I do not see the discussions about zombies as a type of new or out-of-the-box thinking. If anything, the discussions of zombies that I have noted so far are completely "in-the-box" thinking, except with a touch of geeky humor, parody, and wit that is usually lacking in the discipline. In fact, the discourse seems to consist mainly of exercises in applying existing theoretical tools to an impossible scenario for pedagogical purposes or to...
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Baron von Cut-and-Paste
Ooops. The young, charismatic, German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is in trouble for allegedly plagiarizing parts of his dissertation. He announced that he is temporarily dropping his doctoral title. His defense? -- there were mistakes, but nothing plagiarized:"It was compiled over the course of about seven years while I was at the same time working as a member of parliament and while I was a young father. It contains mistakes,...
Human Rights: The Last Utopia?
I’ve just finished reading Samuel Moyn’s The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History and would highly recommend it to those interested in rights and norms. I have written a review of it that will eventually appear in the American Historical Review. Meanwhile, for those who just can't wait, my main points: Samuel Moyn’s The Last Utopia is an erudite and impressive intellectual history, portraying the core principle of contemporary human...
Zombie Hunt!
In an public-service-minded attempt to hone our skills for the zombie outbreak due any day, Bloggingheads has embedded a zombie-detection tutorial within this diavlog:Win a copy of “Theories of International Politics and Zombies"! Hidden in this diavlog are five different images from well-known zombie features (four movies, one TV show). The first reader of this blog to correctly identify when those zombie scenes appear in the diavlog and from...
A Truth Commission for Iraq
Back in 2003, the name Ricardo Sanchez appeared in several posts on my personal blog. At the time, the now-retired General was "the top U.S. military official in Iraq." Over the years, Sanchez provided honest and forthright assessments of the Iraq war. Even though I didn't always agree with his analysis of what should be done, I respected his contributions to the political debate. Lately, he's been pushing a "truth commission" for Iraq and I...
![Science Fiction and International Orders – Live Blog [UPDATED]](https://www.duckofminerva.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ducks-in-a-Row-600.jpeg)
Science Fiction and International Orders – Live Blog [UPDATED]
[podcasts of ProfPTJ and DHN's contributions to the afternoon sessions are now up:PTJ: https://kittenboo.com/blog/2011/02/21/science-fiction-and-international-orders-ptj/DHN: https://kittenboo.com/blog/2011/02/21/science-fiction-and-international-orders-dhn/Also: the sci-fi author part of the session is available to listen to here.]Okay things are getting underway here at the LSE. I have never live-blogged before, but I'm told there is a first...
Science Fiction and International Orders
Today at the LSE there are two fabulous (read: fabulously nerdy) events on Science Fiction and IR. Even better, it's full of ducks! The event was organized by Chris Brown and features Dan Nexon and Prof PTJ. The first event, chaired by Chris Brown, features three prominent Science Fiction authors: Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Paul McAuley, Ken McLeod. The second event features several prominent academics who will be discussing the implications for...
Getting Slizzerd with the Red Cross: Disasters and/in Social Networking
This is not my usual forte – Charli is much better on NGOs, networks and social things. (I just like tweeting.) However, last night when I checked my twitter, a fairly odd message came up from the American Red Cross:Slightly different from their usual “please donate blood” or “how are you preparing for the blizzard?” kind of emails.Within an hour, the tweet was withdrawn and replaced with this:Colour me impressed. A 130 year old humanitarian...
Bush’s failed freedom agenda
Condi Rice writes some fancy words this morning:As I watched Hosni Mubarak address the Egyptian people last week, I thought to myself, "It didn't have to be this way."In June 2005, as secretary of state, I arrived at the American University in Cairo to deliver a speech at a time of growing momentum for democratic change in the region. Following in the vein of President George W. Bush's second inaugural address, I said that the United States...
Norms and War
I have an essay online at Current Intelligence on Michael Gross's recent book. Moral Dilemmas of Modern Warfare explores the ways in which "new wars" are challenging the existing law of armed conflict. I'll have more to say about his proposals in a forthcoming Foreign Affairs essay, but in this piece I focus on his characterizations of "asymmetric war" and on his notions of "norm change." I think the asymmetries to which he refers may be more...
On Why There is No International Law Against Using Very Large Rocks in Battle
I have a new article in the journal International Organization entitled "Vetting the Advocacy Agenda." It tries to explain why some issues get noticed by transnational campaigners and others don't, using weapons advocacy as a focal point of study. Key argument: it matters which organizations take up the issue; the global agenda is as much a function of structural relations within advocacy networks as of relationships between advocacy groups and...
This ain’t gonna cut it….
Friends at the National Priorities Project have a quick assessment on President Obama's budget. Here's their take on the defense and security budget:Defense spending, which accounts for roughly 58 percent of discretionary spending and 20 percent of total federal spending (both based on FY 2011 estimates), will continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in recent years.The $553 billion base-line Department of Defense request is approximately...