Of the 6 churches I passed on my way to the office this morning, 3 reminded me that today is National Day of Prayer. In the spirit of the day, I’m following my Grandmother-in-Law’s advice and suggesting that we all pray for our enemies.[1] Here’s my list: Reviewer 2. Thanks for the suggestions! XOXO That guy I know from the chemistry department who always stops me in the grocery store to say things like “Hi, Ms. Political Scientist,...
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Thursday Morning Linkage
Here is your Thursday Morning Linkage. Back on the Africa theme from a couple of weeks ago, here are some good reads from the week: More reports on the elephant poaching crisis in CAR Last rhinos in Mozambique killed by poachers with the help of park rangers; time for Kruger fences to come back up Alex de Waal trolls celebrity activists like Enough, Kony 2012, faults them for insufficient consultation with local actors on the ground Nigerian...
Policy-Relevant Research, Redux
e-International Relations asked me to write a piece about doing policy-relevant research. I thought I'd cross-post it here, especially timely given recent posts on this blog along with Ronald Rogowski's screed that our work is too policy-relevant but policymakers just don't want to hear what we are saying (HT: The Monkey Cage). Here is the full post: During graduate school, the community of up and coming scholars who wanted to do...
Was Kaesong a Hole in the Korean Iron Curtain, or a Subsidy to the Kim Monarchy?
So it increasingly looks like the inter-Korean Kaesong industrial zone is closed for good. (The Wikipedia write-up is a pretty good quick history of it.) The zone was set-up during the Sunshine Policy period (1998-2007). It was to do 3 things: 1) Lead to some liberal-capitalist spill-over in the North, 2) Expose regular North Koreans (the workers in the area) to regular South Koreans (the managers and staff), and 3) Generally provide some...
Arms transfers to Africa: Hold the phone!….China is the good guy?
This week’s topic for both my grad and undergrad human rights courses is “foreign policy and human rights promotion.” On the list of readings-not-on-last-year’s-syllabus is this little gem: “Enter the Dragon! An Empirical Analysis of Chinese versus US Arms Transfers to Autocrats and Violators of Human Rights, 1989-2006” by Indra de Soysa and Paul Midford. It appeared in last December’s issue of ISQ. Drop what you are doing now and read it! ...
Replacing Nuclear Weapons
This is a guest post by Jarrod Hayes. He is Assistant Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. He received his PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Southern California in 2009. His research broadly focuses on the social construction of foreign and security policy. They are complex weapons. They are expensive. They require high levels of engineering expertise to develop, maintain and operate. ...
Monday Morning Linkage
Good morning Duckaroos, here's some stuff I think is actually worth reading... Srinath Raghavan seemed to be one of the few pundits who could see through the dangerous level of bullshit that was the latest Sino-Indian border crisis along the LAC last week. The International Crisis Group worries that the violent Hawija operation in the Kirkuk province of Iraq may be the beginning of a downward slide toward confrontation and civil war. Dr. Sadiq...
15 Must-Read Books (And 2 Must-Watch Movies) For Political Science Students
Consider this a prompt for an open thread. I'm looking for books to recommend to students to both give them a hint of what academic political science is "really" like but also to get them excited about the systematic study of politics. No single book can do it all, but a summer reading list can at least prod people to look in the right areas. So here's my list; additions welcome. Putnam and Campbell, American Grace: Fascinating survey of...
The End of Austerity…It’s Death is No Great Exaggeration
Something extraordinary happened in Europe this week. Enrico Letta, Italy's Prime Minister nominee, upon being tapped to form the next government made a bold press conference announcement that his primary objective upon taking office will be to end Italy's austerity program and join other leaders calling for an end to austerity across Europe. Presto! The bond markets did not go berserk. Contrary to wide expectations, instead of punishing...
Defying Gravity: Seeking Political Balance in ICC Prosecutions
The International Criminal Court is often accused of being “political” or “politicized” in its selection of situations and cases. What has become most problematic for the Court’s credibility and impartiality in this regard are the situations and cases that have not been selected, and the criteria and discourse used to justify such omissions and imbalanced prosecutions. Specifically, the “gravity threshold,” which the OTP uses to justify who is...
Friday morning linkage
Red lines or red lights on Syria? It's not just about Syria. What if the Tsarnaevs had been shooters instead of bombers? Playing out academic feuds in the press...Reinhart and Rogoff respond. Fodder for PTJ: What do scientifc studies tell us? Very persuasive: I spent three hours yesterday on the tarmac at O'Hare delayed by an FAA furlough hold as a result of sequestration -- passed the time reading Mark Blyth's Austerity: The History...
Friday Nerd Blogging: Mashing Up GoT
It has been a week or two since we have FNB-ed. After last week's events, we could use some extra silliness: