Coup d’états are less likely to succeed against rulers who “counterbalance” their militaries with presidential guards, militarized police, and other security forces outside of military command. But there may be downsides.
This a guest post from Robert M. Eisinger, a political science professor at Roger Williams University. He is the author of The Evolution of Presidential Polling (Cambridge University Press). Many of...
With the news that the Trump Administration has signaled its intent to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, I reached out to a number of leading experts on global climate governance...
This is a guest post from Anjali K. Dayal (Assistant Professor, Fordham University), Madison V. Schramm (PhD Candidate, Georgetown University), Alexandra M. Stark (PhD Candidate, Georgetown...
All but one of my published journal articles have question marks in their titles. How'd that happen? And what do I do with my current "revise and resubmit"?Should I change the title to something without a question mark to stop the trend? Or would that be just begging for some sort of cosmic...
In a strange bit of synergy, Tim Harford writes a column on George Akerlof's famous paper on used cars:In 1966 an assistant economics professor, George Akerlof, tried to explain why this is so in a working paper called "The Market for 'Lemons.' " His basic insight was simple: If somebody who has...
Bolivia's government just seized the country's natual gas industry.The measure is expected to affect about 20 foreign oil companies, including Spain's Repsol, Petrobras of Brazil, Britain's BP and British Gas, US-based ExxonMobil and French group Total.Although the move was expected to have little...
Happy May Day! Or should that be "mayday"? You know it's the end of term (grading, grading, grading) when friendly academic bloggers mostly just point readers to other good links on the web.Let me add one that I found particularly entertaining. Check out "I'm the Decider (Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo)." It's...
All hail fake news--the last bastion of true journalism.Bill Kristol, a prominent member of the Project for a New American Century, stopped by the Colbert Report last night and, well, let's just say he wasn't coddled.A little taste:Colbert: Speaking of thinking alike, you were a member, or are a...
...it brings out the wackos. Via Yglesias:Andy McCarthy correctly observes that if we start a war with Iran, Iran will fight back. Then he mentions offhandedly that "The retaliation we most have to worry about is a nuclear attack against our homeland." A nuclear attack with what? The nuclear bombs...
Washington Post:Escalating the threats between Washington and Tehran, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Wednesday that his country would strike U.S. targets around the world in the event it is attacked over its refusals to curb its nuclear program."If the U.S. ventured into any...
The Washington Post:The Senate voted this afternoon to cut some of the money President Bush has requested for the Iraq war and use it instead to increase border patrols against illegal immigrants and buy new boats and helicopters for the Coast Guard.Who voted for it?Mr. Gregg angrily rejected as...
Rob mentions the provocative article in the recent issue of Foreign Affairs by Keir Lieber and Daryl Press on the possible achievement of nuclear primacy by the United States. In the article (as well as a more detailed analysis forthcoming in International Security), the authors claim that[t]oday,...
Ruth Marcus writes about Ted Kennedy as people on the Hill know him: a Senator who pursues bipartisan compromise in the spirit of actually legislating for the common good.Look, there's Ted Kennedy, shoulder-to-shoulder with John McCain, Republican presidential front-runner, just after the collapse...
One of the (many) flaws in the Bush administration's rationale for invading Iraq stemmed from Hussein's history as a vector of proliferation. There wasn't any. In the worst-case scenario, in which Hussein somehow acquired nuclear weapons, we would have little reason to be concerned that he might...
Rep. Charles H. Taylor (R-N.C.) decides to take a 'principled stand' and is holding up $10 million dollars necessary to buy the land where a monument to the passengers and crew members of United Flight 93 is to be built.Why is Taylor, chairman of the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee,...