Reacting to a recent event on the study of religion, conflict and peace
Watching Scientific Progress in Action
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Recent Posts
O Canada/Ô Canada: A defense of Canada in international affairs
Things have been rough for Canada. It's engulfed in political turmoil, as Justin Trudeau steps down from leadership and the country braces for a contentious election. Incoming US President Donald...
Jimmy Carter’s legacy: a challenge to recognize and act on religion’s significance
US President Jimmy Carter's funeral is being held today in Washington, DC at the National Cathedral. Since he passed away shortly after Christmas, tributes have abounded about a man once derided as...
My Best Classroom Reads of the Year
Amid the annual deluge of end-of-year lists, I started to think about what readings generated the best classroom discussions I have overseen in the past calendar year. That list of readings is...
More Recent Posts
Are States Conscious? A Symposium
Way back in the summer I commissioned a symposium on Adam Lerner's provocative 2021 International Theory (vol. 13, no 2: 260-286) article, "What's it Like to be a State? An Argument for State Consciousness." Questions of consciousness pervade the social sciences. Yet, despite persistent tendencies...
How international organizations can resist political shocks
As long as international organizations have existed their relationships with their member states have been conflict-ridden. States use numerous methods to influence international organizations according to their interests or to contest the authority and policies of international organizations,...
Joseph Nye 85: From Integration Theory to Complex Interdependence to Soft Power
Peter Cutler is living the quiet life of a Princeton professor when the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate asks him to become his foreign policy adviser. Cutler takes the job and his gambit pays off: the presidential candidate wins and Cutler is appointed to be Under Secretary of State in...
In Memoriam: Jon Western
Back in the Duck of Minerva's heyday, Jon Western was one of its anchors. Indeed, it wasn't that long ago that we were talking about his returning. Jon said that he'd gained important perspective on the state of higher education from his time as dean of faculty and vice president for academic...
Ban the “Failed Search”?
How do colleges and universities go about hiring tenure-line (or the equivalent) faculty in politics and international relations? Back in 2013, I provided a short overview of the typical U.S. process: Starting in the late summer, political-science departments post position announcements with the...
Economic Hegemony, Strategy, and Durable Peace: Part I of III
This piece is the first of a three-part series grappling with the role of political economy in making a just, sustainable international order. hat’s America’s story for how economic policy relates to international security? I think for a long time the story was some...
Episode 21: Constructivists All the Way Down
Is Constructivism best understood as a scholarly disposition, a body of theory, or an intellectua…
Whisk(e)y and Epistemic Pluralism: A Quack-and-Forth (Part III)
This is the third and final part of a three part interview between Adam B. Lerner (ABL) and Patrick Thaddeus Jackson (PTJ). It is the first instalment of a new series of interviews on Duck of Minerva entitled Quack-and-Forths.
6+1 Questions about China’s Western Frontier and Eurasia: The Politics of State and Region-Building
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) originated in provincial-level efforts that sought to simultaneously integrate interior and frontier provinces to the rest of China as well as neighboring countries during the 1990s.
(De-)globalisation and International Order
Whenever we talk about the liberal international order, we actually also talk about globalization. The former promoted international trade and financial liberalization , the spread of democracies, and the growth of global governance. These, in turn, promoted interdependence. Markers of global...
Whisk(e)y and Epistemic Pluralism: A Quack-and-Forth (Part II)
This is part II of the first instalment of a new series of interviews on Duck of Minerva entitled Quack-and-Forths.
Some Quick Notes
Happy belated New Year! After a rather chaotic December – and lots of work on the backend of this site – we're getting ready to kickstart happenings here at the Duck. We've got a few posts and a symposium – all of which really should've been posted a while back – coming soon. You may already have...