Much discussion lately about how much rejection is in this academic game. I had a conversation yesterday with a pal who was finding it much harder, it seemed, to get work published after tenure than before. "I thought I knew how to do this." Folks have been calling for the true CVs of people--where rejections would be listed. Not sure that is going to happen. However, in this week where I received news of receiving a fellowship to supplement...
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Playing Politics with Compassion after the Paris Attacks (and why humanitarianism is in trouble)
Photo Credit: ruimc77 on Flickr In response to the November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 129 people President Obama stated: Once again, we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians. This is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share. President Obama’s statement was a resounding call for...
ISIS and the Future of Counter-Terrorism
[I've been debating whether to post this...it's a "transcript" of a talk I gave yesterday here at the University of Puget Sound. It's a bit basic as it was intended for a general audience of, primarily, undergraduate students. I wrote this up for friends who wanted to hear the talk but were unable to attend. It's a bit disorganized too. So be warned it's kind of ramble-y and general. Also, I haven't provided source information or links. If you...
Get a Grip America: Stop the Anti-Refugee Hysteria
So, I started yesterday with news that Republican governors, including my own here in Texas, were seeking to deny Syrian refugees in to the state. By the end of the day, more than 25 governors, including one Democrat, had joined in the hysteria. I think a lot of us see this as a betrayal of American values and completely idiotic from the perspective of grand strategy. We are basically telling millions of refugees, most of them Muslim, that we...
Terrorism and the 2016 Campaign
The Paris terror attacks have brought the issue to the fore in awful, dramatic fashion. It's inevitable that the topic will feature in tonight's Democratic debate and the wider campaign. With world leaders set to convene in Paris in a few weeks time for the global climate negotiations, French vulnerability to terrorism has taken on added significance. While ISIS does not pose an existential threat to the United States, attacks on civilians are...
Terror in Paris
The horrifying events in Paris tonight are almost beyond comprehension. While we don't know much more than the specific facts on the ground--coordinated attacks, suicide bombers at Le Stade de France, drive-by shootings at a Cambodian restaurant, the massacre at Bataclan, at least 150 are dead--I've been thinking all day about this still unfolding tragedy. It's still early and we don't know much about who is involved or why. As with the recent...
Foreign Policy in the 4th GOP Presidential Nominee Debate
While last night's debate was focused on the domestic economy, there was a bit more discussion of foreign policy than in the previous debate (i.e. none). So let's see what the candidates had to see! Once again, I'll be working off of the Washington Post's transcript. I'll ignore the snarky back-and-forth about defense spending because there was no substantive content there, which means that the first real discussion of foreign policy concerned...
What Happened at Subi Reef?
Following on my last point which tried to understand the logic of ISIS's role (if indeed it is responsible) in the bombing of a Russian charter plane int he Sinai, let's turn our attention to the confusion surrounding the recent activity in the South China Sea. In an (alleged...more on this later) effort to counter China's claims of expanded territorial waters and recent island building in the South China Sea, the US Navy sent the destroyer USS...
The Importance of Evidence-Based Human Rights Advocacy
The following is a guest post by Michele Leiby & Matthew Krain of The College of Wooster. We are at a moment where there’s more media attention, research and advocacy on behalf of global human rights than ever before. Given our common interests and goals as members of an international human rights community, it’s surprising how infrequently and ineffectually we communicate and contribute directly to one another’s work. Our recent research...
The problem of authority
Josh’s excellent tripartite (1, 2, 3) discussion of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy record in conjunction with with the narratives of Putin’s strategic leadership accompanying Russian military involvement in Syria have me thinking about the concept of authority. Specifically, I do not think we as academics (and as a result, policymakers) have a very good set of tools for thinking about leadership and authority in the international...
What’s Going On in the Sinai?
The mysterious crash of a Russian charter plane in Sinai over the past weekend is causing all kinds of turmoil in the international arena. As you probably know, there is lots of confusion about exactly what happened to bring the plane down. Shortly after the crash, the ISIS wilayat (province) in the Sinai claimed responsibility, releasing a video purporting to show them shooting the plane down with a surface-to-air missile, a claim that was...
Defending Obama’s Foreign Policy Part 3
So, this is third installment of my series on defending Obama's foreign policy, part of an extended set of remarks for a debate with Colin Dueck that one day, weather permitting, we shall have. In part 1, I laid out the legacy of the Bush years and in part 2, I identified the Obama administration's strategic inclinations and achievements. Here, in part 3, I try to identify lines of critique from Dueck and other folks critical of the Obama...