There's been something of a debate in IR journals over the past decade about what a reunified Germany was likely to do, since the basic components of its foreign policy as set after the Second World War rested on assumptions that were no longer valid. Specifically, postwar Germany was a) divided into two pieces which were b) integrated into separate alliances which were c) implacably opposed to one another in the titanic global settlement...

Last night my wife and I watched Epsiode 9 of Serial Experiment: Lain. Over the course of the episode viewers are given a synopsis of UFOlogist claims about Roswell and Majestik 12, Vannevar Bush and his concept of the memex, John Lilly’s psychedelic experiments and his ‘contact’ with ECCO, the Schumann resonance, theories about human beings as synapses in a vast neural network of collective consciousness, Ted Nelson's invention of hypertext,...

The Congressional Research Service has recently (October 3) estimated that the Iraq war is costing about $6 billion per month. DOD’s current monthly average spending rate is about $6 billion for Iraq, $1 billion for Afghanistan and $170 million for enhanced base security for the first nine months of FY2005. Compared to FY2004, those averages are 19% higher for Iraq, 8% lower for Afghanistan, and 47% lower for base security.That works out to...

The ripples on Dan's tenure decision continue to spread. Today the New York Sun published an article entitled "Blogging Prof Fails To Heed His Own Advice" (hat tip: David M.). Key quotations:On Friday, Mr. Drezner's first blog entry came back to haunt him: He was informed by his department that he was denied tenure and would have to look elsewhere for a job.Under normal circumstances, a scholar who is denied tenure assumes that the decision was...

Here's a friendly hint to David Brooks: it probably isn't such a good idea to write "I believe in the lost tradition of American politics, the tradition of Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, and the Bull Moose" if most of the policies you're about to advocate are exactly the opposite of their "lost" traditions.Otherwise, people might think you're chronically disingenuous. Or historically ignorant. Or an idiot.After a while, you get sick of...

[I wasn't happy with the earlier version of this post, so I've revised it substantially]I've talked about the role of multivocal signaling in American politics before, particularly in terms of "dog-whistle politics": the art of sending different signals to different audiences. Henry Farrell's review of Jacob Hacker's and Paul Pierson's Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy shows that I'm not the only...

Dan let us know today that the Political Science Department of the University of Chicago decided not to extend him tenure. Given how upsetting this is for Dan, I thought his announcement on his blog displayed a great deal of class and wit.There's been some discussion of the matter on Crooked Timber, and many condolences (and displays of outrage) in the comments section of Dan's blog.A few comments.1. As hard as this is for Dan, keep in mind...

Readers of some of my other posts expressing a certain skepticism about the value of statistical analysis might be surprised to learn that when it comes to baseball, I'm a devoted "seamhead" -- one of those technically inclined fans who thinks that quantitative analysis is the best way to figure out what works and what doesn't in the game. In particular, I am of the opinion that one can only evaluate truly impressive performances through...

I get mad about Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere" and its ilk for a whole host of reasons, but chief among them is how they represent a perversion of national priorities and needs. The US has compelling reasons to spend money improving and expanding its transportation infrastructure, much of which is out of date, not in the best of shape, and inadequate for future economic needs.But we all know that, for the US government, transportation...

... is a local community's big, fat welfare check from the American taxpayer. My favorite part of the wire story?Jack Shay, a member of the Ketchikan Borough Assembly who proposed the renaming the airport after Young, said he would have no problem deferring the funds for a year if the money is instead used on Gulf Coast projects.But he disagrees with opponents who say the bridge is a boondoggle."We've only been a state relatively short time, so...

And now, a phrase I never thought that I would write: "I agree with Charles Krauthammer.". . . the Supreme Court is an elite institution. It is not one of the "popular" branches of government. That is the reason Sen. Roman Hruska achieved such unsought immortality when he declared, in support of an undistinguished Nixon nominee to the court, that, yes, G. Harrold Carswell is a mediocrity but mediocre Americans deserve representation on the...

I spent most of yesterday reading through a great many scholarly articles on the influence, or lack thereof, of "norms" on outcomes in international politics. Discussion of international norms - where they come from, how they spread, who adopts them and why, how they change over time, and so forth - are a prominent aspect of the constructivist research program in the discipline of International Relations.The broader debate about the relative...