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?
Why isn’t IR funnier?
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Recent Posts
A Drinking Person’s Guide to the Resistance
A guest post by Layna Mosley,* Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (*with contributions from Jeff Colgan, Beth Copelovitch, Mark Copelovitch, Artie G,...
Talk Intel To Me
I remember laughing about an article in The Medium about a TV Sitcom that triggered the downfall of Western Civilization. In case you were wondering, it’s Friends with its “tragic hero” Ross Geller....
Mind the Power Gap
I have new online piece, co-authored with Dani Nedal, at Foreign Affairs: President Donald Trump believes that America makes terrible deals—from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the...
More Recent Posts
Tag, I’m it
Listing beloved books from my adolescence is so much more enjoyable than prepping for class…Also, I'm choosing to interpret the meme quite strictly, as asking for fictional books read as an adolescent (middle school/high school) that I felt were good enough to read again later on (college or...
Book thread
Yesterday, Dan "tagged" me and the other bloggers at the Duck to participate in one of those circulating book threads (or "memes"). I am now supposed "to describe the 'five books I liked enough as a teen/young adult to read again as an adult.'"Hmmmm. This is tough.First, I'm older than the other...
David Adesnik vs. Realism
Not that long ago I questioned whether David was giving realism a fair shake. Recently, David shared an email on his blog that does the work I should have done:First off, the notion that a nuclear Iraq would be problematic but not inherently disastrous isn’t some bizarre notion – the fairly-insane...
The Dark Side of Interdependence
Daniel Starr explains:I'm not happy with the CCP today: it turns out that they've made the Asian bird flu virus resistant to the best antiviral drug we would have relied on to tame the next outbreak of avian-based flu in humans. They ignored the advice of the World Health Organization and had...
Books That Still Speak to Me
I've been tagged by Daniel Drezner. As I understand this process, I am now obligated to describe the "five books I liked enough as a teen/young adult to read again as an adult." If I do not comply, I will suffer the same fate of those who break chain letters and chain email.The problem is that I...
Draining the Sea
The situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates even further, with the government pressing ahead with its campaign of mass violence and political cleansing:EVERY morning Father Michael looks out of the window of his Harare parish house and sees an ever larger crowd of homeless families outside. “I feel...
My Most Appropriate City?
Like Scott, I found my results in the "Which American Cities Best Fit You?" survey a little surpring: American Cities That Best Fit You:80% Chicago75% Philadelphia70% New York City65% Boston45% AtlantaMy real list is NYC; Boston; San Francisco; Washington, DC; Chicago; and Minneapolis.I suppose...
Framing Iraq
Bill recently argued that, contra left-wing grumbling, the Bush administration has consistently embraced democratic enlargement as an element of its grand strategy. His post struck a nerve with some commentators, generating the kind of debate I hope happens more often as the readership of this...
Yet another introduction
It looks like I'll be the "senior scholar" on this blog. Less formally, that makes me "the old fart," trying to avoid becoming "deadwood." My academic career began in the '70s, as I started college at the University of Kansas in 1979. Back then, Dan and Patrick were probably trading baseball...
Welcome Timberers
A big "hello!" (or should that be a "quack"?) to those of you dropping by via Crooked Timber. We've only been doing this for a few days, so any comments or suggestions are very much appreciated.Feel free to come back from time to time. The owl may fly at twilight, but the Duck's usually around.If...
About me
Because you, the readers, want to know -- or at least because we, the writers, think that you, the readers, want to know. (I'm fascinated by the fact that a name and a personal biography improve the credibility of a piece of writing; there's something very interesting there about the way that we...
The lowly graduate student of the group…
Hello all. As promised, here is my intro post. I will keep it short.I am a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania in the Political Science department. As far as subfields go I am mostly interested in International Relations Theory and Security--however, I find it increasingly difficult...