I'm in Tampere, Finland, at a conference on the idea of a 'post-Western West' sponsored by some European colleagues. I must admit that it's extremely refreshing to be the only American -- and in particular the only American academic -- in the room, both because among Americans there's a shared political context that I rather easily get darn tired of talking about (war in Iraq, Patriot Act, terrorism, yada yada yada) and because among American...

I can't believe it, but I'm actually linking to a post from Daily Kos. One of their regular posters, georgia10, calls attention to something that's been bugging me ever since information about the illegal NSA wiretapping program began to surface. At first glance, doesn't it seem a bit like the Total Information Awareness program that Congress pulled the plug on back in 2003?On January 16, 2003, Senator Feingold introduced S. 188, the...

Hamas offers Israel an olive branch shaped like a scimitar.We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist state that was established on our land," Meshaal, the Damascus-based head of the political and military wings of the militant Islamic group, wrote in a column titled "To whom it may concern," published in al-Hayat al-Jadida newspaper.Hamas leaders have said they might heed a truce with Israel as an interim measure that could include...

From the "galactic politics" department:At the edge of solar system, a 10th planet may lurkWith a title like that, how can you resist? Especially since it provides a convenient occasion to clarify some persistent ambiguities in the notion of "social construction." Ian Hacking has already done this quite brilliantly, but I think that point is important enough to repeat it in a different context: 'the solar system' is a construct, a human...

If anyone still needed any evidence that political speech -- public rhetoric intended to legitimate certain courses of actions while ruling out others -- is governed by the demands of social sustainability rather than by the demands of logic, they need look no further than President Bush's State of the Union address Tuesday evening. My favorite howler in the speech came near the end, when Bush called for determined commitment by suggesting that...

...20! AB takes the title with a bid of 19. What I find most interesting about the speech is not the number of references to terror (I actually thought it would be a bit higher), but this new reference to the President's critics as "isolationists". Suzzane Nossel has it right when she remarks that this is "pure hogwash" and a "strawman".Clearly the administration is trying to propogate a new frame for their opponents--a clever strategy....

Like Bill, I'm willing to speculate about the content of tonight's "State of the Union" address. However, allow me to guess about what won't be discussed. I'm willing to conjecture that President Bush will ignore a globally crucial issue that close ally Tony Blair considers one of his "top priorities." Monday, the British government released Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change, a book outlining the official findings from the Avoiding Dangerous...

Thought we could all have a little fun with the State of the Union tonight. Let's try to guess how many times the President uses a derivative of the word terror (the word itself or words using the root 'terror' must be uttered--implicit remarks do not count). I have listed the tally for the last five SOU below.2001-1 (technically, just an Address of Congress as Rodger points out)2002-372003-232004-212005-28I will start the bidding at 25 (NSA...

It is being reported that the US has secured the consent of all five permanent members of the Security Council to submit the case of Iran for the body's review. However, the US did not secure a Security Council "referal"--which would have given the body domain over the issue--but instead managed to get the findings of the emergency meeting of the IAEA "reported" to the body. Not only that, but the matter will not be taken up by the body until...

An interesting story via Laura Rozen, Andrew Sullivan, and Cunning Realist. According to reports, a series of emails and an internal Army memo suggests that US soldiers have used insurgents' wives as leverage in order to get the suspects to surrender. So far, there has been no confirmation that the detentions actually led to the surrender of the insurgents targeted. There is no mention of explicit threats of violence against the wives which...

Mansfield and Snyder were featured on NPR's Morning Edition today. Have a listen.Filed as: Democratization, Democratic Peace

The world is abuzz this morning with the news that the radical muslim group Hamas has apparently won a majority of seats in the recent parliamentary elections in Palestine. The group which in the past has called for Israel to be 'wiped off the map' has apparenlty won a a 53% majority of seats in the parliament. Hamas' victory seems due in no small part to the dissatisfaction on the part of Palestinians with the incumbent government and their...