Everybody’s talking about nuclear war with Russia right now and it bugs me, not least because I’ve seen this nuclear frenzy before. Now, I think people have good reason to be worried about Russian nuclear use, as I wrote some five months ago. But...
It's happened to all of us. You get that email "Decision on Manuscript...," open it with a bit of trepidation, just to find a (hopefully) politely worded rejection from the editor. Sometimes this is...
This post will be quick for me to write, but may suck up the rest of your morning. caveat lector. Rachel Navarre—my friend from grad school, who works at Bridgewater State—compiled what was then an...
This is a guest post from Paul Poast, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Earlier this spring, Poast wrote a post about the Asshole...
Jordan Ellenberg finds Razib Khan's rant against Jared Diamond's detractors off target. Look, I don't for a minute think that a good deal of the objection to Diamond is anything other than political, but some of it is clearly a controversy of facts and of scientific interpretation. And these both...
Good morning to the western hemisphere. Today brings with it a whole slew of stuff from the Duck of Minerva. First, I've made some progress in updating the academia page -- our one-stop shop for our ever-popular posts on the academic life. Second, I have a general query about awards. As you may...
Guest Post by Lindsay Heger and Wendy Wong. In a recent and rare speech, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dug in his heels. While nobody could have realistically expected him to simply walk away from his post or even give much ground to the opposition, negotiations seemed possible. After all, the...
My "Death to Job Talks!" provocation has produced some longer-form responses at other Political Science blogs. Jeremy Wallace defends the institution. Tom Pepinsky goes further and argues that "there is no alternative to the academic job talk." Nate Jensen gets to the heat of the matter...
I guess Chuck Hagel's going to be confirmed, so we can return to an all-international edition of linkage. And mostly Asia. Papua New Guinea could finally give us a test of the institutions strain of the resource-curse hypothesis; unlike rich and democratic oil titan Norway, Papua New Guinea is...
Thanks to Mike Horowitz's hard work, we now have a list of the finalists in each relevant category of the 2013 Outstanding Achievement in International Studies Weblogging Awards, or what will, despite my best efforts, likely be known as the "Duckies." We employed a simple Borda-count rule where...
Photo: Bahraini women chant anti-government slogans during a mourning procession for Qassim Habib, 8, in Manama, Bahrain on Jan. 30, 2013. Clashes erupted after the procession for the boy, who opposition groups say died from respiratory problems triggered by heavy tear gas. [Credit : Hasan...
A variety of commentators listened to President Obama’s Inauguration speech and, having heard few words devoted to foreign policy, declared that the second term of this Administration will be marked by less activism on the global stage. The draw downs from Iraq and Afghanistan readily reinforce...
I am sitting in a David's Bridal while my daughter picks out a flower-girl dress. If I were looking at ESPN.com then the stereotype would be complete. We are anxiously (and by "anxiously," I mean "not very anxiously") awaiting the results of the first-round voting for the OAIS blogging awards....
I was part of a short conversation last night about the standard job-search process in political science. For those of you who aren't political scientists, but nonetheless feel compelled to read this, the process for junior candidates looks something like this: Starting in the late summer,...
If you've got a ballott -- i.e., an email with a survey link -- and you haven't voted for the OAIS blogging awards, time is running out. Don't let your vote be the difference between elimination and survival for your favorite blog.
Given the growing debate surrounding "Zero Dark Thirty", it is now mandatory to have a strong opinion on the movie. In addition to the excellent posts on this blog, including "Zero Dark Thirty" Debate Needs and Interrogation and "Zero Dark Thirty": Touchstone Par Exemplar by Jeffrey Stacey the...