by Rodger Payne | 2 Dec 2006 |
Film #15: "Hotel Rwanda" (2004). We viewed it Tuesday.Reading for Thursday: Gareth Evans, “The Responsibility to Protect: Rethinking Humanitarian Intervention,” Address to The American Society of International Law, 98th Annual Meeting, Panel on “Rethinking Collective Action”, Washington DC, 1 April 2004. The class returned to the question of humanitarian intervention (HI) in this final week of the semester. Back in week #5, we viewed "Black...
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 1 Dec 2006 |
After the sudden cancellation of the planned three-way meeting between President Bush, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki, the always-incisive Abu Aardvark quipped: US Hegemony, RIP.Not sure that this follows. Yes, I agree, the US is in trouble internationally, but two leaders canceling a dinner with the President in what looks like a diplomatic snub is hardly the decisive piece of evidence in that regard. It's not even a...
by Bill Petti | 29 Nov 2006 |
As previously mentioned. It seems this line of reasoning knows no partisan bounds.Today's Washington Post: As Iraq Deteriorates, Iraqis Get More Blame
by Rodger Payne | 29 Nov 2006 |
University of Ottawa professor Roland Paris has won the 2007 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. The prize is worth $200,000. One of the members of the final selection committee outlined the main argument of Paris' book in Tuesday's local paper:Charles Ziegler, chairman of U of L's political science department, said Paris' "institutionalization before liberalization" theory is an important contribution to international thinking...
by Peter | 27 Nov 2006 |
I have this thing about Definitions. In short, I hate them. Perhaps its the influence of Wittgenstein in my work, but nothing irks me more than people who lay out a dictionary definition, as if its obvious, and proceed with a political or academic analysis, leading logically to some conclusion. As those people say in debates, well, if we could only agree on defining terms..... well, sure, then the debate would be all over.Within IR, one of the...
by Rodger Payne | 26 Nov 2006 |
Film #14 "The Whale Rider" (2002). We viewed it Tuesday.Reading: Ann Tickner, "Man, the State, and War: Gendered Perspectives on National Security," Chapter 2 of Gender in International Relations; Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security (NY: Columbia University Press, 1992). (CIAO subscribers only)Ann Tickner's book is perhaps the best-known feminist treatise in the field of international relations. In the assigned chapter, she...
by Bill Petti | 23 Nov 2006 |
...I would like to wish all my fellow members of the Duck and our loyal readers a happy and safe Thanksgiving.That's all.
by Dan Nexon | 23 Nov 2006 |
Despite the many important global developments of the last few weeks, I haven't been blogging much lately. Nor have I accomplished a great deal of the last substantive rewrite I need to do for my book manuscript.Today, I hope, marked the culmination of my increasing lack of focus.Yes, I did wear these shoes all day. I discovered them when my daughter wanted to walk on my shoes and pointed out that "you're wearing this shoe on this foot, and...
by Peter | 21 Nov 2006 |
We now have 3 major review panels asking "serious" and "hard" questions about the future of US policy in Iraq. There is the infamous Baker Commission, a high-level group within the National Security Council, and a top-secret review within the Pentagon. Despite all of these "outside-the-box" efforts to take a "fresh look" at Iraq, the supposed solutions are seeming rather conventional. In great Washington policy tradition:The Pentagon group has,...
by Rodger Payne | 17 Nov 2006 |
Film #13 "Gandhi" (1982). We viewed it Tuesday.Reading for Thursday: Sharp, Gene, There Are Realistic Alternatives (Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, 2003). Photo credit: U.S. Department of State"Gandhi" is an outstanding film about the public life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, often called Mohatma for "great soul." The work won 8 Academy Awards, including Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. Unfortunately, at 188 minutes,...
by Bill Petti | 17 Nov 2006 |
We have all heard the charge before that some in the public sphere always “Blame America First” whenever there is a negative outcome in world politics. Critics charge that these folks are quick to find some connection, however remote or irrational, between American action (or inaction) and the ills of the world. To be fair this characterization is obviously a stereotype, however it isn’t entirely inaccurate. There are certainly some voices that...
by Rodger Payne | 14 Nov 2006 |
Soon, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by longtime Bush family friend James Baker (and former Indiana House member Lee Hamilton, who filled a similar role on the 9/11 Commission), is going to report its recommendations about the future of the US war. Inside the beltway, the great hope is that the 10-member team will "solve" the wrenching problems concerning the future of America's role in Iraq. As reported in today's Christian...