by Rodger Payne | 4 Feb 2011 |
Have you heard about a new study, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, authored by academics Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa and released by University of Chicago Press? Their research question should be of interest to most of the people reading this blog: "are undergraduates really learning anything once they get" to college?**The results are disturbing: Their extensive research draws on survey responses, transcript data,...
by Dan Nexon | 4 Feb 2011 |
They don't call him "Starrman Bashi" for nothing. The "Professor of Repression" also had a nice ring to it.
by Jon Western | 3 Feb 2011 |
Snow day again -- I watched Al Jazeera, read up on the current US debates about whether or not (and how) to support the democratic revolution in Egypt, and then turned to watch one of my favorite episodes of Yes Minister, "A Victory for Democracy." Classic and informative -- on so many levels. The real fun starts at the 4:00 minute mark and runs for the duration: You can watch the whole episode -- parts 1 and 3 here and here. It's a great break.
by Charli Carpenter | 2 Feb 2011 |
President Obama expressed a general sense of relief tonight that the Egyptian military
by Dan Nexon | 2 Feb 2011 |
SEK calls some conservative commentators out:Anybody else notice the problem with Schweizer and Nolte’s defense? Of course you do. But in case either of them read this, I’ll spell it out: Palin woefully misunderstands the President’s argument, as is evident by the fact that in the terms of the analogy, she mistakes the United States for the Soviet Union. The President said that the United States now should be like the United States in 1959, not...
by Dan Nexon | 1 Feb 2011 |
Yes, we've lost all our comments. No, I don't know if we'll get them back. Blogger knows they exist, but I can't get them to display either via blogger comments or import into disqus.This makes me sad.
by Dan Nexon | 1 Feb 2011 |
Today in my SF class the students discussed Schmitt's Concept of the Political in the context of Watchmen and the Battlestar Galactica episode "33." So when links to this Glen Beck video started filling up my twitter feed, I thought I might post it as an example of Schmittian conceptions of politics. But then I realized it was something far more profound: the necessity of theorizing the "frenemy."Discuss. Or not.
by Rodger Payne | 31 Jan 2011 |
Is "people power" contagious? It's easy to find examples of journalists, policymakers and/or analysts, and some scholars arguing that opposition to authoritarian rule is spreading like a winter virus from Tunisia to Egypt and Yemen. In this case, many optimists argue (though some merely hope) that the viral idea will result in more democratic governance for millions of people that have long lived under autocratic rule. Moreover, many think (or...
by Laura Sjoberg | 30 Jan 2011 |
I realize that this is not the Feminist IR 101 post that you may have been expecting, or some bright engagement with what's going on in that area we seem to be able to so easily group as "the Middle East ..." but it is something that I've been thinking about recently, so ...In theory, journal review is double-blind: the reviewers shouldn't know who the author is, and the author shouldn't know who the reviewers are. In practice, this almost...
by Cliff Bob | 30 Jan 2011 |
The prospect of a new government in Egypt opens huge uncertainties for the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. At this point, no one can predict what that new government will be. But it is clear that there will be substantial change, even if Mubarak hangs on. A military regime is possible. A transition government, perhaps led by Mohamed ElBaradei, leading to democratic elections also seems possible--and would be the best outcome....
by Jon Western | 29 Jan 2011 |
The neocon blogoshere is lit up with more willow witching that the events in Egypt are vindication of the Bush's "freedom agenda." And, they are blasting Obama for his timid response -- apparently, Washington controls the destiny of this protest movement: In yesterday's Washington Post, Jackson Deihl claimed that it's not too late to influence events. He called on the administration to support unidentified "democracy groups." But more curious...
by Vikash Yadav | 29 Jan 2011 | Featured
When I taught for three years at the American University in Cairo, my partner, who was conducting her doctoral dissertation research on Islamist political parties, would often get text messages from the Muslim Brotherhood informing us of interesting programs we might want to watch on satellite that evening or educational events around town. While I found the messages from the "banned-but-tolerated" party amusing (and useful), I was always dimly...