The University of Chicago’s Paul Poast claims that G. Lowes Dickinson is was the OG “modern” theo…
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Peace, Just Peace, and Ukraine
Many around the world are on edge over the possibility of Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons to stem Ukraine's battlefield successes. This has revived calls, present since before Putin invaded Russia's neighbor, to negotiate a way out of this war. Those issuing these calls see themselves as defenders of peace, but they are missing a major portion of what peace requires. Calls for "peace" Many in America have urged restraint in our...
Nuclear Precarity and the Russia Crisis
Everybody’s talking about nuclear war with Russia right now and it bugs me, not least because I’ve seen this nuclear frenzy before. Now, I think people have good reason to be worried about Russian nuclear use, as I wrote some five months ago. But what gets me about “the discourse” is that a tremendous amount of it is ahistorical. On the one hand, the conversation is weighted down with the opinions of people with large...
Why Would Putin Sabotage Nord Stream?
Initial speculation about Nord Stream reveals both the strengths and limitations of using international-relations models to make sense of unfolding events
Making Sense of “Rules-Based” Anti-Liberalism
Dozens of regimes around the world are anti-liberal—autocratic to varying degrees—but also big fans of a "rules-based" international order, which for the past 50 years or so has been a neoliberal economic order. Not a coincidence. The reason an anti-liberal might also be a neoliberal seems rather obvious: Because they're kleptocrats and oligarchs who are getting paid! A regime doesn't need to embrace democracy in any meaningful...
What makes for a successful conference?
Like many, I've finally gotten back on schedule after the American Political Science Association conference last week. The travel was easier for me than most others; the site, Montreal, is only two miles from home so I didn't have to deal with any airline mishaps. But I still, as always, wonder if the trip was worth it. Even though it's covered by my research budget, do I get enough out of these conferences to justify the time away from my...
Antagonistic Trust, Asian Insecurity, and “Strategic” Competition
I was on a refreshingly contrarian panel recently as part of Victoria Forum, this big shindig in Canada (at University of Victoria in British Columbia, not to be confused with Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, where I teach). The topic was “Trust-Building in Asia in an Era of Great Power Competition.” Unlike most panels on “great power competition,” and I've been on a few, this one didn’t have anyone cheerleading for a new...
The More Things Change…
Some more excerpts from G. Loews Dickinson’s writings on international affairs.
Our syllabi should be full of surprises
It’s no surprise that current events regularly lead us to update our syllabi. That doesn’t mean we can’t make “surprise” an important feature of our courses.
Eleonora Mattiacci
Eleonora Mattiacci is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Amherst College, where she directs the IR Lab. Her research focuses on ways in which actors that we traditionally think of as weak can force actors with greater material capabilities to behave differently, so as to prevail in conflict. She focuses in particular on nuclear weapons and civil wars. Her latest book, Volatile States in International Politics, offers in-depth...
6+1 Questions about Social Positioning and International Order Contestation in Early Modern Southeast Asia
Rather than accept subordination to the Ming and Qing, Southeast Asian states contested Chinese international ordering in the early modern period.
Colin Chia
Colin Chia is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. His research focuses on the contestation and politics of global governance and international orders, particularly over the issues of international trade and development. His research also investigates the politics of sovereignty and economic nationalism.