Lots of noise of late about the "relevance" question in political science, some of it thoughtful, so of it not so much. While this is obviously an old question -- indeed, in some ways, it's the oldest question in the discipline, dating back to the original efforts to place the study of politics on some kind of scientific footing in the early part of the 20th century -- I find myself thinking about it a lot these days, both in the context of...
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Fresh (and Re-Freshed) Duck
In addition to being blown away by the recent Duck facelift (ht to Dan), you may have also noticed a slight shuffling in the roster. Congratulations to Stephanie Carvin, Laura Sjoberg, Vikash Yadav, all of whom are now officially (to quote Stephanie) "perma-ducks." Some of our other guest bloggers have stepped aside for now. We are grateful to Tony Lang, Mlada Bukovansky, Drew Conway, Daniel McIntosh and Craig Hayden for their contributions to...
Book Blegging
Loyal Duck readers, I was hoping you might be able to help me out. Do you have any recommendations for books about the inventive ways that people (scientists, designers, business folk, etc) have evaluated hard to test subjects? I am looking for something that is less about methodology, per se, and more about testing ideas in a practical way where either the environment or subject matter makes testing difficult (thinking here of astrophysics,...
Toward a Post-Zombie IR
While I was on my working leave, Foreign Policy asked me to write a response to Dan Drezner's "Night of the Living Wonks. They published it, in abridged form, about a month ago under the title of "America's Triumph over the Zombie Horde". Predictably, they misspelled my name. What few people know, however, is that my typically skewed sense of priorities drove me to write not one, but two responses. For our readers' edification, and to mark my...
Driving Parents Crazy: Why are some violent radicals fathers?
My blogging has been light lately as I have been on the road travelling a lot. This recent period has had me travelling like something of a crazy person with trips all over the Centre/East Coast of North America.Part of this trip included some time in Ottawa, where it was some interesting times. The week before I arrived there was a series of dramatic arrests here against individuals suspected of plotting to carry out terrorist attacks against...
The Latest in Mole Whacking
Yesterday, the New York Times had a story about huge proposed increases in military assistance to Yemen, framed around the "war on terror." Since the Christmas day 2009 attempted airliner bombing that was linked to Yemen, the U.S. was allocated about $155 million in military aid for FY 2010 -- up from about $5 million in FY 2006.The Pentagon's latest plan calls for $1.2 billion in the next six years, about $200 million annually. That's nearly a...
The new Global Views survey is here! The new Global Views survey is here!
I admit it, I usually look forward to the release of US and international public opinion data. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs just released this year's Global Views survey aptly titled Constrained Internationalism: Adapting to New Realities. Only a quick look so far, but a couple of things jump out on first glance: First, these views strike me as far more rational (in the Page and Shapiro sense) than the general tenor of elite and media...
Relevant? Who Me?
OK, I'll bite. Lots being written these days about the relevance of political science. The latest today from Stephen Hayward at American Enterprise Institute. I'll join with John Sides that this is an intellectually sloppy caricature of the discipline. But, I'm always struck by the question -- often posed by political scientists themselves -- are we relevant? Here's a little thought experiment on the IR/Comparative side of the discipline: let's...
Institutionalized Riot Systems and the Hyper-real Koran
Fourteen civilians and two security officers have now died in Kashmir in violence related to rumors about the "Burn a Koran Day" in Florida. When added to the death in Afghanistan, this brings the total number of deaths to seventeen so far. Many more will die in the coming weeks and months even though the Koran burning was called off. Rumors will resurface that the burning has gone ahead even though such rumors will have no basis in reality....
The Local is Global
For those of you who do not know, I live in Gainesville, Florida, a college town in Northeast Florida with lots of wonderful things - like a great bunch of colleagues, a great bunch of graduate students, weather to write home about, and a (frequently) rocking football team. It is (largely) a fairly politically progressive place, but there's still good country music - a great home to mix my Southern roots and lefty-academic tendencies. It is...
Much Ado in Mostar
OK, so I've been bit pessimistic of late -- an impending war between Israel and Iran, the rise of religious fundamentalisms around the globe, Bosnia's leadership taking the country back to the brink, etc.... But here's an upbeat story. I helped Steve Nemsick and Jane Applegate a bit on their new documentary about Andrew Garrod's work with Youth Bridge Global in the southern Bosnia-Herzegovina city of Mostar. I've spent quite a bit of time in...
The APSA Drinking Game
The following, unless otherwise specified, result in the taking of one drink for every observation/sighting at the Annual Conference of the American Political Science Association. The Duck of Minerva is not responsible for any liver damage or unfortunate choice of panel questions that may result after participating in this game.Someone wearing their conference badge at 2am or more than a mile from the actual conference site.Bow-ties.Observing...