A monologue from Julian Comstock, Robert Charles Wilson's fascinating novel of post-scarcity America:You might want to consider your tone of voice, Private Commongold. May I offer you a lesson in Civics? There are three centers of power in the modern Union, and only three. One is the Executive Branch, with its supporting host of Owners and Senators. One is the Military. And the last is the Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth. They're like the...
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Friday Nerd Blogging: Baseball Edition
Yesterday, long-time Duck of Minerva contributor Bill Petti taped an on-field segment for "Clubhouse Confidential" on the MLB Network! For the non-baseball nerds, MLB = major league baseball.Your browser does not support iframes.It's great to see Bill using his methodological and analytical skills in this way. This is not his first appearance on the program to provide sabermetrical analysis.Most of the time, Bill uses his talents in his "work...
The Kony2012 Experiment
So Kony 2012 has been labeled the fastest-growing viral video of all time. While it's not clear how many of those "views" included actually watching the whole video, Invisible Children has certainly made an impact. The film has been criticized and satirized for inaccuracy, narcissism and counter-productivity... though not by everyone. After a week of observing the debate, I have three thoughts. 1) The message is about the power of social media,...
The US will not ‘Pivot’ much to Asia (3): We can’t afford it
Here are parts one and two, where I argued that there is no constituency in the US for the pivot, and that Asia is so culturally distant from the US, that Americans are unlikely to care enough to sustain the pivot. But we also don’t really need to pivot, nor do we have the money for it:3. The ME is characterized by so many nondemocracies that the US must be heavily invested (at least to meet current US goals – oil, Israel, counterterrorism)....
The ISA Drinking Game
The Duck crew getting ready for theirannual meet-up in 2011.We are now two weeks away from the start of the annual International Studies Association convention in sunny San Diego. In 2010 the Duck developed the APSA drinking game. Here is the ISA version for your conferencing pleasure. (Oh, and if Tom Volgy asks, you haven’t seen me.)The following, unless otherwise specified, result in the taking of one drink for every observation/sighting at...
The Selling of the Iraq War: Case Study of Presidential Persuasion?
This week, a number of high-profile journalists and bloggers are engaged in a debate about presidential persuasion. Among other examples, they have been discussing the George W. Bush administration's selling of the Iraq war -- leading political scientists at the The Monkey Cage to weigh in with data and useful analysis.Much of the discussion about the Iraq war centers around this chart, which details the contours of support for the war based on...
Impunity Slayer! ICC Convicts Lubanga of War Crimes
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo listens to the verdict in his trial on March 14, 2012.(c) Photo courtesy of the ICC-CPI / Evert-Jan Daniel /ANP.The verdict is in for the ICC's first trial. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo has been judged guilty of the war crimes of conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). An order of reparations and sentencing will be decided at a later date. Lubanga could possibly face life...
Stuff Political Scientists Like #14 — Fantasy Role-Playing, or Game Theory
Political scientists like fantasy role-playing games. But this does not mean they are simple nerds. They like a particularly elegant and sophisticated escapism called game theory. While it might seem obscure and overly complicated at first, you can grasp game theory and impress your political scientist friends with a very simple insight -- game theory is just like Dungeons & Dragons. Like Dungeons & Dragons, game theory players embark upon...
Targeting in Armed Conflict: DPH, CCF, WTF?
Usually when I blog about drones and extrajudicial execution, someone leaves a comment to the effect that terror suspects are "legitimate military targets" under the re-envisioned laws of war. The question of whether they are or aren't is a bit tricky, but since the number of bloggable stories is vastly outweighing the time I have to post at present, I've called in my colleague Betcy Jose to explain. - Charli Carpenter Guest Post by Betcy Jose,...
The US will not ‘Pivot’ much to Asia (2): We don’t really care @ Asia
This is my Asian pivot.Here is part one, where I argued that there is no constituency in the US to support an Asian pivot besides the some businesspeople. 2. Connected to the first point is that Americans don’t know much about Asia. Of course, it’s true Americans don’t know a lot about the world generally. We are a superpower, so we don’t have to know about others; others have to know about us. That’s why ‘they’ learn English, and we think Urdu...
If At First You Do Not Succeed
Lots of posts these days about whether to go to grad school for a PhD, including by Dan Drezner. Drew Herrick has a nice post that not only presents his views but heaps of links to past posts by various folks (including myself) on this topic. What these blogs have largely omitted is any discussion of what happens to the aspirants who do not get in or who get in but without funding (which most folks then say "run away!").When I was applying to...
KONY 2012: Bandwagon Empowerment
Invisible Children's "Kony 2012" campaign provides many of us professors with a unique opportunity to address and learn how students respond to such campaigns and engage with human rights issues. College is an opportunity for students to feel empowered by activism and knowledge that we partly provide, shape and encourage. We do have a responsibility to course correct this empowerment when the knowledge is incomplete or skewed and the call to...