The Duck of Minerva

Amanda Murdie

Amanda Murdie is Professor & Dean Rusk Scholar of International Relations in the Department of International Affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She is the author of Help or Harm: The Human Security Effects of International NGOs (Stanford, 2014). Her main research interests include non-state actors, and human rights and human security. When not blogging, Amanda enjoys hanging out with her two pre-teen daughters (as long as she can keep them away from their cell phones) and her fabulous significant other.

Recent Posts

Human Rights Treaties are Like Virginity Pledges, Part Deux

by Amanda Murdie | 6 May, 2013 |

A little over a month ago, I wrote about the growing academic literature concerning human rights treaties and their lack of influence on human rights practices.  Based on my own experiences growing up in parts of the U.S. where it’s assumed we can "[Rebuild] Our Culture One Purity Ball at a Time,” I likened human rights treaties to virginity pledges, saying that “in most circumstances, these human rights “pledges” don’t work to improve human rights practices.   In some circumstances, they can actually lead to a worsening of governmental human rights practices.”  There is a brand-spankin-new...

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National Day of Prayer, Political Science Edition

by Amanda Murdie | 2 May, 2013 |

Of the 6 churches I passed on my way to the office this morning, 3 reminded me that today is National Day of Prayer.  In the spirit of the day, I’m following my Grandmother-in-Law’s advice and suggesting that we all pray for our enemies.[1] Here’s my list:    Reviewer 2.  Thanks for the suggestions!  XOXO That guy I know from the chemistry department who always stops me in the grocery store to say things like “Hi, Ms. Political Scientist, where’s your Bunsen burner?” The undergrad student who can never make it to my office hours but always schedules an alternative time to meet and then...

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Arms transfers to Africa: Hold the phone!….China is the good guy?

by Amanda Murdie | 30 April, 2013 |

This week’s topic for both my grad and undergrad human rights courses is “foreign policy and human rights promotion.”  On the list of readings-not-on-last-year’s-syllabus is this little gem: “Enter the Dragon!  An Empirical Analysis of Chinese versus US Arms Transfers to Autocrats and Violators of Human Rights, 1989-2006” by Indra de Soysa and Paul Midford.  It appeared in last December’s issue of ISQ.  Drop what you are doing now and read it!  Seriously.  It is thought -provoking, made me want to download their replication dataset and play with it before class, and made my students argue...

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An Open Letter to Someone Contemplating a PhD and Parenting

by Amanda Murdie | 15 April, 2013 |

Dear PhD Prospective (with kids or thinking about kids), Thanks for contacting me.  It sounds like you missed Steve Saideman’s sage advice and are actually going to be trying to get a PhD in political science.  Many top people in the discipline will keep working to discourage you from attending – with your best interest at heart – but it sounds like you aren’t going to take their advice to avoid a PhD altogether.[1]   So, welcome aboard!  It’s a fun profession and you’re just at the starting line. It also appears that you are either (a) a parent already or (b) thinking about becoming a...

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Human Rights Treaties Are Like Virginity Pledges

by Amanda Murdie | 18 March, 2013 |

In the category of “pop-culture-not-talked-about-by-normal-Ducks,” People magazine’s cover story last week was on ABC’s The Bachelor, Sean Lowe, and his pledge to remain a virgin re-virgin until his wedding night.  As someone who graduated high school in town of less than 1500 in Kansas, I think this type of pledge is pretty typical: many teens and young adults make a pledge, usually in front of an audience, to avoid sexual conduct until marriage.  And, not surprisingly, most teens do not keep their pledge.[1]  In fact, there are some studies that indicate that these virginity pledges are...

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Going on the Job Market? Pick up Fifty Shades of Grey or a Ukulele!

by Amanda Murdie | 3 March, 2013 |

Traveling home today from a great conference with some awesome Ducks and non-Ducks. The conference, hosted by Debbi Avant (U of Denver) and Oliver Westerwinter (EUI) at the University of Denver, was on the topic of networks, governance, and security.  I learned a lot and will hopefully write a nice, normal research -related post sometime soon. At the conference, one of the dinner conversations that kept popping up was the academic job market.  In general, the consensus – across age and rank divides - was that the job market is a very difficult, dehumanizing experience for the candidate. Of...

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Note to Bahrain: Release Prisoners and Provide More Social Services

by Amanda Murdie | 22 February, 2013 |

Thanks to a very awesome grad student of mine, I just realized that last week marked the second anniversary of the start of the Bahrain uprising.  Fueled by protests in Tunisia and Egypt, citizens of this small and very beautiful island state took to the streets to demand political changes.  For two years, the protests have not completely dissipated but haven’t escalated to the point of civil war either. What explains this continued state of violent limbo? Like Dan’s recent post, I don’t have a definitive answer to this question. However, the question does allow me to pimp promote a couple...

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Do You Need a Pro-Cancer Oncologist? Bias and Human Rights Scholarship

by Amanda Murdie | 28 January, 2013 |

It’s a question faced by scientists daily: if you found that X wasn't associated with Y, would you report it?  What if you found that treatment X was harmful to Y, would you report your findings? For example, let’s say you are an oncologist and you just concluded, based on years of research, that smoking wasn’t associated with cancer  – would you report your findings?  What if you were employed by the cancer drug’s maker or dealing with cancer personally, would you report your findings about treatment X then? Is it unethical to leave the results unpublished? Questions of personal biases and...

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Coauthorship – Like Bad Marriages and Struggling Nonprofits

by Amanda Murdie | 10 January, 2013 |

It’s that time of year again: the time when professors team up with their best buddies/colleagues/random-people-who-publish-in-the-same-area and endeavor to write a brilliant ISA/Midwest/APSA paper.  At least, that’s what the spring semester always means for me.  I like working by myself, don’t get me wrong, but I also enjoy working with others. And, I don’t think I’m alone here: coauthored work is quickly becoming the norm in political science.  In general, coauthored work gets in better journals and ends up getting cited more (See: this,  this, or this, for example).  That makes sense,...

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The Right to Mindlessly Look at You-Tube Videos

by Amanda Murdie | 3 January, 2013 |

Happy New Year!  I hope you are still enjoying a wonderful break.  The holidays for me always mean one thing: a lack of Internet access.  As a duck-ling who is from Deliverance/mayonnaise/4-H country, I’m particularly attuned to the argument UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur, Frank La Rue, made a couple of summers ago about the human right to Internet access.  Of course I need unrestricted access to my favorite websites – how else am I supposed to procrastinate/ignore in-laws!  But, is Internet access really more than that?   Like La Rue contends, could the Internet actually be an...

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