-Valentine's Day mash up and failed. And then I thought, what would Brian Boitano do? [NFSW-words] Old oldie but a goodie. Enjoy the games and enjoy the excuse to eat lots of chocolate and smooch them if you got 'em.
I came across this news story which underscored to me the challenges that the Chinese government has in confronting their air quality problem, what I previously likened to rapidly turning a supertanker. An official Chinese study described Beijing air as "barely suitable" for living, the second...
The following is a guest post by Joel R. Pruce, a post-doctoral fellow in human rights studies at the University of Dayton. The transnational movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel continues to capture headlines and prompt crucial debate on the status of Palestinian...
As it is my turn again for Tuesday links, heaps of NATO and security stuff dwell below. I am most NATO-obsessed these promoting my new book with Dave Auerswald so I was interested in seeing that NATO is the preferred organization for peace-keeping a potential Israeli-Palestianian agreement....
Thanks to all of you who voted over the past month for this year's OAIS Blogging Awards finalists. And a very special thanks to all of the nominees for transforming this platform into a strong and vital part of the IR intellectual community. We had an outstanding class of nominees this year -- a...
Hello Ducks... here are your Monday links... Theory Talks #63 interviews Siddharth Mallavarapu on "International Asymmetries, Ethnocentrism, and a View on IR from India." Oliver Stuenkel asks whether Intra-BRICS cooperation can advance amid economic gloom? Shanthie Mariet D'Souza gives India four...
Have Duck readers been following the latest glitch in U.S.-European relations? Josh mentioned it in his recent roundup. Here's how the Washington Post explained the story: On Thursday, a video was posted on YouTube in which Victoria Nuland,, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, disparagingly...
Editor's note: this post originally appeared on my personal blog. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've decided to try "flipping the classroom" this semester, meaning I'm posting the lectures online and using class time mostly for activities that reinforce core concepts and create incentives for...