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...
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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:
Professing and the Policy World
There is so much criticism of the academic enterprise these days, asserting that professors are too focused on research and not enough on teaching and not enough on relevance to the policy world. These critiques are hardly new, but bear more weight in a time of austerity. It is easy to point to some work that seems hardly relevant and some professors who seem least interested in engaging the “real world,” but I am constantly reminded of the...
Thursday Morning Linkage
If last's week Thursday morning linkage was Africa-themed, this week's links are China-related and inevitably harken back to the events in Boston: Laurie Garrett, as she is wont to do, wonders if this recent bird flu outbreak in China is "the big one" Beijing air is so bad they are canceling recess, kids at grave risk Oh, and Shanghai air sucks too China's shale gas revolution has yet to begin (Armond Cohen thinks it will take too long to take...
Nerd-Inflected Wednesday Linkage
The difference between pets in Diablo III and Torchlight II. Blah blah blah Game of Thrones blah blah credible commitments blah blah blah prisoners' dilemma. Taylor Fravel says that China hasn't abandoned no-first use. Pavel Podvig demolishes "SDI ended the Cold War" claptrap. Key graf: "The evolution of the Soviet attitudes toward SDI suggests that the main factor that contributed to the ending the confrontation of the Cold War was the...