Anne Harrington and Jacqueline (Jill) Hazelton take center stage in the inaugural G&T episode.
Duck Podcast G&T series episode 1: Power, realism, and the politics of IR Academia
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academia
Neoliberalizing the academy
Josh’s post on his experience with course evaluations has gotten me thinking about the practice of using course evaluations. Because my personal circumstances differ from Josh’s (e.g. I do not have...
The First Year on the Tenure-Track: Wanting to Give the White Whale Back
As a grad student, I used to the think longingly about the day when I would finally hold a tenure-track job. I could almost taste the thrill of the teaching and the joy of faculty resources. You...
The Academic Arrogant Self-Important Snooty Quiz
As I was traveling back from APSA on Sunday, I completed all of the journal reviews that I had on my desk, ran some regressions for new projects, and then completed all the revisions my coauthors...
More academia Posts
Data is not the problem. Data is not the solution.
Data is not good government. Even when it wears a green eyeshade.The Wonkblog view of the world presumes that social problems should be met with policy solutions, and that the best way to analyze policies is to have better data. To an extent, I agree. All else being true, better data does make for better policy.But that is a trivial conclusion. Politics is not policy. Indeed, data isn't politics either. And what Wonkblog provides is frequently an inaccurate guide to all three.The biggest problem with the Wonkblog attitude is its unthinkingly technocratic approach to everything. This...
Irony’s Bucket List: Academic Journal Section
The latest issue of International Studies Perspectives includes a forum on open access.I bet you can guess where this is headed.Â
Virtual APSA? (updated)
I skipped APSA this year in favor of BISA/ISA. In fact, I haven't renewed my membership this year.Still, I wonder if we can't make lemons out of lemonade.How about a virtual APSA? If you are an IR/CP scholar who has bailed on APSA let us know (in comments) and consider posting an abstract of your presentation.Heck, if there's enough interest maybe people can make power points available for discussion.UPDATE: it appears that virtual is the only option (I retain the lovely yellow from the apsanet.org site).2012 APSA Annual Meeting Canceled President G. Bingham Powell announces the cancellation...
Reply on “physics envy”
Because not everyone reads comment threads, in part because of the way that people engage with The Duck via RSS readers, and because think the questions involved are really important ones, I'm going to post my reaction to PM's "Yes, I do envy physicists"as a separate post of its own:Man, I was right with you until your advance response to commenters. Making "data and its analysis central to the undergraduate experience" -- a.k.a. emphasizing undergraduate research, such that one of the primary learning outcomes of a BA in International Relations or Government or Political Science or whatever...
Occupy APSA? The Queer Rights Version
If you order from Cafe Press on Amazon, tshirts can get delivered by Tuesday - in time to tell APSA that, even if you're going to the conference, you haven't forgotten that APSA is wrong on this issue. Sorry for the late announcement - my to-do list got a little backed up ...
Perspectives on Politics: Special New Orleans Issue
From Jeffrey C. Isaac, the editor of Perspectives on Politics:I am very happy to report that Melissa Harris-Perry just held up a copy of the new Perspectives on Politics on her MSNBC show and quoted me (!!) about "Post-Katrina New Orleans and the Politics of Reconstruction," the theme of our new 10th anniversary issue!! The "play" she gave our journal on the air was greatly appreciated....I believe that the current issue of Perspectives is the first issue in the history of APSA journals to be a special issue (at 300 pages!), timed to come out in advance of the annual meetings, to address a...
Podcast No. 6 – The Brain-Melt Episode
PTJ and Dan discuss academic administration and the foreign-policy rhetoric of the 2012 campaign.
The Tenure Two-Step
I have spent the past several days at orientation meetings at my new place of employment. I am coming in with tenure (just as I did the last time), so I am not concerned about tenure directly. I do care about tenure procedures because the granting of lifetime employment (essentially) is a pretty serious enterprise and how academic units deal with it shapes the culture of the place. So, in the course of events, I asked questions about it, and I also watched the folks around me get heaps of advice from the various panelists. As a result, tenure is on my mind. Not the first time of course,...