Scholars of international relations don’t agree on much, but they at least agree that anarchy (th…
Episode 25: The New Hierarchy Studies
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Recent Posts
2019 Duckies
This is a guest post from Brent Sasley, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington and chair of the ISA Online Media Caucus. ISA 2019 is coming up fast, so it’s time to start...
I’m So Bored With the USA
The United States is the safest country in the world. It has vast ocean moats to the east and west and weak friendly neighbors to the north and south. It has sufficient resources to shun global...
Under Pressure
Somewhat cranky and slightly under the weather Putin graced the foreign journalists with his presence for almost 4 hours. Starting right off the bat with some optimistic economic indicators (that he...
More Recent Posts
Speaking of Retrenchment
Christopher Preble has a solid critical review of Robert Kagan's new book at The National Interest. Preble is particularly concerned with the free-rider problem:EVEN THOSE inclined to believe Kagan’s assessment of the international system and America’s role in it must contend with one central fact...
Friday Nerd Blogging
H/T Steve.
Russia and Syria
Dan Drezner asks "Dear realists: please explain Russia":I raise all of this because a few days ago Charles Clover in the Financial Times wrote an interesting story about Russia's foreign policy in Syria:A respected Moscow-based military think tank has published a report that is likely to fuel more...
Retrenchment and the US Alliance System
Robert drove a great deal of traffic to the Duck with his provocative posts on retrenchment and US alliances. His efforts to "grade" allies by strategic importance has led to some interesting results and fascinating discussions. But I think he's working with an overly narrow view of what alliances...
Academic IR and the Information Age: Journals
As my post on "open access" demonstrates, I've been thinking a lot about International Relations journals over the last few months, particularly with respect to digital media. Charli's excellent presentation on the discipline and "web 2.0" fell at an interesting time for me, as I was working on a...
Constructivism, Social Psychology, and Interlocking Theory (III)
From https://www.zazzle.com/This is the last in a series of guest posts by Stuart J. Kaufman of the University of Delaware. Stuart advances a long-running dispute with PTJ about whether "what goes on inside people's heads" is relevant to social constructionism. PTJ doesn't think so; Stuart...
Impressions from Taiwan (1): Background
Taipei 101Photo Credit: Dan NexonI spent 2-9 June in Taiwan on a trip sponsored by the government of the Republic of China. Taipei funds these trips, and others like them, as part of an effort to influence academics and opinion-leaders; while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) would certainly...
Multicultural Panic Comes to Korea
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Constructivism, Social Psychology, and Interlocking Theory (II)
This is the second in a series of guest posts by Stuart J. Kaufman of the University of Delaware. Stuart advances a long-running dispute with PTJ about whether "what goes on inside people's heads" is relevant to social constructionism. PTJ doesn't think so; Stuart disagrees. The first post can be...
Historical International Relations: A Proposed Section for ISA
Note: signatures are only valid for those who are members of International Studies Association at the time of review. Please do not sign if you are not, or will not, be an ISA member.Below is a letter requesting support for a new section of the ISA on "Historical International Relations." The...
Constructivism, Social Psychology, and Interlocking Theory (I)
This is the first in a series of guest posts by Stuart J. Kaufman of the University of Delaware. Stuart advances a long-running dispute with PTJ about whether "what goes on inside people's heads" is relevant to social constructionism. PTJ doesn't think so; Stuart disagrees. After the final post,...
Who needs experts to forecast international politics?
This is a guest post by Michael C. Horowitz, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.Who can see the future? For us mere mortals, it’s hard, even for so-called experts. There are so many cognitive biases to take into consideration and even knowing your own...