While political comedy thrives, IR comedy, whatever that phrase might mean, is virtually non-existent. omedy gap’? Is it a figment of my imagination or a real problem?
While political comedy thrives, IR comedy, whatever that phrase might mean, is virtually non-existent. omedy gap’? Is it a figment of my imagination or a real problem?
Abe Newman and I have a piece in Vox on Trump's attempt to pressure allies into spending more on defense. You should ignore the title. The gist of the argument is that, first, there are upsides to...
Ah, the spring semester: When the thoughts of many turn to the promise of summer, while the thoughts of panicked ABDs turn to the question of what they’re going to be doing beyond the end of this...
This is a guest post by Zachary C. Shirkey, an Associate Professor of Political Science, Hunter College, CUNY. Attempts by observers to give Trump’s foreign policy some coherence by finding an...
If you want to read a followup dispatch from New Orleans by Dr. Greg Henderson, I've found one and posted in on my blog. It's a holiday weekend, so I don't know how many people will be reading or searching. However, "Greg Henderson pathologist" has become a very popular search term for those...
This is the first year I've actually enjoyed APSA. The quality of the international-relations panels I attended was higher than I'm used to. The conference organizers did a great job of making sure that related panels were close together. I didn't have to do a lot of hopping between distant...
This is a message I received in email from a third party. It was written in New Orleans by Dr. Greg Henderson, a pathologist who recently moved from Wilmington:Aug. 31, 2005I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 PM. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much...
From Leviathan:From this equality of ability ariseth equality of hope in the attaining of our ends. And therefore if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their end (which is principally their own conservation, and...
Today's New York Times reports the results of a current Pew Forum poll:The poll found that 42 percent of respondents held strict creationist views, agreeing that "living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." In contrast, 48 percent said they believed that humans...
News from the deep south just gets worse and worse. The good news is that the Federal Government is mobilizing its resources, with some possible caveats, along with other groups and organizations throughout the nation. On that note, let us take a moment to praise the advantages of economies of...
Sally Jenkins, sports columnist for the Washington Post, weighs in with a rather silly opinion piece about "intelligent design" as it might relate to athletics. "Athletes do things that seem transcendental," she opines; "Ever get the feeling that they are in touch with something that we aren't?...
I'm back... at least until my DSL service cuts out again. Or I leave for APSA. Whichever comes first.I've been able to get online long enough to read, among other things, Timothy Garton Ashs' essay, "Stagger on, weary Titan" (via Anne-Marie Slaughter).In the American case, it's a result of the...
George W. Bush is a graduate of the Harvard Business School (MBA, 1975). I wonder if they taught him about sunk costs? Sunk costs are unrecoverable past expenditures. These should not normally be taken into account when determining whether to continue a project or abandon it, because they cannot...
Soon, the cost of the Iraq war in dollars is going to exceed 200 billion.With debate about the future of Iraq heating up, this might be a good time to point out that this cost to America is directly attributable to the Bush administration's unilateralism. Moreover, though it is difficult to know...
My university started classes Monday and I teach two classes on Tuesday.As I've mentioned before, I'm teaching American Foreign Policy and International Security this term. Note: those course descriptions pre-date my arrival (1991).I don't have any links to the syllabi (yet), but they should...
Iraq is not Vietnam. However, the political debate about Vietnam presents a number of valuable lessons that war opponents should be learning. Fast, as in before the 2008 presidential election process starts in earnest. Since candidates are already coming forward to fill what will almost certainly...