by Vikash Yadav | 17 Nov 2011 | Featured
President Hamid Karzai has called another jirga (assembly) to attempt to gain support for the creation of a long-term defensive pact with the United States. The traditional Loya Jirga is a mechanism for legitimizing the creation of a new dynasty or constitutional order in Afghanistan, but it is not supposed to be used in place of the parliament that was created with the new constitution nearly a decade ago. Most scholars would agree that the...
by Josh Busby | 16 Nov 2011 |
Occupy AustinSource: Austin American StatesmanWith New York City police and cities around the country cracking down on Occupy Wall Street encampments, it seems like the nascent movement might dissipate even before winter sets in. While a full assessment is obviously premature, it is fair to ask whether or not OWS possesses characteristics that have made past movements successful. At this point, will OWS' legacy be more significant than getting...
by Jon Western | 15 Nov 2011 |
There are many reasons why I hate the length of American presidential campaigns -- not the least of which is the banality of most political journalism -- and quite frankly I haven't been paying much attention to any of the current campaigns. But these two clips below do suggest that long campaigns -- and the thousand or so debates -- may produce some benefit. With each passing day Cain, Perry, and Bachmann reveal more of their amateurishness...
by Brian Rathbun | 14 Nov 2011 |
When I'm not funny, I blog angry. And this will be two this week. Can I ask -- why is that disgraced leaders always leave office smiling to the crowd and waving? I find this more infuriating then the events precipitating the departure because it betrays a lack of shame and humility. Yes, I like to diddle just recently pubescent girls, but you aren't made at me, right?I thought the new PR book on this was too look contrite, put your head down...
by Kate Weaver | 13 Nov 2011 | Featured
David Bosco has a terrific post (and a promised series) on "Can Conservatives Learn to Love Multilateral Organizations?" (Short answer: no, especially not in an election year). It is a timely entry after the recent Republican debates on US foreign policy, during which the candidates did their very best to beat each other at the age-old game of beating up the principle of multilateralism. Much to my horror (but not surprise), Texas Governor Rick...
by Charli Carpenter | 11 Nov 2011 | Featured
With approximately 1000 World War II veterans dying every day, and the absolute numbers from more recent wars increasing steadily, it's important to give some thought to what we offer those who have served or are serving... and to what they offer us. On the first score, a new report from Rand represents an example: this is a new effort to account for programs to treat traumatic brain injury due to armed service. (The report finds such programs...
by Dan Nexon | 11 Nov 2011 |
Literally (Abstract): We define a causal mechanism as a process in which a causal variable of interest, i.e., a treatment variable, influences an outcome. The identification of a causal mechanism requires the specification of an intermediate variable or a mediator that lies on the causal pathway between the treatment and outcome variables. Although qualitative studies often employ the method of process tracing, quantitative investigation of...
by Brian Rathbun | 10 Nov 2011 |
Last night Texas Governor Rick Perry, formerly for some reason regarded as a serious contender for the Republican nomination for President, embarrassed himself by being unable to remember the third department of the federal government he would eliminate upon being elected. This has caused a big media stir about whether his campaign is doomed, with the narrative being whether someone with such a bad short-term memory can be the leader of the...
by PM | 10 Nov 2011 |
The horror, the horror What the hell happened to Europe?There's still a chance that the EU may be pulled back from the [metaphor], whether that metaphor be an "abyss", a "chasm", or "the flames". But it's beginning to look a lot like the end of Europe-as-we-knew-it.Much as the fall of the Soviet Union simultaneously showed that most Soviet experts were unable to predict the central event of the twentieth century, so too will the fall of the...
by Rodger Payne | 7 Nov 2011 |
The entire bit is good, but the really good part begins about 3:30 into this video from last Thursday's "Colbert Report."The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive"Invest in Europe, where culture, history and fun are always having a three-way."
When I was young (ca. 2001), I was very much in Matt Drudge's target demographic, and for various reasons (I like tabloids, I like celebrity gossip, and I like to keep up with the echo chamber without subscribing to Fox News), I've stayed a loyal Drudge reader for years.Drudge is a window into the right-wing's id. And so it's always amazing to me to see things like this:First, there was a time when being a Republican meant celebrating your...
by Jon Western | 6 Nov 2011 |
This is a guest post from Idean Salehyan, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas and the author of Rebels Without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics (Cornell Univ. Press, 2009).Reports have emerged that Turkey is supporting a group of military defectors from Syria, which have organized under the name, the ‘Free Syrian Army’ or FSA. Led by Riyad al-Asad, a former Colonel in Bashar Assad’s...