Last month, Dani Rodrik wrote a piece for Project Syndicate that went all kinds of viral. In it, he explains why he no longer views himself as a political economist. The upshot: because if he believed the stuff he used to believe, he'd have to accept that there's not much room for improving the world through op-eds, and that's not something he's prepared to accept. Consider this passage: But there was a deep paradox in all of this. The more...
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‘Rodman-gate’: Can ‘Useful Idiots’ please Stop Shilling for North Korea?
Studying North Korea inevitably means people ask me pretty outlandish stuff. People have asked, if the North really believes long hair is bad for socialism, if that goiter on Kim Il Sung’s neck made him crazy, if Kim Jong Il’s platform shoes meant that he liked disco, and if North Korean women are good looking because a food shortage would mean everyone is slim. (I presume that last one is a reaction to the obesity epidemic in the US.) So I...
Monday Morning Linkage
Good morning, ducks! Let's start the week in Pakistan The horrific and systematic killing of the Shia in Pakistan continues in full swing. Sunil Dasgupta asks: "How will India Respond to Civil War in Pakistan" (h/t C. Barwa) General Musharraf has promised (again) that he is coming back to rescue Pakistan... But will it be the crazy, try-to-provoke-a-nuclear-war-with-India Gen. Musharraf or think-outside-of-the-box and try to resolve the...
Going on the Job Market? Pick up Fifty Shades of Grey or a Ukulele!
Traveling home today from a great conference with some awesome Ducks and non-Ducks. The conference, hosted by Debbi Avant (U of Denver) and Oliver Westerwinter (EUI) at the University of Denver, was on the topic of networks, governance, and security. I learned a lot and will hopefully write a nice, normal research -related post sometime soon. At the conference, one of the dinner conversations that kept popping up was the academic job market. ...
Saturday Morning Linkage
I'm at a conference with a surprising number of Duck bloggers and commentators, so this will be brief. I spent some time last night troubleshooting older podcasts. If you notice a problem please email me. Kings of War analyzes the impact of the sequester on the US army. Andrew Yeo looks at "naming and shaming" viz. North Korean human-rights behavior. Daniel Little looks at recent developments in social theory. Recent developments in...
Friday Nerd Blogging: Presidential Edition
Twitter went nuts when President Obama said he could not get the Republicans to do what is right because of his finite powers, that he could not do some sort of Jedi mind-meld! He mixed his space franchises--Jedis may have Vulcan-like abilities, but the mind meld thing is of Star Trek. So, this sent twitter on a wonderful spiral for awhile. Some of the highlights: RT @jpodhoretz: "By Grabthar's hammer, you will be sequestered." — Hayes Brown...
Friday Afternoon Linkage
Miscellaneous musings for the weekend. If this is true, then will the sequester be over by the next Congressional recess? Any idea as to why so many trips to Switzerland? I seriously doubt it has anything to do with this. Mattea Kramer and Chris Hellman find that we've spent $791bn on Homeland Security since 9/11 -- compared to an inflation-adjusted $500bn for the entire New Deal. On-going stress in India about Pakistan's nuclear...
Thursday Morning Linkage
I'm going to be filling in with some morning linkage in the coming weeks/months, so you'll probably see some posts with a smattering of U.S. foreign policy, global health, climate change, and whatever strikes my fancy such as the following: - the triennial meeting of CITES, the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species, opens in the next few days in Thailand (preview in Nature here) amidst a global crisis in rhino and elephant poaching; here is...
Beyond Reading the Tea Leaves: Using Data to Understand Partisanship and Foreign Policy
My frequent collaborator Jon Monten and I have a guest post on the new Chicago Council on Global Affairs blog Running Numbers. As our readers likely know, the Chicago Council runs periodic surveys about public attitudes towards foreign affairs and has historically run a number of important surveys of elite opinion. I'm cross-posting our piece here. For many observers of American politics, the fight over the nomination of Chuck Hagel as the next...
Wednesday Morning Link Dump
It's that time of year in the Georgetown Government Department... when we juggle financial aid offers and admissions in an attempt to lock down a strong incoming class of PhD students. This takes up lots of my mental energy, leaving little for the Duck of Minerva. The current DAG-3QD Peace and Justice Symposium concerns one of Charli's favorite topics: Drones. This may come as a shock to longtime readers, but almost twenty years ago I interned...
Belated/Early Friday Nerd Blogging: Ultimate Mashup
Ok, this is late for Friday but we didn't have an entry, so here we go:
Tuesday Morning Linkage Club Lite
There's a lot going on in the world, but there's also a lot going on in my world, so here's your abbreviated linkage: Jay Ulfelder explains why big data won't kill theory (or as Dan would write, I can haz quant theory?) [Dart-Throwing Chimp] Seth Masket >yearns for a Neil DeGrasse Tyson of political science [Pacific Standard] Sounds like physics envy to me, Seth [Duck of Minerva] I'm actually normally pretty permissive on issues of pay for...