We need a critical strategic studies, or maybe a strategic peace studies. Critical security studies, of course, is a venerable research tradition that I sometimes identify with. There are also scattered references to the phrase “critical strategic studies” out there in the literature, though it appears to be synonymous with critical security studies. And there is a pretty robust peace studies and “conflict...
At least so far, my basic Twitter experience hasn't changed much — thanks to more liberal use of the "block" and "mute" buttons. Not being "big time" enough or, frankly, interesting enough to target probably helps. Still, I'm not finding it terribly rewarding. Lord Prince Musk's Duchy of Freebird is not unlike Twitter in the Trump era, but with lower stakes and a more articulate despot. What crazy, trollish, logically incoherent thing will Elon...
Moderating a Reddit channel is hard. Moderating a massive, social, user-generated content site like Twitter? Sisyphus would take one look and go back to his boulder. This assumes you approach moderation with a legal-rational mindset — one that aims for — and is judged by its ability to deliver — a fair and consistent application of publicly legible rules concerning, on the one hand, acceptable behavior and, on the other hand, the penalties for...
Adam Serwer doesn't break new ground when he argues that "The consistency here lies in the belief that corporations and people have freedom of speech as long as they exercise that right on behalf of right-wing causes." But he does provide the receipts. I think that's only part of the story. For the last few weeks I've been ruminating on a series of fragmentary ideas and questions. These include: The marketplace of ideas is at best a mediocre...
Since its founding in 2005, the Duck of Minerva has been home to many experiments. Some failed, and were abandoned. Some succeeded, and were abandoned. Given current uncertainties (and, let's face it, "ick factor") about Twitter, I thought it might be interesting to shift microblogging to... a blog. We'll see how this works. Or doesn't.
When it comes norm dynamics and how we theorize them, uncertainty presents something of a paradox. We study norms because we think that they matter. But if norms are inherently uncertain, then how is it possible that they constitute, constrain, and otherwise shape the behavior of global actors? Unless norms produce stable and defined expectations, then how can they have the power to structure international politics?
Millions of people around the world are watching breathlessly as teams compete in the World Cup, held in Qatar. Many others--like me--tune it out, turned off by that guy in grad school who spent a semester in Barcelona and then pretended to be a life-long Spain fan. But this year, the World Cup caught my attention for a nerdier reason: the constant talk of Qatar's "soft power" through the tournament. My fraught relationship with soft power Soft...
I write to you as the new executive editor of International Security, the first woman to hold this position. I am taking the opportunity graciously provided by the Duck of Minerva team to introduce myself to you. I also want to thank my most recent predecessors, Sebastian Rosato (pro tem), Morgan Kaplan, and Sean Lynn-Jones – himself an institution -- for their contribution to the continued excellence of International Security and for their...
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The Bidens are serving the Macrons US-made wine and cheese. A cute gesture or a clumsy diplomatic move?
Since 2014 the international community has considered the issue of autonomy in weapons systems under the framework of the United Nations (UN) Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Despite hopes that 2022 would see some kind of breakthrough, the 2019 eleven guiding principles remains the only international agreement regarding lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS or AWS). Many believe that action is long overdue. The Campaign to...
“Some came to kill and the others came to protect” says the main male character with a charisma of a doorknob to his love interest in the “based on real events” movie “Crimea” (2017), financed by the Russian Ministry of Defense. The hour and a half epic features many equally deep and meaningful conversations between a female Ukrainian journalist from Kyiv and a male Russian soldier from Sebastopol whose romance is set against the...