by Dan Nexon | 7 Jun 2005 |
Gordon Tiger, a long-time friend of my family, died last Tuesday. Gordon had a distinguished career in the foreign service, yet he never sought the limelight or attention his expertise and experience could have brought him. The Washington Post ran his obituary today.M. Gordon Tiger, 87, a retired Foreign Service officer, died May 31 of lung cancer at his home in Alexandria.Mr. Tiger was born in St. Louis. He received a bachelor's degree from...
by Dan Nexon | 6 Jun 2005 | Featured
Bill recently argued that, contra left-wing grumbling, the Bush administration has consistently embraced democratic enlargement as an element of its grand strategy. His post struck a nerve with some commentators, generating the kind of debate I hope happens more often as the readership of this blog expands. I want to shift the debate a little bit towards the issue of "framing." George Lakoff's arguments about political framing have become a hot...
by Rodger Payne | 6 Jun 2005 |
Cross-posted on my blog. Since 1991, I've been the faculty sponsor for the University of Louisville campus chapter of Amnesty International. Some years the students are very active, other years there really isn't much of a chapter.In any case, I have a long-time interest in AI and have a lot of confidence in their human rights work. Needless to say, Amnesty has been unhappy with some Bush administration policies and practices against suspects...
by Dan Nexon | 6 Jun 2005 |
What, exactly, is the target market for this?Saw one driving on the road the other day. My wife exclaimed "a Cadillac truck?!" I guess some people just want to show off when they pick up some plants and light bulbs at the local Home Depot.Filed as: urban wannabes, suburban wannabes
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 4 Jun 2005 |
[cross-posted at ProfPTJ's Course Diaries]One of the things that I find the most fascinating about the game of baseball is the fact that statistical data about the performance of players and teams is actually meaningful. This is so largely because the kinds of things being measured -- whether a team wins or loses, how many balls and strikes a pitcher throws, what percentage of the time a player gets on base as opposed to making an out --...
by Rodger Payne | 4 Jun 2005 | Featured
It looks like I'll be the "senior scholar" on this blog. Less formally, that makes me "the old fart," trying to avoid becoming "deadwood." My academic career began in the '70s, as I started college at the University of Kansas in 1979. Back then, Dan and Patrick were probably trading baseball cards, watching "Star Wars" for the 23rd time (though very few people had VCRs then), and reading Robert Heinlein's books. I hate to think about Bill's age...
by Bill Petti | 3 Jun 2005 |
Cross posted at "Discord and Elaboration"G. John Ikenberry, an esteemed professor of IR at Princeton, had an interesting piece the other day at America Abroad on the seeming shift from a focus on terrorism to democratization by the Bush administration. It was a post in response to one by Anne Marie Slaughter--also of Princeton--who argued that the administration had not foresaken the fight against terrorists for a crusade of democractization,...
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 3 Jun 2005 |
File this, perhaps, under "musical politics":Bob Geldof is at it again. The chief organizer of the fantastically successful "Live Aid" concerts in 1985 -- concerts that raised more than $100 million for famine relief -- is coordinating a series of five concerts scheduled to take place on 2 July 2005. Taking place "around the world" (which, in practice, means "in several European capitals and in one major American city"), these free concerts are...
by Dan Nexon | 2 Jun 2005 |
Dan Drezner reveals that he was (is?) a Civilization addict:Occasionally, despite my mental efforts, one of these activities sneaks it's way through my defenses. I'm convinced that had I not gotten hooked on Sid Meier's Civilization game, I'd have another article somewhere on my cv. [What about blogging?--ed. A more complex answer -- I'd probably have another article or two, but the articles on outsourcing and blogging would not be there...
by Dan Nexon | 2 Jun 2005 |
From Anders Stephanson's Manifest Destiny: American Expansion and the Empire of Right, pp. 61: "The nation," [Seward] instructed the Senate in 1853, "that draws the most materials and provisions from the earth, fabricates the most, and sells the most productions of fabrics to foreign nations, must be, and will be, the great power of the earth." This was his basic geo-economic premise. Command over the "ultimate empire of the ocean," the only...
by Dan Nexon | 2 Jun 2005 |
I am really not the person who ought to be commenting on the Dutch "no" vote, but in the spirit of "we ought to say something," I'll hum a few bars.Dan Drezner has already weighed in with his usual insightful comments. Lots of good coverage over the wires and print media. Time to go track down Dutch bloggers as well.What are the implications? Ivo Daalder is worried:This is bad news for America -- which needs a strong, outward looking partner to...
by Dan Nexon | 1 Jun 2005 |
Peter Howard has some interesting comments on my post on bribing North Korea. Peter plugs his International Studies Quarterly article, "Why Not Invade North Korea? Threats, Language Games, and U.S. Foreign Policy". As Peter knows, I believe he downplays the importance of military constraints. Attacking North Korea is a far more dangerous undertaking than attacking Iraq was. The US may have become "discursive entangled" into negotiating with...