The more I think about it, the more atrocious it is that a three year old burn victim in Pakistan or Libya cannot automatically access morphine. Imagine being such a child's parent, watching her suffer without pain relief. Imagine being a “collateral damage” victim undergoing surgery for shrapnel removal without anesthetic. Or imagine being an earthquake survivor like the Haitian 10-year-old above, having your mangled limb amputated and then...
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Cana-dammerung: A belated final post on the Canadian Election
Cry the beloved country.Well it’s been just over two weeks since the Canadian Election – and I am much overdue for the long promised third installment of the snoozefest series that I started. In some ways I’m glad I waited to write my reply: first, because I was contemplating throwing myself off of Tower Bridge. In a moment of panic on the morning after the election I formed the Government of Canada in Exile (please join!) but I think I have...
The Pernicious Myth of America as Global “Manager”
Does America’s having great power mean that we must “manage” the global system? Fellow Duck Jon Western seems to think so. He writes in Current Intelligence that a major reason for the U.S. to reduce its military spending is so that other countries can be better “satisfied with American management of the [global] system” and “global public goods.” I do not want to pick on Jon, but I think that his views reflect those of much of our policy...
Wikipedia #Fail
An abortive comment on Phil Arena's "Rat Choice Apologetics IV" led me to a quick wikipedia check of "positivism." I often do this sort of thing, just as a kind of gut check when I want to be precise about terms. Turns out the article has a number of real problems. They culminate in the discussion of "modern positivism," from which I now quote:However, positivism (understood as the use of scientific methods for studying society) remains the...
Worst. Argument. Ever.
Frank Pasquale at Balkinization:The Dodd-Frank Act also promises to shed some sunlight on ever-rising CEO pay levels. As Sam Pizzigatti explains, "corporations must now also report their overall wage 'median' and the ratio between this median and their top pay." Seizing on some laughable comments on how "unduly burdensome" the law is, "the House Financial Services Committee’s Capital Markets Subcommittee [recently] approved, by a vote of 20 to...
ISA-NE Call for Papers Reminder
Calling all (academic) Duck readers! The deadline for ISA-NE is approaching, albeit extended until 20 June. Don't forget to submit your papers, panels, and roundtables. And remind all your friends. Come for the stimulating intellectual conversations, the festive atmosphere, and the chance to observe PTJ in his native habitat.Call for papers below the fold.International Studies Association-NortheastAnnual Conference4-5 November 2011Providence...
Congo Rape Study: Systematic or Simplistic?
I have not yet read the new report on rape in the Congo, but judging from the news coverage of its reported findings, I have three thoughts:1) I am not as concerned as some critics about the methods used (a population sample of household interviews) or the staggering results: 400,000 women assaulted in a single year. I am concerned about the comparisons to the US (or other countries) since unless the same methods are replicated in the US (or...
The Lighter Side of Public Opinion Work
I have long thought that political science Ph.D. students should be required to watch all of Yes, Minister and some of the better parts of Yes, Prime Minister. Without beating a dead horse too much, prolonged exposure to the cynical-but-accurate view of politics the show presents (it is like a curdled West Wing--or, perhaps, what the post-hegemonic West Wing will look like) would prevent people from too easily assuming that the adoption of a...
Graduate school and the culture of conformity
[Updated]No sooner do I pen an intemperate, semi-coherent rant about the culture of pretending-to-know-things among graduate students, then Nawal Mustafa makes a probing comment:From the student side of things Dan, it strikes me as a deeper problem that transcends the academy. Certainly, I concur students should take responsibility to ensure they are actually learning, and not view their seminars as merely an exercise in impressing others, or...
Yes, yes! A thousand billion million times yes!
At his own blog, PM writes:So why were my undergrad classes so much more educational for me? The simplest explanation is just that this was the second time I'd gone through the material, and so the review made clearer connections that had been obscure. The more profound difference, though, is that undergrads are more incentivized to ask questions. Graduate students are vastly more risk-averse about asking dumb-sounding questions, not least...
Revolution, Revolution until Victory
"... Yet the crowds were not placated, and they spent the next hour in the courtyard repeating the classic songs of the uprising, "thowra thowra huta nasr" (revolution, revolution until victory)." -Al Jazeera (4/25/2011)The revolution which overthrew Hosni Mubarak is in danger. While Western media outlets have given primacy in their coverage of events to speculative discussions about the historic, current, and future role of the Muslim...
Reciprocity and International Law: A reply to International Jurist
On Wednesday, Xavier Rauscher at International Jurist posted his response to the hullabaloo over international law and the death of bin Laden. I’ve said my piece on it here and I’m getting tired of the issue, but Rauscher’s post is interesting because he tries to look at the “big picture” – noting that the manner in which bin Laden was killed has thrown more fuel on the fire over the “war on terror” vs “law enforcement” debate. He also notes...