As many of our readers know, I am the incoming editor-in-chief of International Studies Quarterly, the "flagship journal" of the International Studies Association. My team will begin to take new submissions in October. The full handoff occurs in January of 2014. The scope and nature of the responsibilities involved are inconsistent with an active presence here. Indeed, my time-management and logistical skills are insufficient to support both...
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Syria and the problems of compellence
To my mind, the situation in Syria has prompted an incredibly thoughtful debate within the political science community, one that undermines the idea that scholars have become irrevocably detached from policy. Ian Hurd and Charli Carpenter have written excellent pieces on the legality of chemical weapons and military intervention. James Fearon contributed this superb piece on the strategic dilemmas involved in the US response. And once again,...
Friday Nerd Blogging: Galactica (Not) Actual and the Sci-Fi / Sci-Fact / Globalization Intertext
The Chinese state media could perhaps be forgiven for mistaking fictional Battlestar Galactica blueprints for future US fleet schematics this week, given this. This incident has me thinking about Nexon/Neumann's argument regarding the fuzzy relationship between science fiction and ""reality."" (Yes, you did just read scare quotes in scare quotes.) In their Harry Potter and International Relations introduction, they point out that the "reality"...
Friday Afternoon Linkage
Syria updates: The White House's public assessment of last week's chemical weapons attack. Deborah Avant -- Action is not synonymous with intervention. Is there a moral argument for intervention? Tony Lang unpacks some of his comments on various threads hereat Duck below with his own post at Carnegie on the case for punitive action. Given all the discussion surrounding chemical weapons, Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction ed, by Sohail...
FYI: Washington Post and No Paywall for .mil/.gov/.edu
You might not have been aware of this when the Washington Post paywall went up back in June, but there is no paywall if you have a .edu/.mil/.gov email address. Go here to obtain your free access. From the website: By registering with a valid .gov/.mil/.edu email address, you will get free, unlimited digital access to washingtonpost.com whether you are at work, at home or on your mobile device. Not sure what this means for their business model,...
What Do International Law and Norms Say About Burning People Alive?
One line of discussion this past week has been whether it makes any kind of moral sense to think that death by chemical weapon is so much worse than death by "conventional" weapons. Video imagery captured by BBC in the aftermath of another horrific massacre in Syria yesterday throws this into stark relief. At least ten children burned to death and scores others were left with horrifying injuries after a flammable substance was dropped on a...
Intervention to Punish? Or to Protect?
Two kinds of military intervention are being discussed and conflated by political elites (like Nicholas Kristof) and international diplomats. The first is an enforcement operation to punish a state for violating a widespread and nearly universal global prohibition norm against the use of chemical weapons. This is what Kristof refers to in the title of his Times op-ed, "Reinforce a Norm in Syria." The second is a humanitarian operation to...
APSA 2013 Morning Linkage
It's Syria week. Post use of chemical weapons, some sort of intervention looks more likely than not. We are conflicted. Here to help us make sense of this: The intel that suggests the Syrian regime did it, but unclear command and control George Packer on our inner dialogue about why intervention is necessary but folly James Fallows on the folly part Erica Chenoweth on the history of interventions, again emphasizing folly, here and here Jon...
A Networking Post Inspired by Networking
So, I ran into Dan Drezner in the trendy-food part of the West Loop in Chicago tonight, as you do when you are at APSA. Dan asked if I was planning to respond to his post on networking, which is critical of my earlier post. Honestly, it was not high on my agenda, but who can resist networking as a motivation to write a post on networking? In my post, I suggest that networking can have efficiency, career opportunity, and political benefits, with...
APSA Special: Social Movements and the Politics of Markets
So, in the interests of shameless self-promotion, I just wanted to mention that if you are attending APSA and stop by the Cambridge U Press booth, there should be copies of my new book with Ethan Kapstein entitled AIDS Drugs for All: Social Movements and Market Transformations. Pick up a copy, or order a hard or softback version here for a 20% discount (an e-version should be out soon). Below the fold, I'll describe the book and unpack the...
If Syria Used WMD, It Violated International Law. But So Would a US Intervention.
In the New York Times yesterday, Northwestern University political scientist Ian Hurd lays down the law on Syria and intervention: As a legal matter, the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons does not automatically justify armed intervention by the United States... Syria is a party to neither the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 nor the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993... Syria is a party to the Geneva Protocol, a 1925 treaty that...
Wednesday Addams Linkage
I guess most folks are on the way to APSA. Have fun in Chicago if you're going--and if you're a member of the APSA council, please consider moving the convention to some weekend besides the first week of school. (Also, #SeattleEveryYear. Just saying! Especially if it's going to be in August.) Here's some links: Dani Nedal is also skeptical of Syria. Also BLTN: great post from Kristen Coopie Allen on how where you raise funds influences election...