The ISA statement lacks not only comparative history but also local historical depth. It also distorts moral responsibility.
Why Land Acknowledgements?
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Recent Posts
On Writing the IR Dissertation
Partly in response to Steve Saideman’s post today with advice on dissertation topics, and partly also in response to a pretty enthusiastic discussion of advice to graduate students on Twitter...
Beware of Irrelevant Topic? Advising Phd Students to Surf the Wave
In the past couple of days, an academic issue has played out on twitter: are advisers doing a disservice to students and to the creation of knowledge by warning them off of topics that are deemed...
The Return of Geopolitics
Geopolitics has returned with a vengeance. The end of the Cold War wrought a moment in which there was no credible alternative to liberal democratic capitalism. Russia was seemingly fatally...
More Recent Posts
Digital Burqa
A few days ago, Charli pondered "whether or not the Internet and social media empowers civil society or instead simply offers states new tools of repression and governance." And she provided a link to an excellent video about Iranian bloggers. I haven't been able to get the question or the video...
Rock ‘n Roll ‘n IPE
Just a shout-out to NPR Planet Money for sharing the rock 'n roll reference in the Dodd financial reform proposal, or at least, Dodd's summary of it. A "no escape" clause for companies seeking to evade supervision is called the Hotel California Provison. Yup, it's right there in the text. We...
Battling a Straw Man and Still Losing
[I don't mean to rail on the Washington Post's coverage of the war in Afghanistan two posts in a row, but the coverage is honestly a bit dismal this week. In my last post, I showed why Rajiv Chandrasekaran's article "At Afghan outpost, Marines gone rogue or leading the fight against...
What, me Worry? The Financial Crisis
Are we doing better or worse than in the Great Depression? Are we coming out of it, or still sinking... or, is there worse to come? Should I be frightened?? Recent reports of millions more foreclosures made me wonder what direction we are going in. A couple of things I've been reading...
Delaram
Rajiv Chandrasekaran's article in today's Washington Post, "At Afghan outpost, Marines gone rogue or leading the fight against counterinsurgency?" paints a picture of Marines grudgingly guarding a town in no man's land on the edge of the desert:"DELARAM, AFGHANISTAN -- Home to a dozen truck stops...
Afghan Perceptions of Operation Moshtarak
Now that the fighting is over in the town of Marjah, how did the Afghan media perceive Operation Moshtarak? Here is a cursory round up of opinions from some of the newspapers in Afghanistan.(Unfortunately, I am dependent on reading translations of the local newspapers from thousands of miles away,...
My £0.02 on the “Keep America Safe” Crowd/”al-Qaida Seven”
I’m finding it difficult to usefully add to the debate over the “Guantanamo Lawyers”/"al-Qaida Seven" that has emerged over the last week or so. Basically, the fundamental issue is that people “we” dislike or who have (allegedly) done horrible things are actually entitled to certain fundamental...
Paintings, Pictures, and Power
At the "Theory Talks" Blog, there is an excellent interview with Michael J. Shapiro on "Pictures, Paintings, Power and the Political Philosophy of International Relations." Shapiro argues for the need to awaken the discipline from its pre-Kantian slumber and to move beyond the "anemic, empiricist...
Is there a legal obligation to report war casualties?
This year at ISA a theme which seemed to crop up again and again (at least among the laws of war crowd – we’re small but mighty) was the idea that “we” (international society, academia, NGOs, I guess) need more information on civilian casualties, particularly those caused by air strikes in...
Got the post-Olympic blues?
Not to worry, the World Cup in South Africa is only 100 days away. It's been six years since FIFA awarded the World Cup to South Africa and there is a lot of excitement about an African nation finally hosting the World Cup and how the event has the potential to be a transcendent event. (I still...
Peace Talks and Terror Tactics
Video Source: Channel 4 (UK)One day after peace talks between India and Pakistan, there has been an attack targeting Indian nationals on a goodwill mission in Afghanistan. I don't think anyone seriously doubts that these Taliban-led attacks in Afghanistan are being directed from Pakistani soil....
More late post-ISA thoughts
I, like Laura, am a bit slow off the take regarding post-ISA blogging. In my defence I have a 6-hour jet-lag that was aggravated by United Airlines being successful in severely messing up every single segment of my flight to New Orleans and back. (The friendly skies? More like the unfriendly kick...