by Dan Nexon | 10 Apr 2008 |
Matthew Yglesias calls our attention to Todd Gitlin's quick summary of Robert Kagan's book excerpt in The New Republic. Kagan's book is prefigured in his same-titled Policy Review essay, "End of Dreams, Return of History," which I blogged about some time ago.Matt points out the most important point: if we treat what might be called "the great game, but now with new globalization sauce" as a titanic struggle between liberal democracy and "new...
by Charli Carpenter | 10 Apr 2008 |
Could be my lack of expertise in Chinese diplomatic discourse, but I've found myself doing double-takes at the frequency with which Chinese elites have referred to "feelings" in statements to the Western media lately. Take Gao Xiqing's interview on 60 Minutes Sunday. Pressed by Leslie Stahl on whether the Chinese should submit to an official code of conduct for sovereign wealth funds, he responds: "Why do you need a law like that? That law will...
by Peter | 10 Apr 2008 |
"With this administration, if a passenger blows up a plane, it's a failure in the war on terror. But if the plane just blows up on its own — eh, it's the market self-regulating."Click here to stream the full bit.I watched this on my DVR and thought, gee, I ought to post it. But Kevin Drum beat me too it, hat tip to him.
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...