What is the topography of international-relations theory in the People’s Republic of China? What …
Episode 24: International Relations in China
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Recent Posts
The most frequently used ranking of IR journals is heterogeneous
This is a guest post by Andreas Pacher who initiated the Observatory of International Relations (OOIR), a website which tracks Political Science and IR journals to continually list their latest...
Civilian Self-Protection: What Civilians Do in War When Help is Hard to Find
This is a guest post by Betcy Jose and Peace Media. Betcy Jose is Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Denver. She tweets @betcyj.  Peace A. Medie is a Research Fellow in the Legon...
The Academic’s Dilemma: Being a Good Citizen and Managing Time
Tis the season for academic navel gazing so here are some things I've learned the hard way. This is primarily a piece for folks on the tenure track. I know that I come at this from a position of...
More Recent Posts
Happy New Year!
Actual blogging soon.
Happy Mithras’ Day
Or, as SEK writes, "Somehow, it fell upon the resident Jew to wish y’all a Merry Christmas…"
Transnational Battle over Gay Rights
The transnational battle over gay rights took an interesting turn last week when the Obama administration announced that it would work hard to promote gay rights worldwide. The gay community welcomed the news. But more strategic thinkers also raised questions. As Neil Grungras of San Francisco’s...
Scholarship and Advocacy: Bomb Iran Edition (UPDATED)
My colleague, Matt Kroenig, has generated a ton of buzz (and not a little vitriol) for his Foreign Affairs piece in which he advocates imminent US military action against Iran. What's probably less well known, however, is that Matt and Mike Weintraub, a graduate student at Georgetown, have a...
The Iraq surge: vindicated then exposed?
We haven’t got all the details, but promptly after the departure of US combat troops the Iraqi Prime Minister is feuding badly with Sunni political figures, and a bomb blast suggests that Iraq may be escalating into more sectarian conflict.If so, what does this say about the surge? On one hand,...
Stuff Political Scientists (Don’t) Like #13, Holiday Edition — Explaining Themselves to Loved Ones
Even political scientists have families. And during the holidays they are occasionally forced to talk to them. Not their spouses and children, who have already given up on them, but extended families, like aunts, uncles, etc. This puts political scientists in the awkward position of trying to...
Kim Jung Il is Dead
In a week filled with the death of intellectuals and political activists, we now have the death of Kim Jung Il. Other than the fact that this destabilizes an already crazy country (and I mean 'crazy' in that professional IR kind of way), I can't think much of us will miss him. Except maybe the...
Gingrinch
I never, ever, ever thought I would write a blog post about Newt Gingrich's chances as Republican nominee for President, except perhaps to laugh at him. Yet here I am.The Republican establishment is lining up against Gingrich, claiming that he is not conservative enough. This is laughable and a...
Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)
Christopher Hitchens has died. The world has lost one of its most luminous minds.He will be acclaimed for his literary criticism, his political stances, and his raw physical courage as a writer-journalist, entering dangerous battlespaces from Belgrade to Baghdad. Not to mention his wit, occasional...
RIP: Habeas Corpus . . . and Normative Power
The news that President Obama plans to sign the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) permitting indefinite detention for Americans accused of supporting terrorism is a sad day for those who believe in basic civil and human rights. Equally, this move calls into question optimistic views about...
Friday Nerd Blogging
I think I did a reasonable job restraining myself while suffering through Breaking Dawn this past weekend with my daughter and her friend. I didn't vomit once!And fortunately I didn't have to. The pathetically destructive and sexist representations of romantic love, family, marriage and motherhood...
The Euro Of Magical Thinking
Kathleen R. McNamara lays out the reasons to be skeptical that the euro can survive in anything like it's current form. McNamara's brand of political economics begins from the right presumption: that in political economy, politics comes first. Models that fail to account for the role of...