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US has compelling reasons to spend money improving and expanding its transportation infrastructure, much of which is out of date, not in the best of shape, and inadequate for future economic needs.But we all know that, for the US government, transportation...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...

Why does Coke Light taste so much better than Diet Coke?Actually, a wealth of information at the wikipedia, which suggests reasons why I prefer Diet Coke with Splenda to Diet Coke, but prefer Coke Zero to both.Filed as: Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Coke Light, Of Paradise and Power

This started out as a comment on Rodger's post, but quickly got too long for that and so I converted it into a stand-alone post.Rodger's probably right about the actual use of the term "critical constrctivism" in the discipline these days; truth to tell I haven't been paying much attention to those labels, being more concerned with labels like "realist" and "rationalist" because of the realism-constructivism project in which Dan and I are...

One of the more venerable theories of social unrest focuses on a process of rising expectations and relative deprivation. The basic argument is that individuals and groups won't resist their conditions if they have grown accustomed to them; people in conditions of abject deprivation, so the theory goes, don't see much point in trying to change them. In contrast, when they expect their conditions to improve, but those expectations are thwarted,...

If you're coming here via Henry Farrell's Chronicle of Higher Education article, take a look around and let us know what you think. A particularly warm "hello" to any international-relations scholars who might be new here. I think it is about time to admit that we all read (at least) Daniel Drezner's blog anyway, so maybe it is time to really get onboard with blogging :-). Heck, the worst thing that could happen is that it fizzles out, like all...

Yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney gave a speech at Camp Lejeune, N.C., to Marines who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. In that speech he, of course, reminded the audience that the Bush administration will vigorously pursue terrorism “in Iraq and every other front”. While this is nothing new, nor too surprising, it was what else he said that is most interesting.The Vice President claimed that the terrorist attacks of September...

William Bennett -- you remember, the guy who used to be Secretary of Education before he went out and wrote The Book of Extremely Reactionary Virtues -- made an even-more-ridiculous-than-usual comment on his radio show yesterday. To quote a Washington Post article on the incident:"But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your...

For those of you who where wondering where I have been (yes, all three of you:)), I have been stranded in comprehensive exam hell. Thankfully the process is now over and I passed with flying colors. Now its on to prospectus hell and dissertation hell (why do I get the feeling that grad school is a lot like Dante's Inferno, a series of ever worsening levels of pain--let's leave that discussion for another time....).On to something substantive....