During a pivotal scene in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne talks with his butler/confidante Alfred about The Joker. Wayne suggests he can make sense of The Joker's motivation as a first step towards stopping his rampage. Alfred tells a story about an operation from his paramilitary career, in which a bandit leader was stealing precious jewels the government had handed out and tossing them in a river. Alfred suggest this was...
A reporter asked me what we should expect from the upcoming climate negotiations, known as COP28, which will be held in the United Arab Emirates starting the end of November. This is my fairly off-the-cuff answer which may be somewhat pessimistic. I am more broadly optimistic that the clean energy transition is underway, though not at that pace required (yet) to stay below 2 degrees C of warming. If you think I'm off-base, please comment or...
Part I here if you are interested On the day of German reunification anniversary I bring you the sequel to the post on the new Russian history book. Only, if you read this history book, you will not find the term "reunification" - it's reserved for Crimea and Donbas - instead, you will find a passage about Western Germany "annexing" the Eastern one. Believe it or not, it is actually a toned down version of another history textbook co-authored...
Professor Jarrod Hayes joins the Hayseed Scholar podcast. Jarrod was born in Colorado, but moved to Utah at a young age and grew up there for a bit before relocating with his mother to just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. In high school, he found he enjoyed doing research especially with science and technology, and so he went to the University of Colorado to pursue a degree in Astrophysics. But at Colorado he also enjoyed studying International...
If Donald Trump was President of the United States when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, instead of Joe Biden, Trump’s personality would have led to a very different U.S. response. Trump would not have swiftly and strongly condemned Russia or clearly sided with Ukraine in the initial stages of the invasion, and he would not have brought together a multilateral front against Russia – as Biden did.
Kai Oppermann is Professor of International Politics at the Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany. He has previously held positions at the University of Sussex, King’s College London and the University of Cologne. His research interests focus on the domestic sources of foreign policy and the role of narratives in international politics. His work has been published in journals such as European Journal of International Relations,...
Ryan Beasley is a Senior Lecturer in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, specializing in Foreign Policy Theory and Political Psychology. His research focuses on time, role theory, dissonance, and group decision-making. He has published work in such journals as International Affairs, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, European Journal of International Relations, Political...
Julie Kaarbo is Professor in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. She co-founded and works with the Scottish Council of Global Affairs. Julie previously held posts at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Kansas and the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva) and was founding co-director of Edinburgh’s Centre for Security Research. Her research focuses on leader personality, foreign...
Oppenheimer is the first blockbuster about nuclear weapons in a generation. Framing his film’s namesake with kinetic edits, fractured timelines, quantum imagery, and a pulsing score, director Christopher Nolan has crafted a stylistic triumph. But does Oppenheimer accurately depict its subject? And what is an “accurate” representation of the atomic bomb? Reactions from specialists have filtered in over the month...
Christopher David LaRoche is an assistant professor in the Department of International Relations at Central European University in Vienna, Austria and a visiting faculty member in Bard College's Globalization and International Affairs program in New York City. He is also a non-resident fellow at the European Centre for North Korean Studies at the University of Vienna. Chris studies nuclear security, international institutions, and political...
The benefits of bridging the gap between academics and policymakers are well-known, but much of the research and practice is based on experiences in the United States. How well does it translate to other countries? A recent collaboration between Bridging the Gap (BtG) and Monash University in Australia highlighted significant differences between the countries’ policy-academic ecosystem – and underscored the need for further BtG-type training...
Maria Rost Rublee is Professor of International Relations at the University of Melbourne, with expertise in international relations, including nuclear politics, maritime security, and gender and diversity in national security. She is President of Women in International Security-Australia, an Executive Committee member of Women in Nuclear-Australia, and was recently named to the U.S. National Security & Foreign Affairs Leadership List (Top...