by Charli Carpenter | 9 Apr 2008 |
I have found an interesting counter-example to my earlier lament about disciplinary norms restricting open reflection by IR scholars about their personal trajectory and history as it relates to their work. It is Robert Keohane's recent interview on UC-Berkeley's "Conversations with History" series in which he expounds the myriad personal, cultural, social influences that have informed and shaped his research.Keohane's willingness to expound on...
by Peter | 7 Apr 2008 |
Stanley Fish uses a review of the forthcoming book “French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, & Co. Transformed the Intellectual Life of the United States” (University of Minnesota Press) to provide (what I think is a) very good summary of the debates and issues raised by what we in IR have come to call the Linguistic Turn in epistemology and resulting IR theory. This morning I was teaching discourse analysis in my Intro to Research...
by Charli Carpenter | 4 Apr 2008 |
This week, as part of my "Theory and Beer" meeting with doctoral students, we considered Michael Gilligan's thought-provoking formal theory article on the International Criminal Court, published two years ago in International Organization.Gilligan uses a formal model to "test" whether the International Criminal Court can be an effective judicial institution given that it has no police arm and, as is so clear with respect to Darfur, cannot force...
by Dan Nexon | 4 Apr 2008 |
This one is for real.As all three of you may remember, Maia Gemmill joined the Duck in 2007 and graced us with incisive and eloquent commentary on developments in Russia and Eastern Europe.But, you also may have realized, she hasn't posted anything in a long time. Unfortunately, developments concerning Maia's career (all good) now preclude her from contributing to the Duck of Minerva. So I hope you'll wish her a belated farewell. That's all.
by Dan Nexon | 4 Apr 2008 |
Anyway, the end begins tomorrow. I'm sure the political-science/science-fiction nerds that dominate the international-relations blogsphere will have much commentary.The main question: will it be like the first half of Season 2, or the second half of Season 3? Ah, the difference between greatness and farce....
by Peter | 3 Apr 2008 |
This week's Economist has an outstanding look at US foreign policy (Leaders and Special Report), with a pointed analysis of Bush's policy shifts that have made him hugely unpopular both at home and abroad and an insightful look at the dilemmas that the next President will face. Their conclusion: While the new President will certainly enjoy a brief honeymoon, there are deep currents of world politics and US foreign policy that auger for more...
by Dan Nexon | 2 Apr 2008 |
How should one account for President Bush's April 1, 2008 speech at the NATO summit? In my view, either those who drafted the speech went a bit too crazy with the Control-X and Control-V buttons, or they just don't care if he makes transparently inconsistent arguments.Bush on missile-defense deployments in Eastern Europe:"This week President Putin is planning to attend his first NATO summit and later this week I plan to travel to Sochi, Russia,...
by Dan Nexon | 2 Apr 2008 |
My April Fools' Day post, "Why I've decided to leave the academy," has generated some interesting commentary. LC, in particular, complains that the post isn't very funny.must say I find this April Fools joke to be rather distinctly un-funny. It's actually moderately convincing as a straight-face routine -- or it would it be if one didn't know that the author of the post recently announced the send-off of his 500-page magnum opus to Princeton...
by Dan Nexon | 1 Apr 2008 |
I know this will come as a shock to long-time readers, but I decided, after much angst, to accept a position as a public-opinion research analyst with a major Washington-based firm (whose name I cannot disclose until the contract is finalized). This was a difficult decision for me, not least because it will probably necessitate leaving the Duck of Minerva.I thought I should explain my decision. At the very least, posting about it will help me...
by Charli Carpenter | 31 Mar 2008 |
This is none too pithy, but tonight (this morning?) I’m just going to toss up a whole stream of ideas that have been percolating since the first BioNote discussion and took shape while I was attending the ISA conference in San Francisco. They relate to a very problematic final chapter I’m struggling over now in which I attempt to account for the role I’ve played (by researching a non-barking dog) in inadvertently getting the dog to bark. Many...
by Charli Carpenter | 28 Mar 2008 |
In response to our discussion about how explicitly IR scholars should reveal the personal influences on their work Dan Drezner points out that IR scholars do tend to have (and take) somewhat more leeway in book prefaces than in journal bio-notes, and that's true. Seemingly, the norms are also somewhat relaxed for very senior IR scholars ruminating about the theory/policy divide. See below the fold.Autobiographical Reflections on Bridging the...
by Dan Nexon | 25 Mar 2008 |
As Duncan Black would say, "document the atrocities."My pick o' the conference:Hans J. Morgenthau and the Politics Among Nations – 60 Years Later WA19 Wednesday 8:30 - 10:15 AM Chair(s):Michael CoxLondon School of Economics Roundtable Discussants:Nicolas Guilhot The Social Science Research Council John Mearsheimer University of ChicagoMichael C. WilliamsUniversity of Wales, AberystwythNothing like a roundtable on realism to have the slim...