The Duck of Minerva

global security
The New Mineshaft Gap: Killer Robots and the UN

The New Mineshaft Gap: Killer Robots and the UN

by | Apr 20, 2015 | , ,

This past week I was invited to speak as an expert at the United Nations Informal Meeting of Experts under the auspices of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The CCW’s purpose is to limit or prohibit certain conventional weapons that are excessively injurious or have indiscriminate effects. The Convention has five additional protocols banning particular weapons, such as blinding lasers and cluster bombs. Last week’s meetings was focused on whether the member states ought to...

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About the Category: global security

More global security Posts

A puzzle in promotion: Petraeus at the CIA

by | Apr 27, 2011 |

This is a guest blog by Jarrod Hayes, who is is an assistant professor of International Relations at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research broadly focuses on the social construction of foreign and security policy.The New York Times is reporting that President Obama plans on moving Leon Panetta to the position of Secretary of Defense and David Petraeus to the position of CIA director. While the Panetta move is interesting in its own right (i.e., will Panetta have the force of will necessary to manage the DoD?), what I find far more interesting is the move of General David Petraeus...

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Feminist IR 101, Post #5 War and Security (in Theory)

by | Jan 23, 2011 |

There's been a small break (understatement) in my posting as I dealt with some pressing stuff personally and professionally, and to post about some time-sensitive stuff (like Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which I couldn't resist, though I did resist talking about Wikileaks). I will now return to "Feminist IR 101," a series of posts designed to provide audiences that had (intentionally or not) an understanding of feminist approaches to IR that caused them to misinterpret the intentions, goals, and potential contributions of feminist work in IR, particularly when assigning reviewers and performing...

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Gender and Security: Theory and Practice

by | Feb 25, 2010 |

My post-ISA blogging is slower than it otherwise would have been, due to an unfortunate interlude with food poisoning. But I figured I'd start with the "working group" that Jennifer Lobasz and I ran at ISA, called "Gender and Security: Theory and Practice," which Charli mentioned in her previous post. A Working Group at ISA meets on the day before the conference, and then twice during the conference, and members are asked to attend common panels around the theme of the group. The stated mission of our group was: The “Gender and Security: Theory vs. Practice” working group aims to develop an...

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Online Security Jam

by | Jan 21, 2010 |

I know I was asked to comment here on international political economy issues, but how can I pass up the opportunity to point you all to the Online Security Jam?Yes, on February 4, you too can participate in an online discussion of important security issues. You will "help make the world a safer place...online." The Jam is being co-produced by the European Commission and NATO, who are just so..so..cutting edge, yes? Well, ok, it's actually being organized by Security and Defence Agenda, a think tank, and IBM. The goal is to engage literally thousands of experts and non-experts alike in...

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Which New Year’s Eve would you rather celebrate?

by | Dec 31, 2009 |

Dan Drezner and Bill have both flagged Randy Schweller’s new piece in National Interest. I’ve just finished reading the piece and I agree with them – it’s really a depressing read. But, it’s the type of piece that we see periodically – it tries to take stock of the state of the global politics and IR scholars’ understanding of it. In many way, it reads a lot like Mearsheimer’s “Why We Will Miss the Cold War” or Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations?” It aims high and tries to explain large systemic events by using a lot of broad generalizations to develop the core argument that we live in a...

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There Be Game-Changes Afoot

by | Apr 13, 2009 |

OK, in between wrapping up my tenure statement draft and taking my daughter to the orthodontist, finally a moment for some Monday pirate blogging. As Peter notes, the big news story since Sunday was the rescue of Captain Richard Philips off the coast of Somalia: as I implied earlier, the capture of American hostages was bound to be a game-changer in the region and globally. A few thoughts:1) First, irrespective of any further US leadership on the issue now that our man is safe, there's the copycat factor. The US' precedent could be repeated by any vessels in the region, but whether this will...

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Well, well, well.

by | Apr 8, 2009 |

From the AP:"Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with 20 American crew members onboard, hundreds of miles from the nearest U.S. military vessel in some of the most dangerous waters in the world.It was the sixth ship seized within a week, a rise that analysts attribute to a new strategy by Somali pirates who are operating far from the warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden.In a statement, the company confirmed that the U.S.-flagged vessel has 20 U.S. nationals onboard.It is not clear whether the pirates knew they were hijacking a ship with American crew members."Now...

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An Alternative to Gibbeting

by | Nov 29, 2008 |

In a Reuters op-ed yesterday, Bernd Debusmann makes "the business case for high seas piracy":As far as illicit businesses with low risk and high rewards go, it doesn't get much better than piracy on the high seas. The profit margins can easily surpass those of the cocaine trade. The risks? "There is no reason not to be a pirate," according to U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney, who commands the U.S. navy's Fifth Fleet. "The vessel I'm trying to pirate, they won't shoot at me. I'm going to get my money." Even pirates who are intercepted have little to fear. "They won't arrest me because...

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