What to make of it? Was it significant, or just more of the same? Of course it was significant -- it is the first time a U.S. president has publicly claimed the "1967 lines" as the basis for negotiations and it came after an apparent "angry" phone call from Netanyahu to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding that the language be removed from the speech. It was clearly meant to send a signal. For the past five months, the Obama...
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Harold Koh at Opinio Juris: “Killing OBL was Legal.”
Like Robert Haddick, though for different reasons, I was glad to see a State Department spokesperson publicly issue the legal justification for the manner in which the OBL raid was carried out.* Also as a blogger, I was delighted to see the explanation take the form of a much-trumpeted guest post at Opinio Juris. Slightly disappointed, however, at the content of the post, posted earlier today. To begin with, Harold Koh focuses solely on jus in...
The Door is Over There
I took part in a panel on Peacebuilding yesterday at the Center for International Governance Innovation [CIGI], which was part of the larger Canadian Political Science Association annual meeting. My panel was on Afghanistan, and it was most striking how most of the folks were already using the word "failure" to describe the mission. I was uncomfortable with that, not because I am a wild-eyed optimist about the international effort to help...
Beyond Qual and Quant
PTJ has one of the most sophisticated ways of thinking about different positions in the field of International Relations (and, by extension, the social sciences), but his approach may be too abstract for some. I therefore submit for comments the "Political Science Methodology Flowchart" (version 1.3b).Note that any individual can take multiple treks down the flowchart.
We Get Results! (Bahrain Edition)
Alex Cooley and I on Bahrain and US autocratic allies:U.S. officials should make efforts to decouple the rationale of a given basing relationship from support for a particular regime. This means creating political space between Washington and the policies of authoritarian host countries whenever possible. With respect to Bahrain, U.S. officials should make clear that the U.S. military maintains its facilities for the defense of its territory...
Why Isn’t Access to Pain Medicine a Global Public Health Priority?
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...
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...