It’s no surprise that current events regularly lead us to update our syllabi. That doesn’t mean we can’t make “surprise” an important feature of our courses.
Our syllabi should be full of surprises
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Recent Posts
Deconstructing the blob
"The blob" has become a common term during the Democratic Primary. The DC foreign policy establishment, so the argument goes, has an overwhelming effect on all who engage with it, sucking them in...
What matters most for teaching in the age of coronavirus?
This is a guest post from Dr. Rebecca Glazier, who is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She has over 10 years of experience...
Thinking about Corona and Academia
The Duck has been covering Corona in a variety of ways over the past several weeks with posts including Josh's coverage of the early outbreak, the early international dynamics, past and present...
More Recent Posts
Mocking the Reviewers
As our august leader here at the Duck is putting on his editorial robes, I thought a bit of fresh perspective on the review process is in order. A fun take on the review process!
Monday Morning Linkage
Good morning ducks... Here's your linkage... The Jerusalem Post reviews World War Z. Is this the most pro-Israeli film ever made? ... Probably not - even the trailer shows the wall being breached. A Majinot mentality can't work in a film whose motto is: "movement is life." The terrorist attack...
The “Israel Lobby” and the Nixon Administration
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Eric Grynaviski, who is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University. When Mearsheimer and Walt wrote the Israel Lobby, I was skeptical. I bought the argument that supporters of Israel influenced US policy, but because I am not...
Friday Nerd Linkage
Daniel Bier counters fear-mongering about the world's first genetically engineered babies, another fascinating case study of global normative ferment. But in truly weird science, humans can now transplant whole heads (or rather, bodies). Too bad this important advance comes too late for Ned Stark....
Should We Keep Hidden the Way People Behave When their Actions are Hidden?
In his most recent post, PTJ argues that "things like Freakonomics are basically corrosive and should be opposed whenever practicable". While he repeats in that post (and the comments section) a number of dubious claims about what sorts of behavior are possible within a decision-theoretic...
Global Governance, Big Surveillance, and Intelligence Cooperation
My very quick search suggests that there's insufficient work on this subject. I know that Alexander Cooley has turned up some pretty amazing things on older intelligence cooperation, Mark Laffey and Jutta Weldes have done some great work on policing and global governance, and there's a lot of...
Democracy: de facto vs. de jure
For the ultimate outcome of the Arab Spring and the prospects of moderate Islamic influence of politics.... ... is it more important that democracy not be thoroughly flouted as it just was in the removal of President Morsi in Egypt, or that a major lesson may have just been delivered to extreme...
July 4 Linkage
In the spirit of the dramatic events of yesterday, we at the Duck want to bring your morning linkage with news of the Zimmerman trial. Err, scratch that, we'll leave that to CNN. Lots of attention being directed to the dramatic events in Egypt, plus some obligatory posts below about conservation,...
Wednesday Linkage
Welcome to Wednesday's linkage. We've delayed posting until the situation of one major world leader and head of state was resolved, and we can now definitely confirm: King Albert of the Belgians has abdicated. He joins Queen Beatrix and target="_blank">Sheikh Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani in this...
From Kingdonian to Weberian Activism: A Shifting Stance
One of the great things about being done with my book project is that I can begin blogging and writing a little more openly regarding the issues I've been tracking empirically over the past seven years, in the same way I have often weighed in publicly on political subjects I'm not studying...
Common Errors in Essay Writing, as Demonstrated by Film Critics, Part 1
Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post settled on a theme for her extremely negative review of the new "The Lone Ranger" flick. Indeed, one might argue that developing a unifying thread is an important part of short-form writing. It holds everything together and provides the reader with a single, if...
Obama’s ‘Strategic Patience’ on North Korea is more Responsible than yet another Impossible ‘Vision’ to Solve NK
Newsweek Korea asked me to participate in a debate on Obama’s strategic patience. A friend of mine wrote against it; I wrote in defense. Here is the Korean language text at the NWK website. Below is my original English language version. In brief I argue that North Korea is so hard to pin down,...